Recently purchased a new vacation home in the NE..It has public
water coming in on a PVC line connecting to copper just inside the
basement. It also has a grinder pump in the basement. It also has a heat
pump and electric HW heater that has a pressurized expansion valve
(never seen one of these before)..

I would appreciate any tips on winterizing it so I can shut the heat off
for the winter. I plan on having the water turned off at the street and
wrapping the water main line and draining as much as I can out of the
pipes going from the top down. I also plan on putting RV antifreeze in
the traps and draining the HW heater.

I'd like to avoid using heat tape if possible. The water main line is
the lowest point of the system. There is an outside faucet that is lower
than that but there is a run up between this outside faucet and the
main. I am wonder if gravity will pull enough through this outside
faucet to prevent any breakage from freezing..

Someone suggested since there would be no pressure from the street, that
would give it room to expand back. Someone else suggested using vacuum
at the lowest point to help pull any remaining water out. TIA
CP

Charles Pisano wrote:


I would appreciate any tips on winterizing it so I can shut the heat off
for the winter. I plan on having the water turned off at the street and
wrapping the water main line and draining as much as I can out of the
pipes going from the top down. I also plan on putting RV antifreeze in
the traps and draining the HW heater.


I own a vacation home in Flagstaff AZ (elevation 7000 ft) which
needs to be winterized. Actually, it's a 60s-vintage mobile home
with an addition. In the 60s, they didn't build them with gravity-drain
plumbing, so you gotta use a compressor to blow the water out
of the lines.

So, here's my winterizing routine. First, shut off the circuit breaker
to the water heater - otherwise you'll fry both elements - DAMHIKT.
Turn off the water at the street. Hook compressor to outside hose
bib. Fire up the compressor and open the water heater drain. Shut
down the furnace while waiting for the water heater to drain. When
water heater is empty, close water heater drain. Go through house
opening up each sink/tub/shower faucet until they blow dry. Flush
each toilet, allowing tank to empty into bowl. Don't forget the
supply lines to the washer, I did the first time. Shut down compressor
when everything is dry. Next comes the RV antifreeze, about 1 cup
for each sink drain, tub drain, toilet tank, toilet bowl, and washer
drain. 1 gallon gets me through 3 sinks, 1 tub, and 2 toilets.

Interesting side note about refrigerators - the lower the outside
temperature, the less well the freezer works. Apparently the
temperature sensor is in the fridge, not the freezer, turning the
compressor on and off to attempt to keep the fridge temp
somewhere in the mid-30s. This results in a freezer temp
somewhere close to 0. Well, if the temperature inside your
shut-down vacation home is somewhere around 30, the fridge
never runs, with the result that whatever is left in the freezer
gets all soft and mushy. We typically open our cabin a few
times each winter, took us several times before we figured
out why everything in the freezer was soft. We have since
learned to empty out the freezer in the winter. Counter-
intuitive, but true.

Hope this helps,
Jerry