It depends how far below freezing it’s going to go and for how long. A few degrees should be ok. If it’s you going to be below 27° all night, we turn them off inside and open them up outside to drain the outside part.
Unheated space? I’d turn the water off outside. I have concerns about draining the water heater. The purpose of turning the water off outside is to lessen the damage if a pipe bursts. A drip might lessen the risk of a pipe bursting, but won’t mitigate the damage if one does.
“Just Jiggel the Handle”
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All I Got
Depends on how long you’ll be away.
I’d shutoff the water supply and drain all pipes if possible.
(I’ve got a cabin and included drain valves at the low point of both hot and cold lines)
Other wise turn on low flow (hot and cold) at all locations.
If you’re concerned about the cost of running the water heater, shut it off. Don’t forget the shower if you have one.
Turn off the water, open all valves, empty the toilets and tanks.
I turn the water off at the meter and open outside faucets to drain the pipes. Not a complete drain but there in no pressurized water plus the pipes have plenty of air in them for any pocket of freezing water to expand and not break the pipes.
Depends. If you’re there you can leave the faucet with a trickle. If you’re not going to be there it’s best to shut off the water from the outside.
“Is one method better than the other?”
Move to a warmer climate.
wy69
Here are the three things a plumber needs to know:
1. Hot on left, cold on right
2. Shit runs downhill
3. Payday is on Friday
Happy Thanksgivings
Letting faucet drip does nothing to prevent freezing.
Is this your first year to own the farm house?
Don’t forget the traps. You might want to pour RV anti-freeze in all the traps.
How cold is it going to get at night? Are the outside water pipes fully exposed or are they shielded either by the cabin or by being buried underground? And remember that if is is cold enough for long enough a drain pipe can freeze too if water is trickling through it. And remember that any drain traps are full of water. Do you use this cabin this time of year or is it just sitting.
The best way to winterize is either blow all the water lines out with air and dump RV antifreeze in the drain traps.
Or to use a pump to fill all the waterlines with RV anti Freeze.
But the layout of your system is very important in determining what it can survive. And which parts of it can survive relative to how cold it is going to get overall.
The ground and the cabin will hold some heat for a period of time.
Close off the water heater, turn off the water at the meter, drain everything by turning on faucets and hose bibbs and then close them all again, and make sure that a vacuum didn’t start sucking the water out of the water heater and then open it’s valves again and set on low, get the water out of the toilet so that it doesn’t crack.
You can loosen the union at the street meter to drain the last amount of water, when you turn the water back on try to blow the air out of the lines with the hose bibbs and with the faucets that are easiest to repair (use the bathtub faucet and then the sink faucet, toilet last) since they might get debris in them which would make them drip or the toilet run, pay attention to the faucet aerators clogging.
Think about your canned foods and toiletries, and other liquids in containers that can freeze.
Most important is the toilet; water from the above ground cistern off and flow pipe drained, toilet flushed while off and automotive anti-freeze added to bowl and residual water in the toilet tank.
No water heater.
You tube has lots of videos that you can watch
IMO—OPTION B
37°F is not a factor. You don’t need to do anything. Measure the temperature of the water coming out of a faucet. This is what matters. 40°F. isn’t a problem but if it starts towards 32° is time to take action.
Ambient outside air temp needs to get below freezing, and stay there for a while. The poster who suggests turning on a faucet to a trickle does nothing is incorrect. It absolutely works and in a hard freeze will save your plumbing.
Find the most distant faucet (usually in a bathroom) in the system and crack it open so a thin stream of water, about the size of a pencil lead trickles. Open cabinets under the kitchen sink and places like that so warmer air can circulate. This is one reason why setting the thermostat super low is not a good idea, it should never be set lower than the 50s in subzero weather, outside pipes will reach much colder than that.
You can also strategically position a Coleman lantern in crawlspace or places where pipes tend to freeze up first.
Switch to Linux.