And if you must go away in winter Please

[valley ranch]

leave the heat on~

 

[Collector]

Good grief where all the water come from

 

[valley ranch]

Broken pipes~water pipes```

 

[Smart Red]

Heat, drain, or fill with antifreeze. You don't want that happening.

 

[Collector]

I've lived along the 49th parallel my whole life and have never saw that. I guess I learned early to keep things unfrozen and insulated. Now having said that this winter we will prolly freeze up tight lol.

 

[valley ranch]

Once upon a time when I was a bachelor I got up and headed down the mountain to Church in Oakland, then went to friends place and stayed a couple days~when I returned the was no water when I opened the tap in the kictchen~ I built a fire~as the house heated I herd a splush down stairs~ I cut the section of copper our and sweated in a patch and went up stairs~and splush~I fixed the break and went up~13 times for thirteen breaks.

It was interesting~not fun~just interesting```

 

[valley ranch]

The mountain ranch is:
Latitude‎: ‎39.096848
DMS Lat‎: ‎39° 5' 48.6528'' N
Longitude‎: ‎-120.032349
DMS Long‎: ‎120° 1' 56.4564'' W

but it's about 6800ft it doesn't get terrible cold but it can freeze your pipes without a problem```

I moved up from Southern California ~so I had yet to learn that lesson

 

[Nyboy]

Been there problem with 2nd homes winter time. Furnace broke all pipes froze, warmed up opened kitchen door to flood. My heating vents on floor filled with water.Lucky homeowners insurance covered it.

 

[Ridgerunner]

leave the heat on~

Or drain the pipes. Snowbirds shut down the home in cold climates and live in warmer climates during the winter. It's cheaper and more pleasant for them than staying home in that weather and heating the house. Some people have camps or "week-end" homes that can freeze. They have to deal with it. I don't do either.

I like passive systems of prevention. Heating is not passive, it can go out without monitoring, plus it costs money. Draining piping and tanks like water heaters is passive, they can't freeze. But it takes some work to drain them and they need to be set up so you can do that. Just shutting the water off doesn't work though it can limit water damage.

When I go visit the grandkids in winter I rely on the heat staying on to prevent that. It normally doesn't get that cold and stay cold very long and it would take a while for the house to cool off enough for anything to freeze, so I'm not too worried. I could come home to a surprise but I consider the risk manageable. But I'm normally only gone four nights/five days.