Closing House for Winter

[upthesaukee]

If nothing else, LCD displays do not like freezing weather ( tv's, displzys on appliances, etc).

Sent from my GT-P5210 using Tapatalk

[RLW]

Glendale Deli Boy, I was just browsing through the forum and noticed that you are fairly new to posting on the forum after joining back in July 2013. We are glad that you have come aboard and joined us. Have fun and enjoy the Winni Forum while making many new friends.

It's looking like you are getting some good responses to your request. Don't you wish that the summer months extended a little longer.

[TheProfessor]

It certainly can be closed down as mentioned above.

But make sure you hire a good plumber who knows how to do all correctly.

I had a neighbor who decided to close down his home for winter. Next Spring he had a sheet rock crew in to fix the seams on the sheet rock in his living room. Not sure the issue or cause. But they spent more on repairs then the savings at keeping heat on all winter.

[mcdude]

If you have a "spray thingy" on your kitchen sink make sure to unhook it and completely drain it! Stereo equipment doesn't like the cold much either.

[phoenix]

yes I have been told that leaving a house with no heat is not the best for sheetrock but for me I figure it would cost several thousand to heat to 50 for whole winter. we have had a dishwasher for one year and had no problem with it after a winter. As far as lCD TV . We left one in a window over the winter and it was dead in spring but luckily still under warranty( this year I took it out of window and wrapped it up in a blanket) . WE have had no problem structurally with 15 year's of shutting down for the winter but get a good plumber with an adequate compressor

[DickR]

Originally Posted by phoenix

....As far as lCD TV . We left one in a window over the winter and it was dead in spring but luckily still under warranty( this year I took it out of window and wrapped it up in a blanket).

I'm curious. what will the blanket do for the TV? Is it an electric blanket?

[ishoot308]

LCD TVs are used in conversion vans and motor homes and are really not affected by cold weather. I have two 50" LCD TVs in my camp that have had no issues and survived 5 winters so far? I don't do anything special except unplug them.

Plasma TVs do not handle cold well!

Dan

[dpg]

Probably wouldn't make a huge difference but if you decide to heat the home 50 is a bit warm. My families had a home in Moultonborough for 25+ years and kept it at a max of 45 every winter since my parents bought it. I have no clue what the difference would be between keeping a place 45 or 50 (in dollars) but I would think every little bit helps.

[camp guy]

Ths is an age-old question, and a frequent topic on this Forum, particularly this time of year.

I live here year round, so I may not be the best source of information.

First of all, you can never save money by putting your house at risk. The damage caused by frozen pipes, cracked ceilings, damaged appliances, etc., is far more expensive than heating your house at between 45 - 50 degrees F all winter. Also, youj need some sort of signalling method to notify you, or somebody, if the heating system fails and the temperature falls below 45 degrees.

You might want to engage the services of a property watch company to check your house periodically just in case something happens to happen.

You might also want to check with your homeowner insurance company to see what they say about winter coverage. It would be terrible to shut your house down, have a problem, and then find out that there is a clause in your Policy that vacates coverage if the house is not heated.

The hard cold facts are that having a second home brings a second set of costs, and trying to cut down on these costs may not be the best plan.

Good luck to you, and solicit as many opinions as you can, but remember, it is your house, not theirs, and you will be responsible for the costs of damages, not them.

[Chaselady]

Originally Posted by ishoot308

LCD TVs are used in conversion vans and motor homes and are really not affected by cold weather. I have two 50" LCD TVs in my camp that have had no issues and survived 5 winters so far? I don't do anything special except unplug them.

Plasma TVs do not handle cold well!

Dan

We have been told the opposite, that LCD ( liquid crystal ) shoul not get cold as they will freeze....so we bought a plasma for the cottage. No problems at all.

[ishoot308]

Originally Posted by Chaselady

We have been told the opposite, that LCD ( liquid crystal ) shoul not get cold as they will freeze....so we bought a plasma for the cottage. No problems at all.

That is interesting Chaselady... When I was purchasing the two TVs 5 years ago for my camp I contacted Samsungs technical support and they were the ones who informed me that their LCD TV's would handle the cold better than their plasmas. They also stated that their LCD's were good for -4 degrees. They did however tell me before plugging them in to make sure they were up to room temperature for at least two hours which I always do.

I just checked their web site now and according to Samsung, both their plasma and LCD TV's are good to -4 degrees for storage!

So I guess either way if it's working stick with it!

Dan

[Merrymeeting]

Originally Posted by Chaselady

We have been told the opposite, that LCD ( liquid crystal ) shoul not get cold as they will freeze....so we bought a plasma for the cottage. No problems at all.

If there was an issue here, there would be a raft of electronic device failures every day of the winter as people leave their phones, laptops, tablets, tv's, etc in a freezing car for the day.

You do need to be careful about powering them up before allowing for a slow, steady, warming.

[Blue Thunder]

Winterizing a water system is extremely easy with a small compressor like this available at Harbor Freight.
http://www.harborfreight.com/air-too...sor-60637.html
I hook mine up to the outside sillcock/garden hose connection. It blows all the lines in the house, no disconnecting anything. Just run the washer and dishwasher momentarily to get the water out of the supply lines then pink anti freeze all the drains, traps and toilets as others have described above. Piece of cake.
BT

[BroadHopper]

When Dad remodeled/winterize the cottage back in the 80's his plumber Don Morin had all the pipes set up so that the water by gravity will drain back to the pump just by opening a faucet near the pump and opening all the spigots and faucets in the house. Simple as that! We don't have a dishwasher to contend with. We have great family time together manually washing and drying the dishes. We do have an old washer that for some reason never been a problem (1960's Maytag). Even the hot water heater drains at the same time.

AS for the artesian well pump, there was some kind of drainback that allows the water to drain back down the well so that it won't freeze. It is somewhat expensive to setup this way but, it gives peace of mind.