Winterizing an empty house

[KLF]

Fiance and I just moved into new digs together, but her house up in Sanford ME is still for sale. We all know how the housing sales are in the tank right now, so it could be awhile before this house gets sold. It's about 35 miles away, so I don't wanna be making a lot of trips up there over the winter to check on it. Obviously, I'd also like to save as much on the heating bill as possible.

Agent says it's not a good idea to try to drain everything and shut off the heat, makes it harder to sell if by chance we do get an interested buyer, plus it's really hard to get both the domestic water and heating (forced hot water baseboard) systems totally drained. There's also a hot tub that I'm not sure will totally drain.

I'm worried about the possibility of the boiler konking out in the middle of the night during a cold snap, then it's days before we find it. Here's my idea so far:

* drain all the cold & hot supplies, as far back to the main shutoff as possible. Blow compressed air backwards thru the faucets to get all the water out.

* put a small electric heater in the basement on a thermostat near the main water entrance to protect it, or maybe heat tape.

* drain all the water out of the heating system, replace it with RV anti-freeze. Not sure how I'm gonna get the anti-freeze into the system, but I guess look for the air vent at the top of the system and pour it in there with a funnel. Then turn the thermostats as low as they go, but not shut the system off.

* pour anti-freeze into the toilets and sink traps.

Domestic hot water is via heat exchanger on the boiler, not a tank-style water heater. Will it hurt the heat exchanger to be empty?

Will this work? Thoughts from anyone else that has been down this road?

I spent some time at the place this afternoon, and have found that there are NO low-point drains in the water plumbing. Not even a drain cock below the water meter. It's as if they thought the house would never need to be drained. So now I'm not sure this will work. I really don't want to do any plumbing up there, but I guess I may have to install a few drains. Argh...

Geeez I wish someone would just buy this place...

[sparkeyjames]

Have the local water utility send out a guy to remove the water meter if possible. You should have the water shut off at the utility main outside the house. There should be shut off valves before and after the meter. Here it is a requirement. If not have a plumber install a T fitting with a removable plug after the shutoff valve, on the house side, so you can drain the system. Do not worry about the line coming into the house it will not freeze. Usually the incoming lines run deeper than the frost line. IE deeper than 40+ inches. When I bought my house it had been sitting emtpy for at least 3 long cold winter months. The Real Estate company that was selling the house winterized the plumbing which included the disconnection of the water meter to completely blow out the pipes. Reconnected everthing in late February after heating up the house. No problems. Not sure about your heating system as I have never dealt with one of those before.

While it's true that a fully functional house will help with the sale. The question becomes do you really want to deal with a winter heating bill for an unoccupied house? Remember that you have to keep the house above the dew point or the walls will sweat and be ruined. I saw this in one house I looked at. Everything made with plywood was warping, paint was coming off, plywood floor boards under the carpet were separating and buckling and the mold was taking over. Best to just freeze it and let it sit. Do a Google search for winterizing a house it might help.

[pack04]

I'm not sure how how cold it gets where this house is but last winter the furnace quit heating during an incredible cold spell where it was days below 0 degrees at my grandparent's empty house. We were fortunate that the well froze before the pipes and only a sink broke.

I have never used a freezing alarm alert system like the one in this link but will this winter: http://www.comforthouse.com/phontemal.html If the temperature inside the house goes below your predetermined temperature, the system will call a programmed number. This will give you time to get to the house before it does any damage. There are other models that will detect water in addition to temperature.

My grandparent's house also suffered some other damage such as wallpaper pealing and plaster cracking. This would definitely effect your resale value.

Good luck!

[KLF]

I'll look into having the water meter pulled, see what they say. I'm not sure about that, I'll have to get some feedback from the agent. There is only one shutoff valve, below the meter, nothing after it for the entire house, just branches.

I hadn't thought of the condensation problem, but that is a good point. I should have remembered the trauma that my friend had a few years ago, when her Dad passed away and she turned the heat way down to save on the bills for 2 winters. All the nice maple hardwood floors buckled and had to be replaced.

I thought about those automatic alerter systems, but the problem there is we turned the phone off 2 months ago. I guess maybe it's worth the expense now to have it turned back on, but only if we decide to keep it heated.

[Hoakie]

This is not mine, but this is roughly what we do when closing the cabin in MN for the winter

http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/abeng/n...waterpipes.htm

[KLF]

Oy... I forgot about the washer and dishwasher. Thanks for the reminder.