heating a house to prevent pipes freezing

[atopp]

I have recently purchased a small house in northern Michigan. The house is an older home and is 1000, square feet. It has a second story which is 2 small bedrooms with no plumbing, it also has a full basement. I am planning on using a wood stove to heat the house and want to install some sort of heating to keep the house warm enough so my pipes wont freeze if we are away for the weekend or on vacation for the week during the winter. What sort of source should i be looking at. Electricity and propane are my available energy sources and remember i want this to be safe because it is when no one will be home.

[badtlc]

What are the rates for electricity and propane in your area?

[twelvepole]

At my mountain cabin I have baseboard electric heat that I leave on low and the vanity and sink base cabinet doors open for air circulation when I am not there during winter months.

[Jay11J]

The wood stove is your main heat source? No furnace in the house?

[ecman51`]

Always make sure you have someone you can trust who can look in on the house to guard against a freeze up. Otherwise, no matter WHAT heat you have, if it malfunctioned (as Murphy is good at choosing his most opportune moment), that would not be good. You maybe can get 20-30 below there? It is either that or if you went away on an extended trip, you'd have to drain out and blow out everything and antifreeze treat drain traps. A pain. You could set up space heaters in key locations, but it is scary to me to leave space heaters going unattended. And heat taping every single pipe and fixture is not hardly feasible, especially in walls.

Conventional heat source (even propane wall vent heater + friend to look in on, is something to consider.

Electric hardwired baseboard heaters could be done also, if you had available amp service. But the propane heater would be most reliable perhaps in case a blizzard or fallen tree limb took out electric service.

[dac122]

How is the house currently heated? And yes, what are your current electric rates (including taxes) and per gallon propane price?

[atopp]

The house currently has a propane space heater where I would like to put in a woodstove. Propane is going for $2.39 a gallon in my area and I am not sure about the Electric. It is Consumers energy in the Cadillac Mi, area but i can't figure out what thier rates are. I am not living in the house at the moment but will be moving in and renovating in the spring.

So your saying that propane is better in case of power outage, with electric baseboard?

[Jay11J]

I would agree, if you got a standing pilot heater that don't need power would be better. As said, you then still got heat in the home if there was a long term power outage.

Set the t-stat as low as it would go, and have a neighbor watch it now and then for you.