Propane and Woodstone inside Yurt

[ADKbham]

Hello new to the yurt forum.

I have 20 acres in upstate NY. Considering adding a Yurt to my off grid cabin as a guest quarters. Currently I have well, solar panel, generac eco-gen generator, inverter powering cabin currently. my current thinking is to possibly install a new septic at another spot on my land, and build a yurt and extend power, water and propane to the yurt- and now have a full guest cabin with bath. is it feasible to have a propane direct vent heater inside the yurt (inside some sort of bathroom enclosure) to help prevent everything from freezing solid when the yurt goes unoccupied in the winter. We would use the Yurt periodically in the winter, and would supplement the propane with a wood burner inside the yurt.

Or is this just over engineering and should i just drain and blow out the water pipes every time I leave in the deep winter. Thanks for the input...Still in the planning phase

[Jafo]

Personally, I would blow out the lines. Forced air heat does not do well in a yurt like radiant heat does. Besides, if the heater unit fails, everything will freeze.

BTW, my yurt is in the Adirondacks too.

[ADKbham]

Thanks Jafo. Love your yurt.

[Pacific Yurts]

We do have a lot of customers utilize direct vent propane stoves in their yurts because of how clean and efficiant these stoves are. It may not be a bad idea to drain the water lines if the yurt will be unattended during the winter, but some folks have installed heat tape along the plumbing lines as an alternative. I hope this helps!

[ADKbham]

thanks good to know

[Bob Rowlands]

Good nfo Pacific. Thanks.

[Jafo]

I ran one of those heaters in my yurt the first year and it didn't do well for me. I ran through half the 20 pound tank in one night.

[Wintergreen282]

Unless I'm missing something, it seems like it would be easier to plan/plumb piping so draining would be a matter of opening a few valves.

[Bob Rowlands]

That's what I was thinking too. Slope the piping and install a drain valve at the low point. Water expands when it freezes but if it has a place to expand into the pipes won't crack. If the system doesn't have slope a chunk of ice can plug up the works upon repressurizing the system. fwiw

[ADKbham]

Thanks...since we are still in the design stages your input is welcome...want to make it as easy as possible to leave the Yurt unattended even for a few days, using gravity to help drain the water away is one of the ideas, some of the water always stays behind in some of the fixtures, so I am wondering if simply draining will work, or if I will also need the additional step of hooking up some sort of compressor to blow the remaining water out...thanks guys