Question For Snowbirds About Winterizing Your Home Up North

[dbevins]

Those of you that spend 3-4 months (winter months) in the Villages do you drain your hot water tank in your home up north before coming to the Villages?

[OpusX1]

No, we put our gas hot water on the low setting, not pilot just low. We do the same here when we go up north. A plumber told me it was better for the burner to have it fire up once or twice a day eliminating any moisture that might build up On the burner and control parts. This has worked well for us for the past six years. We are in TV 8 months.

[tpop1]

Our process is:

Shut off water,
Drain the pipes,
Shut HW heater off (We do not drain),
Set furnace to 45 to 50 (alternating time slots) degrees,
Come to T.V. and have fun!!!!

[George Bieniaszek]

Our process is:

Shut off water,
Drain the pipes,
Shut HW heater off (We do not drain),
Set furnace to 45 to 50 (alternating time slots) degrees,
Come to T.V. and have fun!!!!


I do basically the same except set the water heater at the vacation setting;
Set the thermostat to our vacation setting (55 degrees);
Turn off the cable and internet (saves us approx. $180/month);
Installed a thermometer outlet with a lamp plugged in. If the temp inside the house gets to 40 degrees or lower, the lamp turns on. Our neighbors know that if they see a light on in the living room and if my kids cars are not in the driveway checking on the house, they call me to alert me. Fortunately, we never got the call.

Found that device on Amazon in case anyone is interested :)

[justjim]

We have a checklist for leaving Illinois and one for leaving TV. It has about 20 items on it. I highly recommend you make yourself one. I do not drain the water heater or any pipes. We turn off the water at the main valve and set the thermostat at 55.

Our son checks on our place about once a week or when it gets real real cold. In TV we have a "house watch" person that checks on everything once a week and reports via email. I also highly recommend you have someone dependable to do the same.

[bonrich]

I do much of what was stated. But since where we live, we get some lively storms, we do have electrical failures. So, I turn the breaker off for our electric cook range, pull the plug on the microwave. Pull all plugs for the TV's, still a power drain even when not turned on. Turn the hot water tank setting to vacation and then run all the hot water out and allow the cold water in. Set up our heat and vacation setting on our thermostat, put cable on vacation. Also turn off the breaker for the central air, yep sometimes in April and early May, gets warm. But since I wrap my A/C to protect from snow and ice, don't want it to start up until uncovered. Keep the driveway plowed out so it does look like there is someone living there. Have lights on timers in different rooms.
Also, put our up North car (have two autos) on a battery tender, put Stable in the gas tank. Also cancel full insurance on the car, except Comprehensive, turn in our plates to DMV for storage. When we go back, get the insurance back in full, and pick up plates. Saves quite a bit on auto insurance when we do this.

[dadspet]

One thing we do is set up a red light in the window that will turn on if the temp goes below 42. We set our heat about 54. You get them at Lowes or Home Depot and I think they are called Winter Guardian by Honeywell. But be aware they are not very accurate and you need to test when they will come on. I alert the neighbors to watch for the red light to come on and call us. We do suit off the water and drain it from the faucets. We stop internet and cable since its cheaper to restart it when we get back then go on snowbird service and since I have it disconnected they always give me the special lowest intro rate. Telephone is by MagicJack so I just take it back and forth with us and have the same phone number in Fl or NY (for only $20/yr).
Used to have snow removal but stopped it until my grandson was able to do it to give him some spending money. If we remember we put a light on 2 on a timer but electrical outage tend to create problems with this at times.
I learned the hard way to put gas stabilizer in all my gas tools and toys.

[keithwand]

We use a freeze alarm purchased from Amazon.
It plugs into your phone line and calls you if the temp. goes below the temp you set.
We use another one here as a heat alarm. Calls you if the house gets to hot.

[capecodder1]

I have hot water heat ( baseboard ) and have been advised not to turn off the water to the house. I did have shutofffs installed that let me shut off water to the kitchen, laundry area, and bathrooms.
I also use a low heat sensor, Winter Watchman by Honeywell, and it turns on a red light in my front window. In addition, I have a security system that also senses temperature as well as water on the basement floor.
My how water system is a stainless steel tank and can be shut off, but I do not drain it.
I use camper style antifreeze and put a small amount in each drain and toilet.
Also, I open the doors to all bath vanities to let air flow.
My heat is set to 55 degrees ( could be lower I guess).
I do have a neighbor who checks on the house every couple weeks.

[SGTKMAC]

What is the item called? Would love to get one. Thanks

[nitehawk]

What is the item called? Would love to get one. Thanks

Deluxe Freeze Alarm (FA-D2) (http://www.diycontrols.com/p-6874-deluxe-freeze-alarm-fa-d2.aspx?gclid=CKz_6u-SxroCFYqk4AodJSUAxA)
I pays to get the good one

[justjim]

The second summer of our new TV home the air conditioner threw craps. Our "house watch" person was right there to call me and setup a repair. You don't want to be without air in Florida and you don't want to be without heat up north.

It's really important to have somebody checking things out and turning "things" on once in a while. An idle "machine" can turn into the need for a new one. Pay now or pay more later----can be very true.

[livsea2]

Up until this coming year we were snow birds. I had both a dial up freeze alarm, which would call three people including me. AND a freeze alarm which would turn on a light in the window so my neighbor who had a key could address the problem. I left the heat set to 50 degrees. and the alarm set to 40. Never had a problem in 3 years of doing that. But I also had two close relatives within two miles of the house as well.