Cottage plumbing winterization
 

We have been discussing trying to heat/winterize our plumbing so that we could get out to the island and get some use in over the winter. Going a bit stir-crazy...We are thinking of getting another airboat or hovercraft for year round accessibility.

Our water draws from the lake with a submersed pump. Standard electric hot water heater, and copper plumbing with access under the house. We'd need to heat the line coming from the lake as well as pipes coming into the house. I'd probably put shutoffs in for lines to the second floor to keep it simple so we'd just be dealing with the first floor.

Any thoughts or experience?

Winter use
 

I'm not sure how the plumber set this up. My family occasionally use the summer cottage during the winter once or twice a month. When you shut the pump off, the water drains into the lake. There is some kind of valve at the end of the pipes that allows air into the pipes and the water pressure will shut the valves. All the pipes are at an angle so that there is no standing water. The pump is self priming. Somehow the water below the lake level does not freeze, as the line between the pump and the lake is buried in the ground. It's a pretty simple set up. When you turn the pump on you can actually hear the air hissing out of the valves.

The only thing we have to do manually is pour RV antifreeze down the drains so that the water in the traps do not freeze.

I bet you have a system like this

http://www.cottagewatersupply.com/lake.htm

I did some research into this a year ago and found this brochure.

It is similiar to the above link.