To Winterize a cabin or not...

[saltyg]

Just wondering for those that have a cabin that is used semi frequently (one weekend per month) during the winter (like us) - do you winterize it after every use or just turn the water off and keep the heat on? My definition of winterizing is to completely drain the water system, use a compressor to blow out the pipes and fill the traps with RV antifreeze and turn the heat way down (takes me about 2.5 hours).
After two episodes of the furnace quitting (and getting some frozen pipes, but not any bursts) I have taken to winterize after every use as a means of 'cheap insurance'. Just wondering what everyones usual practice is.Thanks

 

[fishs_summit]

I'm sure it seems like a pain to do this each time,but it is best. Kinda the price of admission.

 

[ezra]

I go old school and don't use watter in the winter. flush head with bucket of watter if needed. I hall 15 gal with me and 2 gal of rv antifreeze to dump when I head out .but I am lucky if I get up 3 times a winter and only 1 of the times with the wife buds. can piss out side and hold the rest for the bar or hall there own watter and antifreeze

 

[Paul]

We winterize the cabin after every use in the winter, the cabin is used some times every weekend but not always knowing it is easier to just always winterize it. It is a simple process for us, probably 30 minutes max, open all the drains, all the water runs to a low point under the cabin which is opened up. We also have a drain that will drain the hot water heater to the outside. So it is a pretty simple process for us, opens everything, add a little antifreeze and were done.

 

[xcr440]

If you use it in the winter, winterize each time you leave. Drain pipes, pressure tank, toilet and faucets. Cup of RV anti-freeze down each drain, go to go next time guarunteed.

 

[dafalls]

We winterize the cabin after every use in the winter, the cabin is used some times every weekend but not always knowing it is easier to just always winterize it. It is a simple process for us, probably 30 minutes max, open all the drains, all the water runs to a low point under the cabin which is opened up. We also have a drain that will drain the hot water heater to the outside. So it is a pretty simple process for us, opens everything, add a little antifreeze and were done.

We do the exact same.

 

[moen lake]

We winterize the cabin before we leave also. Takes about an hour. Better safe than sorry.

 

[polarisrider1]

I shut the water off and turn thermostat down to 40-45 degrees. roll the dice. The winterizing each week end gets old. What if you miss something?

 

[fusion]

I shut the heat down to about 43, I run all the water out of the pressure tank, and I put anti-freeze in every single sink trap and the toilet bowl and tank. Only way I freeze up is if the furnace shuts down for more than an hour or so, and that is rare in Eagle River area with electrical buried cable as opposed to poles. I had a problem at a place on Fisher Lake (WI) where we did not winterize, lost a toilet due to cracking and had pipes semi-frozen. Now I take no chances.

 

[liv2ride]

I came up with a great solution for easy winter use, and a 2 minute close up.
I put in a "winter well". What we did was in one fall weekend, I dug a 6' deep hole, then pounded a sandpoint well, built a 4'x4' box. put the well pump in and insulated all on top of it, and have a 10' frost proof pipe that comes out the top.
I close down the cabin in the fall (drain all the water), and in the winter, we just fill several 5 gal. buckets for flushing the tiolet, and doing dishes. When we leave, thats all I have to do is put antifreeze in the toilet and drains. Takes me 2 minutes to "close up" the cabin when I leave.

I also have a nice 4 bedroom cottage that I rent out by Tomahawk that I have to keep the heat on because we try to have it rented most weekends. I have to admit with the electric heat, it is a pricy way to have it convenient for the renters, but it would be impossible to close that one down every time.

Here is the link for the rental cottage if anyone is interested:
http://www.alwaysonvacation.com/rates/United-States_Wisconsin_Minocqua_567051.html

 

[laketom2]

Takes me about 10 minutes. In the past I used to turn the heat off and in many years only once has the basement froze. Now I leave the heat on low and one valve in the basement drains all the pipes and I add A/F to the drains and toilet. The pump, tank and water heater stay full...they are in the basement.

 

[anonomoose]

Just wondering for those that have a cabin that is used semi frequently (one weekend per month) during the winter (like us) - do you winterize it after every use or just turn the water off and keep the heat on? My definition of winterizing is to completely drain the water system, use a compressor to blow out the pipes and fill the traps with RV antifreeze and turn the heat way down (takes me about 2.5 hours).
After two episodes of the furnace quitting (and getting some frozen pipes, but not any bursts) I have taken to winterize after every use as a means of 'cheap insurance'. Just wondering what everyones usual practice is.Thanks

You can not get away with preparing for a freeze in the cabin. Leavin the heat on is rolling the dice. Probably covered by insurance, but why take a chance?

What you REALLY need to do is shorten up the shut down process....like some on here have learned, it is easier to get a routine process going and make it easy on yourself in the process.

The best is a self draining system where you can turn a spigot on at the low point in the system and let it drain away. If that isn't possible, then you should permanently plumb in a hose fitting so you can put a pancake compressor on it and blow the line in a few minutes..while you open all the lines and let them drain, closing them one at a time and going from sink to toilet with antifreeze.

I guess I can't imagine what takes 2.5 hours unless you have a hot water heating system.

Once you put antifreeze in the traps, and get the lines blown or drained...you should be done. Work on shortening your shut down procedure and this will improve your outlook on going and using the plumbing.

 

[erkoehler]

We shut down each time, and I think I can get it all done in under an hour. Closer to 30 minutes if I don't wait for the hot water tank to finish draining.


The thing that scares me is I never know how much antifreeze to put down the drains. Always think that I'd rather be safe than sorry, but I am probably WAY over doing it.

Usually use 1/4 gallon per sink drain, 1/2 gallon in the toilet, and then dump the extra anywhere I'm scared!

 

[xcr800]

We just shut the pump off and open the cabinets under the kitchen and bathroom sink and set the heat to 45 degrees and call it a day. Never had a problem been doing it like this for 5 years no problem

 

[cdsprague]

Instead of wasting all the time shuting everything down just get an electric baseboard heater or 2 and also get a ventless gas heater (uses no electricity). Leave all heaters on low 45-55 degrees. You run out of gas you have electric as backup. Electricity goes out you have the ventless heater as the backup. If you run out of gas and the electricity get knocked out at the same time you have very bad luck!!

 

[fireman35]

We do the same as xcr says open the doors to the vanitys and kitchen sink turn the heat to 50 and off we go til the next weekend. alot of time we know the power had gone out cause the microwave and clocks will be flashing but no water anywhere, probably should shut the main off when we leave just in case but we never do,like that for 5 + yrs now and knock on wood no problems,if you are only going once a month i would probably be way more concerned.I also have a caretaker that looks after the place so if there were a problem he would call and take care of it.so that helps also

 

[ezra]

I came up with a great solution for easy winter use, and a 2 minute close up.
I put in a "winter well". What we did was in one fall weekend, I dug a 6' deep hole, then pounded a sandpoint well, built a 4'x4' box. put the well pump in and insulated all on top of it, and have a 10' frost proof pipe that comes out the top.
I close down the cabin in the fall (drain all the water), and in the winter, we just fill several 5 gal. buckets for flushing the tiolet, and doing dishes. When we leave, thats all I have to do is put antifreeze in the toilet and drains. Takes me 2 minutes to "close up" the cabin when I leave.

I also have a nice 4 bedroom cottage that I rent out by Tomahawk that I have to keep the heat on because we try to have it rented most weekends. I have to admit with the electric heat, it is a pricy way to have it convenient for the renters, but it would be impossible to close that one down every time.

Here is the link for the rental cottage if anyone is interested:
http://www.alwaysonvacation.com/rates/United-States_Wisconsin_Minocqua_567051.html

I have been thinking on driving a hand pump sand point for about 10 yrs maby this summer

 

[chords]

do you winterize it after every use or just turn the water off and keep the heat on ?

Turn off the power to the pump/tank. Its in a separate enclosed "doghouse" with a small electric heater. Natural gas furnace set at 50*ish. Hot water set just above pilot. Pour a oz or two AntiFreeze down 2 sinks, shower and toilet at the end of a flush w/ water shut off. All I want is to fill the traps. Power has been reliable with only 2-3 freeze ups in 42 years.

I assume most/all are on septic and crawl space. Do you really drain pipes under your cabin ? And 1 gallon of antiFz each cold weather trip is alot for a tank and field. I have always been carefull what goes into the septic tank.

 

[elf]

We are at our cabin at least monthly during the winter (although it's been near 2 months right now.) We have an electric boiler on off peak and slab heat so we turn that down to 60 when we are gone. If we turned it down any lower it would never warm back up in a weekend. We also have a couple of baseboard heaters that we set at 55, in case the off peak goes off. I also flip the breaker for the hot water heater and the pump before we leave. The nice thing about slab heat is that it's a huge heat sink and will keep the place above freezing for along time should the power go out. Last year we were without power for 4 days and I finally ran up there to drain the water heater and the temp in the cabin was still 52.

 

[techsledder]

saltyg, we do what you do every time... minus blowing out the pipes. Before we had a furnace we heated with a wood stove. So we had to drain it. Just became old hat for our winter ritual. Might be a PIA, but like you said cheap insurance. We never had to do the compressed air thing and everything starts up just fine the next time we're up. Gravity drain the supply lines, dump some of the RV pink anti-freeze and turn down the heat to 50*.