Hi, I have a cottage in Michigan and LP gas is very expensive to heat the cottage all winter, but I do go up now and then to cross country ski. So, I was thinking of buying a phone control to turn the heat on the cottage a day or two before I go up. I would drain the water lines, put RV antifreeze in the drains, turn the heat completely off and shut off the water in the well..

I was hoping I could leave the hot water tank full. I would leave the pilot light on and put it on vacation setting, and turn off the valve leading to the tank and drain all the lines.. It would be a big pain to drain the whole tank at the end of every ski weekend.

Would that work? I would not want the tank to evaporate and have a problem, or be able to freeze in the -25 degree weather.

Any thoughts appreciated.

There could be more damage to your weekend home by completely shutting everything down like you want to. It is not a good idea to completely have every heat source turned off. You could turn down the thermostat as low as it will go though. I know gas is expensive but what is more expensive could be structure damage to the home from the intense cold. What do your neighbors do? Do they shut everything up and not come back all winter long? Redraining everything after a weekend, etc like you propose is going to be time consuming and what happens if you forget one time to do all this and you have shut off the heat source and your pipes burst from the cold?

Just my thoughs on the topic.

If you do a total heat shut down you need to drain the heater tank too. I too have a weekend place and set the temp at 45 degrees. I control it with a telephone stat from the Ezra Group, cost me about $225 and you need a full time phone line. The Ezra Group - Providing controls to the HVAC professional - COMMSTAT Programmable Communicating Thermostat for Your Home, Vacation Property or Office. Lots of things go crazy during a total shut down and even at 45 degrees. A refrigerator will not work properly at below 45 degrees, the food will stay cold but the freezer will not freeze. Propane purchased on a year long pre-paid contract currently runs about about $2.60 a gallon so it does cost you.

Thanks for the note on the fridge. I had not considered that my ketchup, etc would freeze. I do not keep freezer food there. Rethinking, the room the utility room the hot water tank is in is very small. A really small furnace and a bar fridge put in there would keep that room heated, and I could just drain the rest of the system and shut off the big fridge. I appreciate the replies.

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I would drain the water lines, put RV antifreeze in the drains, turn the heat completely off and shut off the water in the well.. Then I could just drain the rest of the system and shut off the big fridge.

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You also have a hidden trap in the toilet bowl with another gallon. Did you forget about that? Fill a bucket with enough anti-freeze to make it flush. That way you will be replacing the trap and water in the bowl with anti-freeze. Simply sponging out the bole won't protect it from freezing. Good luck, Tom

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I would drain the water lines, put RV antifreeze in the drains, turn the heat completely off and shut off the water in the well and just drain the rest of the system and shut off the big fridge.

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Did you forget the gallon of water that's still hidden in the trap of the toilet bowl. Take a bucket full of Anti-Freeze and pour it in the toilet bowl to make it flush. That will replace the water in the bowl and trap. Simply dipping out the water from the bowl won't winterize your toilet. Good luck, Tom