OP
scesnick
Veteran Member
I don't either, I will only be about 12 miles away and my snowmobile is just down off the mountain at a friends house so I can be there within the hour no matter what the weather.
Winterizing my vacant house
- Thread starter scesnick
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I don't either, I will only be about 12 miles away and my snowmobile is just down off the mountain at a friends house so I can be there within the hour no matter what the weather.
dave1949
Super Star Member
Do you water your horses, etc. from your house well? If you do, it would be hard to winterize your pressure tank and supply line in any case - which I assume are in your basement. If your basement is not a walk-out, it may not get down to freezing in your basement even with no heat. Not sure how cold your weather is or what your frost penetration depth is.
Dave.
Dave.
OP
scesnick
Veteran Member
My basement is partially buried (house on a hill) the horse is watered from the well and a few ponds that are usually froze over in the winter. After more consideration, I think I am gonna have to keep the heat on low. I need water for the dogs and the horse and there is no way around that. If I jam pack my coal boiler I can probably heat the house for atleast 48 hours at 50 degrees or so, then I can let the oil backup unit kick on for another few days.
I know alot of you are thinking that my horse will starve, but I can lay out a few bales of hay and she actually conserves them pretty well believe it or not. ( the water tub is heated.)
dave1949
Super Star Member
That sounds like a plan. If you keep the boiler going on low heat and run a callable monitor you can always call it, it will tell you the current temp. Our old unit would tell you the current, lowest and highest temp. Save you some trips just to see if the heat is okay. I see they have some stiff prices for TemperatureGuard
I still have it but it hasn't been used in many years, don't know if it still works or if the rechargeable battery is done for. The power alert is kind of redundant for what you want to do. If the power is off the house temp will be dropping slowly. In either case, you need to go see why - especially if you are the only person on the power line going up your drive.
Dave.
mjarrels
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I just turn off the water, flush the toilets and turn the heat down to about 50 degrees, never had a problem. Doing it again Dec 8 when we leave for the Philippines for two months.
mark
mark
I can see this working - as long as your heat never fails, or you do not get an ice storm that knocks out power for a week. There are periods of time where I live that if you lose power for even a couple of days you can have problems.
Back to the OP situation. What would happen if he got sick or was in an accident and could not check on the house? That is why I said do it all the way or just let the heat on.
In a house that I used to own which was reasonably well insulated I had a couple of pipes freeze that ran up inside of an outside wall when the inside heat was at 70 degrees.
Plus I have come to expect the unexpected, so I prepare for it. As I stated opinions vary. I have learned the hard way what works for me. I got tired of cleaning up messes and getting my pocket book emptied by doing things half a****. To each his own, I have no stake in the game. I was just trying perhaps to save someone from some problems.
Back to the OP situation. What would happen if he got sick or was in an accident and could not check on the house? That is why I said do it all the way or just let the heat on.
In a house that I used to own which was reasonably well insulated I had a couple of pipes freeze that ran up inside of an outside wall when the inside heat was at 70 degrees.
Plus I have come to expect the unexpected, so I prepare for it. As I stated opinions vary. I have learned the hard way what works for me. I got tired of cleaning up messes and getting my pocket book emptied by doing things half a****. To each his own, I have no stake in the game. I was just trying perhaps to save someone from some problems.
dave1949
Super Star Member
Not my intention rile you
I should have said I didn't think it would be too risky if ..... some precautions are taken and the temp. can be remotely monitored. Just leaving the heat on isn't a very safe solution. I found that out the hard way too. That's when I bought the remote monitor; one toilet, two pipes and a water softener resin tank too late. Dave.
Not my intention rile you
Dave.
Most insurance companies will not give you a problem if you leave heat on at a reasonable level, say 50 degrees and up, and have a freeze loss. However turn the heat off or down too far and it is another story. How do I know this, I own an insurance agency.
I agree that simply leaving the heat on is not fully adequate, but at least you are covered from an insurance standpoint. Works that way in PA, cannot comment on other state's insurance laws and policies.
Loren49
Platinum Member
The nice part of draining all lines or pumping RV antifreeze in system is that the concern for loss of power is eliminated. A down side is that anything in cupboards that will freeze and break must be moved. We left our house unheated for 2 winters as we wondered south on a small sailboat. There were some challenges with repressurizing the system as small pieces of material off the inside of the pipes plugged various screens and faucets.
Loren
Loren
mbrule
Gold Member
If I follow correctly, according to the OP, water is needed for animals. That makes turning the water off / draining / winterizing the pipes very impractical if there are animals to water and he is going in on a sled. Looks like heat on with remote monitoring is really the only reasonable solution??????
