winter storage of your house

[scroxfo]

Spending our first winter away from our house in northern Ohio. Been away that long before but during warmer weather. Any winterizing  tips from you snow birds?

 

[56safari]

We turn off the water, shut down the water heater, set the heat at 48 degrees, use a monitor that calls us if the temp falls below 45 degrees, put the phone on forward to the cell, suspend cable and data, call the security company, notify the police, have a friend check the house periodically, have the same friend drive up and down the driveway any time it snows (he goes by our street to and from work), forward all the mail to our winter location, set up timers for normally used lights, set a few mouse traps in attached garage (have caught a couple over the years) and hope each year is as trouble free as the last!

I always worry a little about a thermostat keeping the heater running constantly as it happened to my parents once.  Haven't come up with a solution for that worry. but the friend is usually by the house every other week.

I'm sure there are other risks, but we're pretty comfortable leaving.  Hope the list helps!

 

[Hfx_Cdn]

    Check your insurance policy to see how often the house needs to be checked, and then arrange for someone to perform those checks. 
    We had a fire and a temperature sensor to our alarm system which is monitored. 
    Unless you are heated by hot water, you could shut off the water valve and open the water taps
    Clean the fridge, unplug it and place something in the doors to allow air to flow and prevent mould, but we do leave our deep freeze running
    Our insurance requires us to have our driveway plowed/cleared
    We have various timers throughout the house programmed to come on and off at different times.
    We put the second vehicle in the garage, disconnect the battery, and use some stabilizer in the tank, also stabilizer in the mower
    Put the phone, cable, newspaper on seasonal
    We have almost all of our monthly bills online with automatic debit

Then, relax have a beer and remember anything I didn't mention that you need to do.

Ed

 

[SpencerPJ]

I agree about the timers, once we were gone, lost power 3 hours, threw our mechanical timers off really bad.  Maybe buy a little better ones with battery backup

https://www.amazon.com/Woods-50007WD-24-Hour-Digital-Polarized/dp/B005WQIDHY/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1542066720&sr=8-5&keywords=electric+timers+for+lights&dpID=31AIvX7Lj7L&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

edit: I don't have these, they were only an example that show battery backup.  Do your research on amazon 

 

[SeilerBird]

Spending our first winter away from our house in northern Ohio. Been away that long before but during warmer weather. Any winterizing  tips from you snow birds?

Live in Florida year round. ;D

 

[Prior member]

I live in the high mountains of NC where many nights are below zero and all I do is turn the breaker off to the water heater,drain it, drain all the pipes, ( I  have low point drains) and put antifreeze in the plumbing traps and the toilet.
I don't leave any heat on and in 30 years of snow birding we never have had a problem with the washing machine, dishwasher or any electronics

If you can't get all the water out of the pipes you will have cracked pipes, (from experience) !

jack L

 

[DearMissMermaid]

I would definitely find someone to trust with a key.

On the other hand, you can advertise at caretakers.org and get someone in there rent free and let them pay the utilities and take care of the place.

 

[scroxfo]

Thank you all!
Good stuff.

 

[ZinLuvR]

After replacing ALL the plumbing in the house after one winter while away, I discovered the original plumber had put "traps" inside the walls in many places with the original copper piping.  The low point drain was not a true low point due to the traps in the walls.  I now have all pex with a true low point drain.  RV antifreeze in all drains.  Water heaters have been replaced with tankless.  Air valves have been put in a couple high spots to blow out the water lines.  We have a standby generator.  Heat is by propane that we keep in the low 50's.  House is alarmed and monitored.  Our nearest neighbor is about 1/4 mile away, they own a 12 ga shotgun and not afraid to use it, we always call and let them know when we are returning.  Never had a problem, except for repairing the plumbing the weekend plumber who originally put in.  We hit minus 20 here and will go for more than a month without getting above freezing.

 

[Tom Hoffman]

Just the same as going out for the day and set the thermostat for 50.  Neighbor checks it once or twice a week.  Lane and walk are plowed and shoveled as needed during SNOW (UGHHHH).

We live in Iowa where it has been known to get a mite below Zero for days at a time.