Submitted by Sneaky-er t3_zsozil in Connecticut
Traveling out of state prior to the winter storm. Live in Fairfield. To prep the home, should I:
A. Set thermo at 55 degrees and cross my fingers.
B. Set thermostat & shut off water at main source & let a sink drip.
C. Set thermostat, leave key at friends house, cross fingers freezing road conditions don’t prevent friend from showing up.
D. (Your advise)
Opening faucets and turning off water main is not enough. Pipes need to be blown out with air or they can still burst wherever water is sitting stagnant
? He’s traveling and leaving the heat on…not winterizing the home. I have never heard of anyone doing a pipe blow out unless they were vacating for the entire season and turning the heat off.
Does anyone actually do that if they are just going on vacation?
I don’t think the length of the time away is as important as the power/heat going out during single digit temps
Correct, and with hydronic heating systems require water to stay running. ( in theory a good running system should be a closed loop)
I do plumbing and heating for a living and I have winterized my whole house before when I was in a similar situation.
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Low of 7 on Saturday
Yes and also dropping off a cliff. Very quick freeze that could affect roads, pipes, etc.
I think the wind chill is the main issue. Especially down on the coast the wind chill is going to be sub zero
Wind chill has no effect on water freezing.
D. My advice* would be to stop overthinking it. Set a temp you're comfortable paying for while gone and go.
They’re concerned with power outages I’m sure. Even with gas or oil heating you’ll need power to operate the heating.
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This is good advice. I write insurance claims and had one where a toilet fitting blew off just from age while the owner was on vacation. They came home to 6” of water in the basement and 2-3” of water on all three floors. Maybe a $2m house with over $700k in damage.
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E. Hope you don’t lose power or none of the rest will matter.
I say all of the above.
If you are in north fairfield (near merrit), expect power outages, so cutting water off at source is a good idea. If you are south fairfield, beach area, you may need to park your car at higher ground. Fairfield sent a notification out about where you can park your car if you are traveling.
Good luck!
Still don’t know where we are getting this “winter storm” from. It’s going to be 55 degrees tomorrow while it’s raining. Rain will stop mid afternoon and the temperature will dip into the teens Friday night into Saturday morning. The roads will freeze up yes, but it’s not going to be a storm in the least bit.
Yeah I'm struggling to understand how panicked I should be in central CT and I'm settling in "not very". It won't really even be raining as the temp drops so we shouldn't have massive ice buildup on trees and power lines. And the wind will be mostly gone by Saturday when it freezes. So other than traveling Friday night into Saturday, I don't see a problem
B, but just leave all sinks wide open, and you could probably set it to more like 50.
If you are really concerned shut it off before the meter and after the sinks run out drain anything else with the spigot right after the meter. Bring a couple 5 gallon buckets. Be sure to close this one after.
What do you mean by leave sinks open? The faucet? The drain? The valve under the sink? The sink is the bowl with a drain hole in it.
The OP said sink. I mean a faucet, but I didn’t want to be an asshole and correct them.
I’m really not trying to be a jerk, just trying to understand.
Sorry to get defensive, there’s a lot of smart asses on Reddit (including this post). Damage to your house is caused by burst pipes with pressurized water in them. Pipes burst because the water inside expands when it freezes. If you leave the faucets open, the idea is if the ice expands it will push out water that’s still 32.1 degrees. The pipes don’t all freeze instantaneously, so it helps equalize any pressure that might build up. Doesn’t work 100% of the time (you have to winterize for that) but it’s another thing to help.
I can be a huge smart ass on here- your defensiveness is warranted. Bursts pipes are just about the worst thing next to a fire they a homeowner can experience. Any and all advice is great.
Assuming you don't have a smart thermostat, I'd also suggest using your WIFI router's mobile app to check power status. I have Nest thermostats and a Nest Router, and in my experience I only lose internet connectivity if my power fails. Also signing up for SMS alerts from your power co is good but sometimes they are very late.
Of course if you have a smart thermostat, you can have an alert set for when the temp dips below an acceptable limit, which would indicate heating system failure.
If you drain the water, be sure to turn the hot water heater off first. Make sure it's full and you have water coming from the hot water taps before you turn it back on.
Given the forecast, I'd go closer to 60 on the thermostat to give you a little more time before things freeze up. Also, leave the doors open to any cupboards on outside walls that have plumbing in them (typically kitchen or bathroom sinks).
If you do have a freeze, you'll want to be very careful about turning the water back on. Wait until the house has been warm for a while, then turn the water on just a little until the pipes refill, then gradually open it the rest of the way. This way if you have a leak, you have a chance to identify it before you have a geyser. Homes aren't always plumbed with drainage for freezing weather in mind and there may be pockets of water that don't drain.
Traveling myself an plan on shutting off at the main an draining pipes leaving faucets open with therm set at 50 Been doing this for years and works well
What about the water heater?…I have baseboards
Set thermostat low(55) but if power loss you will need to have the water shut off at the main and drain the pipes including the toilets. When you get back just turn on the water and fill everything up.
To drain the toilet flush until there is no more water after you shut off the main.
The big problem is if you have power loss and you have steam/hot water heat you can blow your heater. We have antifreeze added to ours for this reason as we are rural and have lost electricity and therefore heat and almost lost our heater.
Lot's of people here telling you to lower your thermostat. DON'T DO IT!
I took that advice when I left during a cold snap and a pipe froze in my basement. I came home to water everywhere.
Leave your thermostat right where it is.
They’re talking about preparing for a power outage, which Eversource is warning about. Thermostat doesn’t matter if your heat source is nonoperational.
The objectively correct answer is what many have already stated, drain the pipes, and turn down the thermostat to save money. 50 is plenty safe for most homes.
You a plumber?
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Definitely go with Plan B—shut off the water. And drain all the water from the sinks after you do that. No need for a friend to do anything. Pipes won’t freeze this way.
I usually put anything from the fridge that is ok to freeze in the freezer or use water bottles to fill the freezer up. That way if you lose power for 24-48 hours your less likely to get spoilage. Especially for large freezers.
Open the cabinets that have plumbing in them other than that u good
Make sure it’s a trusted friend if you leave the keys, you don’t want him rummaging through your wives panties or god forbid finding your stash and helping himself to the good stuff
CTRealtorCarl t1_j197hpj wrote
B. I think you are spot on with 55 degrees, you can probably go lower and be safe especially with the water turned off and sinks open but I always err on the side of caution when it comes to your (most likely) largest investment.