A Guide to Winterizing Your Home

These tips are provided to aid you, the homeowner, in winterizing your home. While no one can guarantee against frozen/broken pipes, it is important that you take steps to prevent that from happening.

Also, you may prefer to contact a registered Master Plumber to perform your winterization for you. Be sure that you have a licensed plumber who will have a WSSC identification number. Ask for it...for your own peace of mind.

If you are planning a long winter vacation and your home will be unoccupied, be sure to winterize your property. The purpose of winterizing your home is to remove water, which can freeze, from within the pipelines and other areas on site.

Follow These Steps to "Winterize-It-Yourself":

1. Turn off the heat source to the furnace and water heater. If the water heater is electric or oil, turn off the power at the switch. If the water heater is gas, you must turn off the gas valve. In most cases, you can turn off the furnace by switching off the electrical power supply.
   
   
2. Close the main water valve or supply to your home. This valve is usually located in the basement or laundry room of your home. After the main valve has been securely turned off, open (or turn on) all inside faucets -- kitchen sink, bathroom sinks, tubs, showers and laundry room basin -- and all outside faucets. Also, be sure to remove garden hoses from the outside spigots. The purpose of opening all faucets is to drain all water from the pipelines within, and outside of, the home.
   
   
3. The next step is to drain the water heater.

   If you own an electric hot water heater -- Read This!
   
   

   Special precautions must be used in draining and filling an electric hot water heater. Electricity must be turned off before draining or refilling the hot water tank.

   To drain your hot water heater, simply connect a hose to the drain at the bottom of the heater and allow the water to run into the floor drain. If you do not have a floor drain, extend the hose to the outside of the house, or establish a "bucket brigade" to a nearby laundry tub to remove the drained water from the heater. Once the heater has been drained, be sure you close the valve at the base of the heater.

4. After all the pipes are drained, they should be protected. You can protect "exposed" pipes by wrapping them with insulation or, in cases when the water cannot be totally removed from the pipelines that are exposed, a heat tape can be used. The traps in the toilets; all basins, sinks, tubs/showers and laundry tubs should also be protected from freezing. To protect your toilet, you should first flush it (with the water supply turned off) -- this will clear the tank of any water. Next, sponge out any excess water remaining in the tank. Dip out some of the remaining water in the toilet bowl, then add a dilution of propyleneglycol anti-freeze as this is non-toxic. (DO NOT USE the type of anti-freeze that you put into your car/truck to winterize the vehicle). The reason you leave some water in the toilet bowl is to adequately seal the traps so sewer gas will not enter your home through the drainways. Also, pour the non-toxic solution into all the drains in your home.

When you return...

To "De-Winterize" your home follow these steps:

If you own an electric hot water heater, Read This!

Fill your hot water heater before you turn on the electricity!

Special precautions must be taken in filling and draining your hot water heater. The electricity must be off.

IF THE ELECTRICAL HEATING ELEMENT IS TURNED ON BEFORE YOU FILL THE TANK WITH WATER, THERE IS A POSSIBILITY THAT THE HEATING ELEMENT WILL BURN OUT!

1. Turn off all faucets before opening the main water valve. While the water is filling the system, stand by one fixture with the faucets open. When the water begins to flow from the cold water faucet, turn it off and leave the hot water faucet open until water flows from that spigot. This indicates that the hot water heater is full. Now turn off the hot water faucet. Pause and then open each faucet until water flows without any air spitting out of the spigot.
   
   
2. Turn on the hot water heater.
   
   
3. Flush the non-toxic solution from all the toilets.

Hot Water Heating Systems

If your home has a hot water heating system (with baseboard or conventional radiators), this system must be drained when you are winterizing your home.

To drain this system, start by turning off the electrical power source and water supply. If you have a natural gas powered system, the gas valve and pilot must be turned off. Next open the drain valve on the bottom of the furnace. The expansion tank is usually suspended from the ceiling above the furnace and should have a drain valve for a hose connection. Drain the expansion tank. While you are draining the tank, the reduction in pressure will cause the draining process from the furnace and tank to slow down. After the tank is drained, open all radiator or baseboard air vents on the top floor and, as the water level drops, open the vents on the lower floors.

When you are ready to turn your heating system on again, first close all the vents, the boiler drains, and the expansion tanks. Turn on the water feed valve and begin venting the radiators, starting on the first floor and working your way up. Turn the power back on and you are ready to start warming up.

Special Notes:

If you will be gone for just a short period of time, find a reliable, trustworthy neighbor to "baby-sit" your home. See if they will agree to check your home daily. But more importantly, be sure to leave them with the authority to call for emergency repairs should the need arise. It's a good practice to leave the name and telephone number of your service companies in an obvious location (such as taped to the furnace or the hot water heater) so your neighbor can contact the companies in an emergency.

If you have any questions on this guide or run into problems, please call the WSSC code enforcement section for more information,
(301) 206-8525.