[Hollynla]

We are moving from the deep south to Jasper Arkansas. The home we are moving to has propane wall heaters (3) and a fireplace. I am used to central heat that blows from the ceiling, which is know is expensive and inefficient. So I have some questions about using these sorts of wall heaters. Are they safe to leave on when you leave the house, say to go get groceries? What about if you leave for several days, what do you do so the inside of your house doesn't get too cold? Would you just let the house get cold, shut the water off at the well and drain the water lines?

I know we are not talking about Montana, lol, but it still gets far colder than what we are used to.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by Hollynla

We are moving from the deep south to Jasper Arkansas. The home we are moving to has propane wall heaters (3) and a fireplace. I am used to central heat that blows from the ceiling, which is know is expensive and inefficient. So I have some questions about using these sorts of wall heaters. Are they safe to leave on when you leave the house, say to go get groceries? What about if you leave for several days, what do you do so the inside of your house doesn't get too cold? Would you just let the house get cold, shut the water off at the well and drain the water lines?

I know we are not talking about Montana, lol, but it still gets far colder than what we are used to.

I woud not think of draining the pipes and shutting water off or even turning all the heat off if I were leaving for a few hours or a day or so; If you are talking about leaving on vacation or something, that is a different story. I am sure the home you are moving into, regardless of wall heat or whatever has some type of controls. If this is the case, when you leave just set the heat at say Low or whatever.

[Hollynla]

Originally Posted by nmnita

I woud not think of draining the pipes and shutting water off or even turning all the heat off if I were leaving for a few hours or a day or so; If you are talking about leaving on vacation or something, that is a different story. I am sure the home you are moving into, regardless of wall heat or whatever has some type of controls. If this is the case, when you leave just set the heat at say Low or whatever.

No, would never do all that for just a few hours, when referring to draining lines I was referring to being gone on a vacation. Down here in the south, our pipes aren't wrapped for hard freezes, so if we were leaving for a vacation and cold weather was expected, we drain the lines to avoid cracked pipes. I wasn't sure if propane wall heaters are safe to leave on, even on low, for a few days. But you are saying they are?

[Luvvarkansas]

Originally Posted by Hollynla

I wasn't sure if propane wall heaters are safe to leave on, even on low, for a few days. But you are saying they are?

It's been done.

The thing about space heaters is that you are supposed to make sure there is plenty of ventilation....just a window left open a tiny bit will do. Now, this is what I've read about space heaters....we never did that when I was growing up, but our old houses were probably well ventilated anyway around all the doors and windows. I know the one I live in now is plenty ventilated without leaving a window cracked. But just a disclaimer, you know....

Your heaters may be vented to the outside, I dunno, but I doubt it.

[DC at the Ridge]

Jasper can get pretty cold, and in recent years our cold spells seem to be more prolonged than they were a few years ago. Even so, I'd hesitate to leave a propane heater going in my absence for several days. Especially considering the cost of propane. Instead, I'd heat the house fairly warmly before turning everything off, open the cabinet doors under the sinks, wrap the pipes and go. I don't know anyone who drains their lines before leaving for vacation, unless their vacation is months long. During the daytime, even in winter, the temps are probably going to be above-freezing, and on average they'll be above-freezing at nighttime, too. Our average temps are pretty mild.

[Hollynla]

Thanks everyone for the info, there are many things that will be a learning curve and this is one of them.

We will be headed that way in a couple weeks.

[Rock Climber]

Long-lasting deep freezers aren't common up here. We are in Fayetteville and have a crawl-space house. While there are freeze-warnings for pipes, they are usually covered on the weather/news in advance. We installed automatic closing crawl-space vents, which have a type of metal that sense the temp and opens and closes accordingly. We've had no issues.

Welcome to Arkansas!