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Old 02-20-2015, 08:06 AM   #16
secondcurve
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Originally Posted by Senior Trend View Post
I open and shut down my house 10-15 times every winter. It’s a 10 minute job made easy by a few DIY projects years ago.
Heating a finished basement and the main floor with electric head all winter is expensive even when turning the heat to 45 or 50 degrees. I wanted to be able to shut the house down as completely as possible, as quickly as possible.
I built a small utility room (6'X14') and put my lake water pump, hot water tank, washing machine and a small refrigerator in there. It’s in a corner with 6" insulated walls all around. Ceiling has 10" of insulation. I keep this room at 60 degrees. I recently installed a wireless power monitor and check for power outages daily. I'm sure the room will stay above freezing for at least a few days if the power goes out.
I slope my hot and cold supply lines so they drain into the utility room. I made a drain manifold that drains into a 4" PVC pipe my water pipe from the lake comes up through. So, draining the pipes is 2-3 minutes (open the faucets, flush the toilets, open the shower valves). Note that this was easy because of a suspended ceiling in the basement. There are probably other ways to drain the water to the outside.
The first time I shut down for the season I drain back my outside faucets as well. Then I close basement valves that supplies them.
I have a kitchen refrigerators without an ice maker.
I moved the dishwasher control valve into the sink cabinet. It’s on a flexible washing machine hose to survive a freeze. I remove the small supply tube from the control valve to the tub and about 1 oz of water comes out. I shake the valve to be sure its empty and put the tube back on. This was an easy DIY job.
I put windshield washer fluid into the traps, toilets, and the tub of the dishwasher. (Substitute non-toxic RV anti-freeze if you wish.)
My black lake water intake pipe is held to the bottom by a cast iron pipe. It comes out of the shore/lake bottom about a 12-18" depth. In 30+ years it froze twice- Once the lake was very low and the pipe became exposed and one year the rope holding the line to the pipe broke and the line rose. I never thought about the rope and it rotted at about 20 years.
I've been doing this for 30 years with good results. The coldest I've found the house was 23 degrees. I've never had a crack in the drywall/joint compound (or any other problem that was not caused by me).
I'll let others speak to forced hot water…
All of these winterization projects were done after I was in the house for a few years and got surprised a few times by water sitting in a "drained" pipe and leaking when I turned the water on.

When we open it up, I start a fire in a wood burning stove, turn on the heat, and go out to eat. When I get back I turn the water on, check for leaks and then sit by the stove...

I hope this helps with ideas.
Senior Trend:

You are obviously a very clever and handy guy. I enjoyed your post.
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