How to shut down house over winter

[artfuldodger]

We have gone south over winter for many years now but this year will be different regarding shutting down the sticks and bricks. The house we,re in now is on a well and when we turn off the power to the well pump all the water falls back into the well which means the supply line is not at risk of freezing in the event of a long power outage. This year we are downsizing to a city property with city water supply. How do I get the water out of the supply line so that there is no risk of freezing,, line splitting, then unfreezing causing a water flood in the house? Even with someone checking the house regularly water could potentially gush for hours or days?

[Bourbon County]

If you're speaking of the underground piping between the meter and your house, it has the same risk factor of freezing if you're home or away. If that portion were to freeze and rupture you quite possibly would not even realize you had a leak until you got an astronomical water bill.

You might try turning the water off at the meter and use a shop vac with a tapered nozzle and see if you can suck the water out. Not knowing how your house is plumbed, I would think find an outdoor spigot at the lowest point in the system and try it from there. You would need to have all other indoor faucets closed for this.

If you are planning on leaving the heat turned completely turned off inside, there are other places that might be more critical. Anything that connects to water via hose like washer, dishwasher, icemaker, etc, would need to have the hoses removed and drained. Tank water heaters are fairly easy to drain and actually recommended periodically, make sure the power/gas is turned off. Tankless water heaters do actually have a small amount of water in the internal parts and should be drained if you have such.

[Daryles]

On our S&B house the water shut off was at the street. When we would leave for a while on vacation I would turn it off at the street.
In the winter I would open the upstairs faucets and the downstairs and outside faucets (lowest point) and flush the toilets a few times and drain the pipes. I also would drain the water heater (located in the garage).
Maybe leave the heater on the lowest setting to keep the cold out of the house?

[Mikendebbie]

Our home base is a mobile home on 2.5 acres. In Feb 2011 Texas had one of those week-long 19* days + colder at night. At that point in our lives we were renting a house in Austin, planning on selling the place in the country (this plan fell thru and we moved back to the country). I had been out there to the house and prepped everything for the coming cold weather. Problem was the Texas power grid failed and the house went cold and dark and every pipe and fixture froze and cracked. I go out there after the weather passed and there is a river flowing from beneath the house. Insurance helped pay for a complete re-pipe/re-plumb of the whole house AND I put in a low point drain similar to we have on our RVs. It is just not at easy for me to crawl under there as it was 10 years ago - but the low point drain is there for when I need it. I also turn the water off at the meter.

[rohrmann]

Prior to leaving our property with a mobile home on it, I purchased ten gallons of the pink stuff, turned off the water at the street, and pumped the pink throughout all the plumbing. I did modify the plumbing at the water heater to create a bypass and just left the propane water heater on it's lowest setting. Everything was good on our return. I used one of those transfer pumps like Harbor Freight and Amazon sells. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[DutchmenSport]

This is what you need to do. It's very similar to what you'd do with an RV.

First, turn the water off at the city meter at the street. The pipes that run under ground are safe. They are buried below the freeze zone of the ground. That is required by code.

Next, blow your water lines with air, like you'd do with your RV. How?

You attach an air valve on an outside faucet and attach that to an air compressor. Turn on the air compressor and then start draining water from each faucet, hot and cold.

Now, water will be under pressure in your water heater when using an air compressor. That is, until the water at the top of the water heater is displaced with air. Once it's displaced with air, no more water will flow from the water heater. The "out" line is at the very top of the water heater.

Keep blowing air with the compressor. The hot water lines that still have water in them will purge out. Once they start spitting with air, you know the lines are clear.

Just like in your RV, do one faucet at a time, hot and cold, until each spits air.

When everything is done, THEN finish by draining the water heater. If you want the water heater to drain faster, you can continue running the air compressor, keeping some pressure on it until empty. (or turn the compressor off and let gravity drain it, it's slower though).

Some snowbirds I know go one step further and actually winterize the house water lines with RV antifreeze by pumping it with an external pump through the outside water spigot. Some also do some creative plumbing and put a water by-pass on their water heater so they can winterize the lines in the house with out putting antifreeze in the water heater. They simply drain the water heater, exactly like you'd do in your RV.

Now.... here's something you REALLY need to consider.... the actual walls inside your home.

This actually happened to my mother's house. One year she decided to visit my sister in Texas. She lived in central Indiana. She was with my sister for about 5 months over the winter. Before leaving, she lowered the thermostat for the furnace as low as it would go, just barely enough to keep the house and pipes from freezing .... like ... 33 degrees.

After 5 months and temps in Indiana that reached (real temperature -20... yes, 20 below zero) and a horrible cold winter, yes the furnace maintained the heat, BUT the plastered walls could not tolerate the cold.

Her walls were true plaster. NOT plaster board. And there were several places where the plaster crumbled. She had to have several places fixed, and yes, I did most of it.

So, that is a word of caution if your house is in a freeze zone and you plan on shutting down all heat. What effect with extreme cold have on the rest of the house. Plumbing may be safe, but what about everything else?

Anyway, that's how it's done.

This is what you need for the outside spigot. Clip the air compressor hose directly on the end.

Click here.