HIGHFLYER
Canandaigua, NY
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Joined: 01/28/2004
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Thanks everyone for your information. Opinions seem to be split. I am leaning towards draining everything, putting in the antifreeze and setting the thermostat to the lowest setting it will go which is 45.
My basement is below grade level and has 10 inches of insulation and the home is a log home with 6 inch solid logs so set at 45 things should not freeze, maybe it will be worth the $500 to $600 it will cost me.
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Gruffy
monominto mb ca
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Joined: 10/02/2003
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Motor City Swagman wrote:IMHO I would leave the thermostat set at 50 degrees, be safe rather than sorry. I would recommend buying a freeze alarm that will monitor home temperature and will call you on when there is a alarm condition and also let you call in and get a report. If you have a digital thermostat make sure you put in a fresh battery I have heard of people who have ended up with large heating bills because the thermostat
battery died and thermostat went to the default temperature of 72 degrees.
I guess that means leaving the phone on as well.
Sometime in the last century we became a wireless household so it wouldn't work for us. Our basement is fully insulated on the inside. The ground and cement freezes solid every winter down the wall 3 or 4 feet. Anyone with a finished basement would have this happen behind the drywall home or not ... you just don't see it unless you measure the temperature behind the insulation in winter. (I did that).
We leave enough heat +5C so that any water left in the pipes doesn't freeze.... we don't have a low point drain... we don't drain the water heater which is in the basement below the frost line at any rate.
The heat rarely comes on outside of December, January and early February. Solar gain keeps the upstairs above freezing on the other months.
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Bumpyroad
Virginia
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If you want to leave the phone on for alerts, IIRC, one company used to offer a very cheap plan that gave a very few calls a month under it for that reason.
bumpy
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thecampingman
Wilmington, OH, USA
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Joined: 10/15/2004
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You can buy a "low temperature" thermostat that'll let you control temps down lower than most thermostats can.
Your furniture, canned goods etc. won't know the difference between 33 and 40 degrees. But your fuel costs will show it.
You could have both stats wired to the furnace. Locate it wherever you don't want stuff to freeze.
When you leave simply turn the main stat to "off". Turn the low temp stat on. Set it at 33 degrees. When the temperature drops to freezing, the low temp stat calls for heat, warming it up to just above freezing. Only have one stat set to "on" at a time.
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HIGHFLYER
Canandaigua, NY
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Thanks campingman, I may look into that as I would like to be able to maybe set it at 40.
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thecampingman
Wilmington, OH, USA
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HIGHFLYER wrote:Thanks campingman, I may look into that as I would like to be able to maybe set it at 40.
Here's one I found that'll go to 40. Or at least has a 40 degree minimum default.40 degree thermostat
With this you could change out the main thermostat. This one's pretty basic. It's what I would choose.
But I just close down my home. If I'm going to spend money for fuel it's going into the truck.
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Lynn608
Athol, Ma
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Joined: 08/02/2006
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We live in Massachusetts and we leave for at least 6 months. For the last two year we have drained the house completely (we do it ourselves) hubby is pretty handy at this stuff. We use an air compressor to make sure all the water is out of the pipes and then put antifreeze in toilets, traps etc. We did'nt dare leave the heat on low just in case of power outage and freeze ups.
It's worked really well for us with no problems. The first year we fogot to drain the icemaker in the fridge and the pipe in there fractured but that was it. Take us two hours to do it and then the town comes and picks up the water meter. We sleep in the driveway that night if needs be and off in the am. When we get home we reverse it all and all has been well. DH has put in a few low lying places for water to exit .. a little knowledge of plumbing would be good. You could get a plumber in to do to it easy enough tho. Don't have to pay for oil all winter either.
Happy Trails
Lynn
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dkeefe
Northern NY State
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We have been snowbirding for a couple of years now and we shut off everything. The main thing is to drain the water, I hook my air compressor up to the outside faucett with about 60# of air and open faucetts, longest line first, then the rest one at a time, closing each after you get air out of it. It goes faster if you do the water heater first if you have a way to hook a hose on the drain to outside. With the air still attached I turn on the washer to both hot and cold and the dishwasher until I get air. Don't forget the toilet water line. I put anti-freeze in the bowl. The only problem I had this year was I forgot to take the water filter out of the fridge and that cracked, I think it would have been ok if I had taken the time to run the icemaker through a full cycle with the air on, but it was time to hit the road. In my case I have a drain valve where the water comes into the house so when I am done with blowing out the lines I can drain any remaining water there and I put insulation around where it goes through the wall. I take the drain traps apart and dump them but you could put anti-freeze in them instead. I turn off the main breaker so there is no power in the house. We have not had any issues with dampness in the house. After I have blown out the lines I go back and do it another time just to make sure I have all of the water out but it is probably not necessary. We live in north central NY and the temps in the winter sometimes go to -30. The only problem with this is that it takes a long time [all day] to get the house warmed up again, even with our big wood stove and the furnace running, but it was still winter here [mar 1] One more thing is to make sure there is no water in the dishwasher and washer drains, or put anti-freeze in them.
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Chickie
Slatington,Pa USA
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Do any of you have baseboard hot water heat? We just turn down the thermostat as low as it will go. Emptying the heat would be very hard if not impossible as far as I can see. Have a friend check the house once a week and no problems so far.
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John&Joey
Northern MN
(Baby it's cold outside)
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I guess it really comes down to what you can afford, and are comfortable with. I've read every post and pretty much think each one is true. There is no one right answer.
Joey and I just shut down our cabin for the winter. Is this better then leaving the heat on. No, it isn't. Sheet rock cracks here and there, and yes there is that "cabin" smell. Is there mold in the walls no. I've ripped out a ton of walls and have never found any. Have I seen sheet rock sag on the ceiling yes. Person before me put it on 24 inch centers. Does not happen on 16 inch centers.
Can you wreck your foundation, yes you can. Especially if you're on a hard clay soil. Anytime you have water around, you can get damage. I have seen foundation cracks (horizontal) that ran 15 feet. Very expensive to repair. Then again I live in an eXtreme cold area. You may not have this issue if the coldest it gets is 20 degrees.
If you can afford it I would prepare your house like you're going to not heat it. Then leave the heat on. Make sure the basement get's some heat to chase out any frost around the foundation.
Don't forget to unplug the refrigerator also. Last thing you want is the compressor to attempt to run if it's stuck and no-one is around.
Good luck on your choice.
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