I am in mid-Michigan where winters can be long and cold. I am selling a house, which is vacant, and I am looking for advice on if I should drain the water pipes and turn off the gas water heater during the winter months. I would rather not pay high gas bills to heat water that I am not using. The furnace will be on at 55 degrees to ensure that pipes will not freeze. Thanks

I am in mid-Michigan where winters can be long and cold. I am selling a house, which is vacant, and I am looking for advice on if I should drain the water pipes and turn off the gas water heater during the winter months. I would rather not pay high gas bills to heat water that I am not using. The furnace will be on at 55 degrees to ensure that pipes will not freeze. Thanks
If you're going to heat your home during the winter months then you should be OK, however, if you didn't choose to run the furnace I would recommend draining and blowing out the water lines, filling all the traps with motor oil or anti-freeze and pouring a gallon of anti-freeze into each toilet until it flushed away the water and retained the anti-freeze in the trap.
Good luck, Tom