U.P. Cabin water on, when ?

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no1_pro

New member
I bought a cabin in Paradise Mi last October and shut the water off , blew out pipes , drained pump , used rv antifreeze in all traps and toilet bowl and tank all per the instructions the seller left me in writing shortly after the purchase.

Now my question is when is it safe to start it all back up without having worry about freezing weather as its a 300 mile drive from home here just north of Grand Rapids?

I only want to do it once, not drive 600 miles round trip in my new 2009 gas guzzling chevy pick up that gets no where near the est. milage on the window sticker. :mad: It would be way cheaper to have a pipe break.

Thanks for any advise. :confused:

Pro
 
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Yooper_Bob

New member
Do you have some form of heat as well? If so, just turn the heat on low (40 or 50 degrees) and turn the water on.

But why make a special trip just to turn the water on...wait until you are coming up for a visit and turn it on then.

FYI...our nights are still dipping into the low 20's with highs anywhere from 30 to 50 during the day. If you do not have any heat source, I would wait another month before turning on the water.
 
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toddspolaris

Member
we winterize our cabin everytime we leave, just for the same reasons, never know when its going to get cold up north and never for sure when we can get back up. Takes me about 15 min. to winterize cabin. Didn't really answer your question but that what we do.
 
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landoman

New member
I turned my heat off on Friday at our place in minocqua. I do leave the heat on all winter and the water on all winter but at my location anyway, the high/low along with sunlight keeps my place well above freezing. It would take a spell of below freezing highs for me to even worry about a hard freeze of my water pipes.
 
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no1_pro

New member
No special tip.

yama_yooper said:
Do you have some form of heat as well? If so, just turn the heat on low (40 or 50 degrees) and turn the water on.

But why make a special trip just to turn the water on...wait until you are coming up for a visit and turn it on then.

FYI...our nights are still dipping into the low 20's with highs anywhere from 30 to 50 during the day. If you do not have any heat source, I would wait another month before turning on the water.
Click to expand...

No heat to leave on. Wood stove and small electric heaters work great when staying there. This is a 75 year old rustic cedar log cabin on Whitefish Bay.

And no I would not make a special trip to turn water on. I will do it while Im staying up there. I go up every 2 to 3 weeks for the weekend as it is. We do have a new heated out house and bring 5 or 6 gallons of water from home is good for a 3 or 4 day weekend. So no real hurry other than the wife is looking over her shoulder for coyote, wolf , bear when going out to the outhouse at night. I dont even give it a second thought.

Is early May to early?

Thanks Pro
 
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xcr440

Well-known member
Memorial Day to Labor Day was the rule at my cabin in Northern WI. I think you could be safe before and after that a bit, but for piece of mind, those were our parameters.
 
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Yooper_Bob

New member
no1_pro said:
No heat to leave on. Wood stove and small electric heaters work great when staying there. This is a 75 year old rustic cedar log cabin on Whitefish Bay.

And no I would not make a special trip to turn water on. I will do it while Im staying up there. I go up every 2 to 3 weeks for the weekend as it is. We do have a new heated out house and bring 5 or 6 gallons of water from home is good for a 3 or 4 day weekend. So no real hurry other than the wife is looking over her shoulder for coyote, wolf , bear when going out to the outhouse at night. I dont even give it a second thought.

Is early May to early?

Thanks Pro
Click to expand...

You should be fine by early May...as long as your pipes are in some sort of insulated crawl space, and not exposed to the elements.
 
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booondocker

New member
Understand that you have two things going for you there on the point.
One is that you have the big lake affecting everything; ( so I hope you pack some warm sweaters, since a shift in wind can bring major changes in outside temps).....but this location next to the lake moderates everything and will be far different than what folks inland have to worry about. So now that the ice is out and water temps are a balmy 35 degrees....I wouldn't worry too much about pipes breaking...since a simple overnight freeze isn't likely to freeze the pipes hard enough or long enough to cause breakage. Might clog them up in the early morning for a bit, but that's about it. What breaks pipes is a hard freeze long and hard enough to make the ice in the pipe expand which usually happens over time. A freeze in the pipe one time isn't likely to break anything unless it is sustained and could freeze a long distance in the pipe preventing the ice plug to expand and break the pipe.

Other thing here is where and how your pipes are protected from the elements. Again if the pipe isn't subject to a long term freeze it probably isn't going to break the pipes. So pipe wrap from the hardware in both the electric type or just insulation type would do wonders for early season and late season freezes.

I own two of these land yachts....aka, places you go sweat, work, fix, repair, climb under over, around and thru all in the name of a "Place to get away to" and have had to wait until outside temps get a bit warmer for the water to "flow" hundreds of times. Hoses freeze, but water lines will just usually plug for a "short spell" until the sun can warm things up a bit. We have never had a pipe burst yet...over many years. BTW one of these places is a cedar logger built in 1946. Still is a nice warm comfortable place where the mice can go to winter out....:)
 
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snow_monkey

New member
X'2 on April 15th. That date is close. In mid Michigan I will turn all heat tapes and well heaters off for the season this weekend.
 
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daytripper

Member
At my cabin I turn the water on after May 1 and drain the system at the end of November. I have never had a problem with freezing or its affects. I have done this for about 15 years. The previous posters are correct that you need a long hard cold spell to freeze the pipes solid. Even so, a few years back I forgot to add antifreeze to the toilet and when I came up at the end of December, the toilet was frozen over but no damage was done.

Keep in mind that I never go there between the first week of March and some time in May. If I were to go there in mid April, I would not hesitate to turn the water on. When I am not there I do not let the furnace run. When I leave I turn the power off at the circuit breakers, so in case I spring a leak the well does not run for weeks. When I am there in the winter (3-4 times), I try not to turn on the water. That, of course, does not work if my daughter goes snowmobiling with me.

Hope this makes you feel more comfortable.
 
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polarisrider1

New member
no1_pro said:
I bought a cabin in Paradise Mi last October and shut the water off , blew out pipes , drained pump , used rv antifreeze in all traps and toilet bowl and tank all per the instructions the seller left me in writing shortly after the purchase.

Now my question is when is it safe to start it all back up without having worry about freezing weather as its a 300 mile drive from home here just north of Grand Rapids?

I only want to do it once, not drive 600 miles round trip in my new 2009 gas guzzling chevy pick up that gets no where near the est. milage on the window sticker. :mad: It would be way cheaper to have a pipe break.

Thanks for any advise. :confused:

Pro
Click to expand...

You don't have to go up just to turn the water on??? In lower MI I go April15 to Oct.15. In Paradise, MI I would do Memorial day to just past Labor day. Don't feel bad my 09 Dodge Hemi Pickup sucks gas big time too!
 
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zrjes

New member
In the Keweenaw we had 3-4 days where it was in the 40's for high temps last year the week before the 4th of July, most people were running their furnaces.....I ran supplemental heat as I refuse to run a furnace in July!

All in all it is pretty safe, even with the freak cold fronts during the summer you will still be insulated and keeping the house above freezing. We have seen sleet on Memorial Day in the Keweenaw, but after Memorial Day to labor day it is pretty safe for above freezing temps at night.

Stack
 
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no1_pro

New member
Thanks

Thanks all for your opinions.

Im thinking water on in middle of May and water off in middle of Oct.

I agree it takes a hard freeze for a length of time to break a pipe or toilet and even though this is a log cabin with no insulation all water lines are inside and the pump is outside of cabin on outside wall of cabin in a little enclosed log pump house so no pipes are out in the elements.

Thinking back a bit as winter just melted away a month early and the last sunny 48 degree day we rode the snowmachines up there was Sat. March 6th this crazy warm March I could of had the water on starting that weekend.

Wife and I last went up to cabin March 17th got there at 11:00 pm and it was 48 degrees inside cabin. What a sad March. Heck last March my brother famouseguy (Im sure you all have read his opinions ha ha ) and I rode 900 miles the weekend of March 26th in Ontario.

Pro
 
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