Winterizing my vacant house

[scesnick]

I live on top of a brutally cold and windy mountain. I also have a 2.5 mile driveway to get to the house. It is a major undertaking to keep this road open on a daily basis.
So, since the wife recently opened her own office and it has two nice little apartments behind it, I think e are gonna move down off the mountain in the winter. Well, atleast for the really snowy month of February anyway.

My question is this, what is the best way to winterize my house? It has electric heat (which I never use) and a coal boiler with oil backup. I was thinking of some way to possibly drain the pipes? or maybe some electric heat tape on the pipes? anyone have any suggestions/ tips on how to do this properly?

 

[/pine]

is there a crawl space under the house? is it underpinned ? if so you can use a temperature switch and a few 20W lights...

another factor is condensation...in our cabin that is left all winter...I have learned to leave the upper (clear story wall) windows slightly cracked...what happens is...if there is big difference between day and night temperatures and there is more than 30% (or so ) humidity...the moisture will condense and permeate towels, bedding etc...and make it very musty.

my plumbing is not a problem because when I built the cabin I pitched the water service lines so they are easy to drain....but don't forget to either empty your p-traps or add a little anti-freeze...I "pickle" the washing machine and toilet with anti-freeze also...

 

[Storm56]

A couple of ways. You can use compressed air to blow out the pipes or you can pump RV anti freeze through them. You will have to scoop out the toilets and put anti freeze in them. Use anti freeze in all the sink and shower traps. Do not forget your washing machine, dishwasher and icemaker if you have one. Remove all freezables from your cabinets.

If you have baseboard heat you will have to address that too. Same deal, blow the lines out or put hydronic heating fluid in them. Do not forget to drain your hot water heater unless it is in a basement or crawl space that will not freeze.

Be sure to flip the breaker off for the well pump.

 

[/pine]

when dealing with p-traps, toilets etc...I use a siphon pump...actually I reuse the anti-freeze from the toilet(s) using a pump (like below) so it does not end up in the septic system

 

[scesnick]

It is log home with a full basement under it and all my pipes are easiily accessable. I was thinking of just leaving the water heater on.

In my utility room in the basement where my pressure tank sits is the low point in my pipes. Would it be possible to just add something like a boiler valve to drain the pipes?

The house would not be vacant for more than a month and I would be visiting the house atleast every other day to feed the horses and dogs.

I don't want to just leave the electric heat on for obvious reasons. I usually heat the house with my coal boiler which does have an oil backup on it. If worst comes to worst i can always just run the oil burner. My main concerns are the pipes. the anti freeze will also be used.
I never though about the dish washer though....

 

[dave1949]

I think there are two options in your situation.

1) Keep minimal heat on but do some freeze protection too. RV antifreeze costs a bit, so compare what you think your electric bill would be to the cost of draining and antifreeze.

2) No heat and be prepared to antifreeze everything.

If you are close enough to get to the house in an hour or so, sounds like you will be not too far away, you can use a remote temperature and power monitor which will call a pre-programmed phone number to alert you that the temp has dropped below a threshold, or the power is out. This will happen at 2am in the midst of an ice storm or mini-blizzard - without fail You can also call the monitor and get the power status and temperature.

Dave.

 

[scesnick]

you can use a remote temperature and power monitor which will call a pre-programmed phone number to alert you that the temp has dropped below a threshold, or the power is out. This will happen at 2am in the midst of an ice storm or mini-blizzard - without fail You can also call the monitor and get the power status and temperature.

Dave.

Great info Dave. I would have never thought of this but I am going to get one for sure. Now I need to track one down.

 

[Storm56]

Opinions vary but my thoughts are you either go all the way and do it right or just keep the heat on and pay the bill. No disrespect intended but I never had good luck by doing things half a****.

 

[rjkobbeman]

Since you are going to be away for a relatively short period of time, I would leave the heat on but... but just turn it WAY down. Turning your heat down to 40 or 50 degrees will do wonders to your utility bill. People talk about huge savings from cranking down the heater from 70 to 68. Down to say 45 would probably be a bill that is more desireable than all the winterizing for what a month or so?

 

[dave1949]

Great info Dave. I would have never thought of this but I am going to get one for sure. Now I need to track one down.

One source: Remote Monitors and Alarms with integrated Auto-Dialers and Ethernet Connectivity for temperature, environment monitoring The company name is microtechologies inc.

Also check green house supply companies as they use them for obvious reasons.

I have an old (10 years) model from Temperature Guard. It worked well and saved my bacon once. The only caveat is you will get called if the power is off for 15 minutes or so. It can be annoying being woken up so you can worry about it :laughing:

I don't think it is half-as*** if you are near enough to respond and take reasonable precautions.
Dave.

 

[scesnick]

I don't think it is half-as*** if you are near enough to respond and take reasonable precautions.
Dave.

I don't either, I will only be about 12 miles away and my snowmobile is just down off the mountain at a friends house so I can be there within the hour no matter what the weather.

 

[dave1949]

Do you water your horses, etc. from your house well? If you do, it would be hard to winterize your pressure tank and supply line in any case - which I assume are in your basement. If your basement is not a walk-out, it may not get down to freezing in your basement even with no heat. Not sure how cold your weather is or what your frost penetration depth is.
Dave.

 

[scesnick]

Do you water your horses, etc. from your house well? If you do, it would be hard to winterize your pressure tank and supply line in any case - which I assume are in your basement. If your basement is not a walk-out, it may not get down to freezing in your basement even with no heat. Not sure how cold your weather is or what your frost penetration depth is.
Dave.

My basement is partially buried (house on a hill) the horse is watered from the well and a few ponds that are usually froze over in the winter. After more consideration, I think I am gonna have to keep the heat on low. I need water for the dogs and the horse and there is no way around that. If I jam pack my coal boiler I can probably heat the house for atleast 48 hours at 50 degrees or so, then I can let the oil backup unit kick on for another few days.
I know alot of you are thinking that my horse will starve, but I can lay out a few bales of hay and she actually conserves them pretty well believe it or not. ( the water tub is heated.)

 

[dave1949]

My basement is partially buried (house on a hill) the horse is watered from the well and a few ponds that are usually froze over in the winter. After more consideration, I think I am gonna have to keep the heat on low. I need water for the dogs and the horse and there is no way around that. If I jam pack my coal boiler I can probably heat the house for atleast 48 hours at 50 degrees or so, then I can let the oil backup unit kick on for another few days.
I know alot of you are thinking that my horse will starve, but I can lay out a few bales of hay and she actually conserves them pretty well believe it or not. ( the water tub is heated.)

That sounds like a plan. If you keep the boiler going on low heat and run a callable monitor you can always call it, it will tell you the current temp. Our old unit would tell you the current, lowest and highest temp. Save you some trips just to see if the heat is okay. I see they have some stiff prices for TemperatureGuard I still have it but it hasn't been used in many years, don't know if it still works or if the rechargeable battery is done for.

The power alert is kind of redundant for what you want to do. If the power is off the house temp will be dropping slowly. In either case, you need to go see why - especially if you are the only person on the power line going up your drive.

Dave.

 

[mjarrels]

I just turn off the water, flush the toilets and turn the heat down to about 50 degrees, never had a problem. Doing it again Dec 8 when we leave for the Philippines for two months.

mark

 

[Storm56]

I can see this working - as long as your heat never fails, or you do not get an ice storm that knocks out power for a week. There are periods of time where I live that if you lose power for even a couple of days you can have problems.

Back to the OP situation. What would happen if he got sick or was in an accident and could not check on the house? That is why I said do it all the way or just let the heat on.

In a house that I used to own which was reasonably well insulated I had a couple of pipes freeze that ran up inside of an outside wall when the inside heat was at 70 degrees.

Plus I have come to expect the unexpected, so I prepare for it. As I stated opinions vary. I have learned the hard way what works for me. I got tired of cleaning up messes and getting my pocket book emptied by doing things half a****. To each his own, I have no stake in the game. I was just trying perhaps to save someone from some problems.

 

[dave1949]

I can see this working - as long as your heat never fails, or you do not get an ice storm that knocks out power for a week. There are periods of time where I live that if you lose power for even a couple of days you can have problems.

Back to the OP situation. What would happen if he got sick or was in an accident and could not check on the house? That is why I said do it all the way or just let the heat on.

In a house that I used to own which was reasonably well insulated I had a couple of pipes freeze that ran up inside of an outside wall when the inside heat was at 70 degrees.

Plus I have come to expect the unexpected, so I prepare for it. As I stated opinions vary. I have learned the hard way what works for me. I got tired of cleaning up messes and getting my pocket book emptied by doing things half a****. To each his own, I have no stake in the game. I was just trying perhaps to save someone from some problems.

Not my intention rile you I should have said I didn't think it would be too risky if ..... some precautions are taken and the temp. can be remotely monitored. Just leaving the heat on isn't a very safe solution. I found that out the hard way too. That's when I bought the remote monitor; one toilet, two pipes and a water softener resin tank too late.
Dave.

 

[Storm56]

Not my intention rile you Just leaving the heat on isn't a very safe solution. I found that out the hard way too. That's when I bought the remote monitor; one toilet, two pipes and a water softener resin tank too late.
Dave.

Most insurance companies will not give you a problem if you leave heat on at a reasonable level, say 50 degrees and up, and have a freeze loss. However turn the heat off or down too far and it is another story. How do I know this, I own an insurance agency.

I agree that simply leaving the heat on is not fully adequate, but at least you are covered from an insurance standpoint. Works that way in PA, cannot comment on other state's insurance laws and policies.

 

[Loren49]

The nice part of draining all lines or pumping RV antifreeze in system is that the concern for loss of power is eliminated. A down side is that anything in cupboards that will freeze and break must be moved. We left our house unheated for 2 winters as we wondered south on a small sailboat. There were some challenges with repressurizing the system as small pieces of material off the inside of the pipes plugged various screens and faucets.

Loren

 

[mbrule]

If I follow correctly, according to the OP, water is needed for animals. That makes turning the water off / draining / winterizing the pipes very impractical if there are animals to water and he is going in on a sled. Looks like heat on with remote monitoring is really the only reasonable solution??????