Snowbird

[gclausen]

We live in the western Massachusetts woods. In winter we loose power frequently mostly because of tree limbs taking down power lines.
We are snowbirds and during the past couple of winters I've had to rely on my neighbor to pull out my construction site generator and hook it to the house to prevent my plumbing from freezing.
1. I was wondering if it's a good or bad idea to drain my plumbing so if we loose power I don't need to run the generator.
2. Is all house plumbing "drainable"?
3. How do I drain my house plumbing, or should I have a pro do it?

 

[Geofd]

Yes you should drain your house and put the mobile home type anti freeze in all of your traps, yes you should have someone who's
Experienced in doing it
If you do go with a generator, if you have propane, you will run out eventually,so you gotta have a fuel contractor on a contract
If you have natural gas you should be ok with having to have a gas contractor, use them for yearly cleanings/tune ups,there are also thermostats that will alert you if you temp drops below a certain temps

 

[Mitchell-DIY-Guy]

If this is a home instead of a cabin, and power outages happen frequently you should consider a permanent whole house generator and keep the heat on and low.

 

[gclausen]

yes, this is our home, it is not a cabin.

 

[Geofd]

yes, this is our home, it is not a cabin.

How do you heat, natural gas or propane , my parents had a second home in New Hampshire, the only fuel was oil, be fore they lived there full time my dad drained it down and treated the traps, he never had a problem, I took very little time to prime the Well and get the heat going