Closing House for Winter
 

Bought a year round home at the Lake but new job assignment will make it impossible to visit in the winter.

My preference is to close up the home instead of heating it all winter given the high oil costs. What are some of the considerations and risks I need to evaluate if I go this route?

I will hire a plumber to drain the pipes but are there other steps I need to take to protect the house from sustaining damage from the freezing temperatures?

Thanks!

I have done this for 15 yeas and as long as the plumber uses a large enough compressor then it should work. By the way i used one for awhile that didnt and we got a burst pipe. Also i have forced hot water so need to have anti freeze in the system. Other than that and having your drive way plowed for safety and insurance purposes you should be ok

Double check your appliances
 

In years past we have drained our camp and left it unheated in the winter. 2 years ago we did some remodeling and added a dishwasher and a refrigerator with an ice and water dispenser.

Our long-time plumber told us that he couldn't guarantee that the new appliances would survive the winter. It seems that it is nearly impossible to remove 100% of the water from these appliances.

I mentioned this to an appliance repair technician from Baron's and he basically agreed. He recommended that we leave the heat on at a minimum of 50 degrees to protect the computer chips as well as prevent any issues from freezing water. Well...that wasn't going to happen!

Our plumber winterized all of the pipes with non-toxic antifreeze and ran it through the appliances as well. It ended up costing us more $$$, but when we returned this spring, everything was fine when we turned the water on.

If anyone else has experienced these extra precautions with new appliances, I would love to hear of it.

Good luck.

We were told by a repair tech ( from Barron's) that we should only put in the most basic appliances in our island cottage. We shut down totally in the winter. He said many new appliances have electronics that are unable to tolerate sub freezing temps. We have a W/D that is 25 yrs old. He told us to hang onto it!

If nothing else, LCD displays do not like freezing weather ( tv's, displzys on appliances, etc).

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http://i44.tinypic.com/1499wms.gif Glendale Deli Boy, I was just browsing through the forum and noticed that you are fairly new to posting on the forum after joining back in July 2013. We are glad that you have come aboard and joined us. Have fun and enjoy the Winni Forum while making many new friends.

It's looking like you are getting some good responses to your request. Don't you wish that the summer months extended a little longer.:)

http://i54.tinypic.com/2e56yqf.gif

It certainly can be closed down as mentioned above.

But make sure you hire a good plumber who knows how to do all correctly.

I had a neighbor who decided to close down his home for winter. Next Spring he had a sheet rock crew in to fix the seams on the sheet rock in his living room. Not sure the issue or cause. But they spent more on repairs then the savings at keeping heat on all winter.

If you have a "spray thingy" on your kitchen sink make sure to unhook it and completely drain it! Stereo equipment doesn't like the cold much either.

yes I have been told that leaving a house with no heat is not the best for sheetrock but for me I figure it would cost several thousand to heat to 50 for whole winter. we have had a dishwasher for one year and had no problem with it after a winter. As far as lCD TV . We left one in a window over the winter and it was dead in spring but luckily still under warranty( this year I took it out of window and wrapped it up in a blanket) . WE have had no problem structurally with 15 year's of shutting down for the winter but get a good plumber with an adequate compressor

I'm curious. what will the blanket do for the TV? Is it an electric blanket?

LCD TVs are used in conversion vans and motor homes and are really not affected by cold weather. I have two 50" LCD TVs in my camp that have had no issues and survived 5 winters so far? I don't do anything special except unplug them.

Plasma TVs do not handle cold well!

Dan

Probably wouldn't make a huge difference but if you decide to heat the home 50 is a bit warm. My families had a home in Moultonborough for 25+ years and kept it at a max of 45 every winter since my parents bought it. I have no clue what the difference would be between keeping a place 45 or 50 (in dollars) but I would think every little bit helps.

Closing house for winter
 

Ths is an age-old question, and a frequent topic on this Forum, particularly this time of year.

I live here year round, so I may not be the best source of information.

First of all, you can never save money by putting your house at risk. The damage caused by frozen pipes, cracked ceilings, damaged appliances, etc., is far more expensive than heating your house at between 45 - 50 degrees F all winter. Also, youj need some sort of signalling method to notify you, or somebody, if the heating system fails and the temperature falls below 45 degrees.

You might want to engage the services of a property watch company to check your house periodically just in case something happens to happen.

You might also want to check with your homeowner insurance company to see what they say about winter coverage. It would be terrible to shut your house down, have a problem, and then find out that there is a clause in your Policy that vacates coverage if the house is not heated.

The hard cold facts are that having a second home brings a second set of costs, and trying to cut down on these costs may not be the best plan.

Good luck to you, and solicit as many opinions as you can, but remember, it is your house, not theirs, and you will be responsible for the costs of damages, not them.

We have been told the opposite, that LCD ( liquid crystal ) shoul not get cold as they will freeze....so we bought a plasma for the cottage. No problems at all.

That is interesting Chaselady... When I was purchasing the two TVs 5 years ago for my camp I contacted Samsungs technical support and they were the ones who informed me that their LCD TV's would handle the cold better than their plasmas. They also stated that their LCD's were good for -4 degrees. They did however tell me before plugging them in to make sure they were up to room temperature for at least two hours which I always do.

I just checked their web site now and according to Samsung, both their plasma and LCD TV's are good to -4 degrees for storage!

So I guess either way if it's working stick with it! :)

Dan

winterizing dishwasher
 

I have a Bosch dishwasher that I have winterized for many years with no problem.

In my case, the dishwasher water connection is under the floor in the basement. I added a spigot between the dishwasher water shutoff and the dishwasher connection. I shut off the dishwasher water connection, and open the spigot. I connect a hose from the spigot to a submersible water pump in a bucket of RV antifreeze. I turn on the pump and run the dishwasher for about 30sec to 1min - just long enough to fill the sump in the dishwasher. I then reset the dishwasher so it drains.

I also turn on the shut off valve while I winterize the rest of the plumbing to ensure the water line drains. I then close it again and keep It closed all winter.

I keep the sump pump hooked up to the spigot all winter. We generally don't run the dishwasher in winter but we do run it if we have a big crowd. Since the pump is already hooked up, it only takes a few minutes to re- winterize.

the 1st time I use the dishwasher I run a rinse-hold or short cycle to flush out the antifreeze.

one could do a similar thing if the connection were under the sink. If you could add a T connector and valve to the under sink connection and run a hose to the counter top, you could gravity feed the antifreeze- just like winterizing a boat.

Couple of other gotchas
 

Dishwasher - there is usually a reserve of water (primarily for pump prime I think) that is inside the dishwasher under the debris screen. I usually remove the screen and push a sponge in there several times until dry. Remember in the spring to throw a pitcher of water back in so the pump doesn't suck air when it is first turned on. I also disconnect the water supply to and at the dishwasher to drain it properly. That hose never drains on its own.

Washing machine - as long as you ran a full cycle there should be no water in the machine but don't forget to drain all the hoses in the back.

Water sprayer in sink - remove the sprayer unit and drain with handle depressed

Hot water tank - obviously should be drained but don't forget to turn power off to it so the elements don't burn out.

no problem
 

I do similar to Steveo. I've had a Maytag Neptune clothes washer and a Kenmore dishwasher at our place, both going strong after 13 years. Only once did the dishwasher inlet valve freeze when I failed to disconnect the hose at the dishwasher end and run it through a few seconds of fill cycle. I also add a quart or so of non-toxic antifreeze into the tub and run it on a drain cycle until no water enters the sink drain. For the clothes washer, I raise it on 4x4 blocks and lower the drain hose in the back to the floor to drain after disconnecting the feed hoses and running the machine on a fill and drain cycle for a few seconds.

I have a shed that I store a lot of my outside stuff in.Last winter some squirrels or something chewed through the water trampoline that was folded up. Whats the best way to keep them away?

Maybe add several sheets of fabric softener to the package. This has been suggested as a deterrent to rodents. I've been placing a number of sheets in the boat as part of storage, after one year when the critters ate holes in the two front seats. No further damage since.

Try Peppermint Oil
 

Try peppermint oil. Peppermint oil is a natural deterrent. The smell is simply too intense for rodents and they will not try to go near it. It also helps to mask the scent of any tasty morsels that have been missed when cleaning. You can get peppermint oil in most health food stores and even some major grocery stores.

http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Mice-Naturally

If there was an issue here, there would be a raft of electronic device failures every day of the winter as people leave their phones, laptops, tablets, tv's, etc in a freezing car for the day.

You do need to be careful about powering them up before allowing for a slow, steady, warming.

Winterizing a water system is extremely easy with a small compressor like this available at Harbor Freight.
http://www.harborfreight.com/air-too...sor-60637.html
I hook mine up to the outside sillcock/garden hose connection. It blows all the lines in the house, no disconnecting anything. Just run the washer and dishwasher momentarily to get the water out of the supply lines then pink anti freeze all the drains, traps and toilets as others have described above. Piece of cake.
BT

Built to drain in the first place.
 

When Dad remodeled/winterize the cottage back in the 80's his plumber Don Morin had all the pipes set up so that the water by gravity will drain back to the pump just by opening a faucet near the pump and opening all the spigots and faucets in the house. Simple as that! We don't have a dishwasher to contend with. We have great family time together manually washing and drying the dishes. We do have an old washer that for some reason never been a problem (1960's Maytag). Even the hot water heater drains at the same time.

AS for the artesian well pump, there was some kind of drainback that allows the water to drain back down the well so that it won't freeze. It is somewhat expensive to setup this way but, it gives peace of mind.

THat is interesting. I have a friend who sells essential oils and she always smells faintly of them. She tells me she never has ants or bugs and their house in Fl never have any bugs and they don't have any pest people. So it must work.

We never had a problem with lcd televisions left in an unheated house all winter.

We had a few problems with appliances that were not properly blown out of all water. The contractor that winterized the place did not get all of the water out of the ice maker system in our fridge and commercial ice machine which caused a few plastic fittings to crack. Both were easy fixes which I took care of.

One other time they did not take apart the mixing valve in the shower. Some water was left inside which cracked the plastic in the valve assembly. After that each year he took them complete apart.

neat little trick...
 

As far as the ice maker goes, I made up a little rig with a lamp cord with a plug on one end and two alligator clips on the other. When I have the compressor hooked up and am blowing all the other lines I just attach the alligator clips to the connector on the water valve on the back of the fridge and plug it into the fridge receptacle two or three times for a second or two. All blown out!!!!

Little Things.......Keurig /Coffee makers
 

For Keurig machine type coffee makers.......hard to completely empty the water reserve tank which heats the water..........I'll let you know what happened in the spring:D

Been there, done that!... Almost impossible to get all the water out. It will crack and leak like a sieve! I even tried blowing it out with an air compressor with no luck. I have ruined through two of them from freezing. Take your Keurig out for the winter and bring back in spring. If you use your cottage in the winter get a regular cheapo Mr Coffee or similar. That's what I do now.

Dan

LCDs have no problem with cold, they all survive unheated truck rides shipping them to the stores.

As for Keurig, maybe try filling them with cheap vodka?

My drip coffee machine and two LCD TVs, all survived many winters on the boat. The LCD backlight on my marine GPS burned out this year after 8 years but that's just a fluorescent tube.

Heres what I found on Keurigs website.2 Q&A's that seem to contradict themselves.

How do I drain and store the brewer?

Once your Keurig home brewer has been primed, you cannot empty the water from the inside. The internal tank of the brewer cannot be drained. If you need to store your brewer, empty the removable water reservoir and store your brewer in a safe and frost-free environment. Please be sure to store your brewer in its upright position to avoid water leakage from the inner tank. If you store the brewer in a cold environment, you run the risk of water freezing inside the brewer and causing damage. When you prepare to use it after storage, we recommend rinsing the removable water reservoir with fresh water and running three cleansing brews without a portion pack. If you plan to move your brewer to a different location, turn the brewer off, unplug it and empty the removable water reservoir. If your brewer has been in an environment below freezing, please be sure to let it warm to room temperature for two hours before brewing.

How do I empty the internal Hot Water Tank?

Brewer must be powered off but plugged in.
 •  Lower the Cold Water Reservoir Lid.
 •  Place a mug on the Drip Tray.
 •  Press and hold down the BREW Button and continue to hold until all the water is dispensed into the mug.
There will be a 3 to 5 second delay before water begins to dispense

Tried step #2 and it did not work. Still residual water left in lines which freezes and cracks lines. Even tried blowing this water out...no luck!

I love jrc's vodka idea! I bet that would work...I would just hate to have to replace a 3rd Keurig!!:eek:

Dan

We pack ours up and take it home for the winter. No way to drain it that we know of.

For my camper, I use one of those little red hand pumps to force anti-freeze into the lines after I blow them out. You can probably get an electric pump to do that with a house. Open the faucets in turn so you force the stuff to one line at a time and have an observer tell you when the anti-freeze starts to come out and then close that faucet. Move on to the next line, etc...

After that allow gravity to drain the lines into a bucket and toss the into the drains so they don't freeze.

The only time I winterized a house, the owner didn't want anti-freeze. It probably didn't matter because his adult children kept sneaking into the house after I was done and never blew out the lines again. ;)

Keurig.....
 

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I'll pack it up and drop it off with someone , where I can retrieve it next spring when I return. No guarentee I'll make the trip back by auto next spring.

Mr. Remington...


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A friend of mine in FL has a home inspection service. For a small monthly fee he can check out your property as often as you like and inspected every possible thing that could go wrong due to it being unoccupied. I am sure something like this exists up there.

In fact, he says it is required for insurance purposes if you are vacant more than 30 or 60 days at a time to be covered in the event of a burst pipe, etc. He works with a lot of snowboards.

Just can't resist
 

My assumption was that most snowboarders don't own 2 homes ;)

..... And for the record; I ski and snowboard:D:D

I think he meant "snow birds." Maybe "snow broads," but I don't think "snow boards," need much supervision.

:laugh:

I am so glad he made that typo! It made my morning!!! :laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh: