For about four days straight at my "cabin", it's going to drop well below freezing. I'm going to go down and turn off the water from outside. The house is unheated and the only alternative is to leave some water running.

Two questions. A) If I turn the water off from outside, can I simply turn the heat down to low on the water heater? It'll be for about four days. Will the water heater be ok till I go back on day five to turn the water back on?

B) Or, would the alternative of simply leaving some of the indoor faucets protect the lines from freezing? If so, how much? Droplets? Trickle? Tsunami?

It seems to me that if your water heater is thermostatically controlled, it should maintain whatever heat setting that you desire assuming it can stay ahead of the drop in outside temperature. (if it were 85 below zero, it would have to work harder to maintain the setting than if it were just zero degrees).

If you haven't already thought of it, bring along some of the red antifreeze (made for RVs) to pour into the toilets after you have turned off the water and flushed them to drain the tanks, Also a little bit in each sink and shower traps.

ETA: I've never believed that letting the water run at a trickle would work well enough.

YMMV-Good luck

Are you planning to use the cabin again soon? If not, drain everything.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
Are you planning to use the cabin again soon? If not, drain everything.

Temps forecast to be 58 down to 26 on day 1; 39 down to 28 day 2; 38 to 29 day 3; 48 to 31 day 4.

I'll go back the afternoon of day 4 as the temps will be rising through the next week.

I'm not talking 20 below, or anything. But better safe than sorry.

You do need to drain the pipes.

When we travel during cold weather, I do leave the furnace on, but I turn off the water at the main shutoff, the open all the hot and cold locations (sinks, shower, outdoor hoses) and flush the toilets. The pipes will mostly drain through the lowest open tap. Freezing isn't my worry, leaks are, but I think this process would help prevent freeze damage. Leaving all the valves open while you're away will allow any pressure to escape if any residual water does freeze, which would help prevent pipes bursting.

I leave the hot water heater set at the coolest setting because I don't want to restart it when we get home. However, note that when it does heat back up that the water will expand. There should be an expansion tank to deal with it.

People claim that a slow drip is sufficient protection against freezing, but it makes me nervous to have water pressure when we're away. Twice I've had major damage from burst plumbing (one freeze related, the other a defective filter).

26 for a bit isn’t that cold. Do you have electricity? Likely not.

I’d try to find some way to keep the inside 45 degrees or so. It’s not easy to ‘drain’ the pipes if the cabin isn’t set up for such. Yes you can pour RV antifreeze in the traps & toilet, help mitigate some problems.

Down South somewhere it sounds. Water leaks from frozen pipes can be a pain to deal with, prevention is best, as you already know.

I just looked up space heaters that don’t need electricity. Yes we all know the hazards, with precautions they can be used safely.

Depending on how your plumbing was run what I have recommended to clients is to do this:

1. Shut off the water on the outside of the home if possible.
2. Open the lowest petcock or faucet and then the highest one as well and let as much water drain out as possible.
3. Pour RV antifreeze in every Ptrap.
4. Pour RV antifreeze in the toilet tank after shutting off the valve and then pour some more in the bowl after sponging out as much water as possible.
5. Keep the thermostat between 45 and 50 depending on your tolerance for risk..