Closing Up a Lake House for Winter Without Coming Back to a Flood

There are a lot of weekend and seasonal properties around Lake Tawakoni, out past Quinlan and Point, and along the quieter stretches of Lake Ray Hubbard. Most of them sit unoccupied through January and February, which is exactly when North Texas gets its hard freezes.

The failure mode is not complicated. A pipe splits while nobody is there, and it runs — at full pressure, into the structure — until somebody arrives. That is the difference between a repair and a rebuild, and it is entirely preventable.

Option one: drain it down

For a property you genuinely will not visit until spring, this is the right answer and it is close to bulletproof. Nothing freezes if there is no water in the pipes.

1. Shut off the water at the main, and confirm the valve actually closed rather than assuming.
2. Turn off the water heater. Gas to pilot or off entirely; electric at the breaker. An electric element that fires in a drained tank destroys itself in minutes.
3. Open every faucet, hot and cold, and flush every toilet.
4. Drain the water heater through its bottom drain valve.
5. Open the lowest drain point in the system and any drain valves on the supply lines.
6. Blow the lines out with compressed air at low pressure if you can, or use non-toxic RV antifreeze in traps and low points.
7. Pour RV antifreeze into every trap — sinks, tubs, showers, floor drains — and into toilet bowls and tanks. Traps hold water and traps freeze.
8. Disconnect and drain hoses, and drain any irrigation and the backflow assembly.

Option two: keep it warm and monitored

If you will be using the property intermittently, draining and refilling every visit is impractical. Then the objective is to keep the building above freezing and to know immediately if something goes wrong.

• Set the thermostat no lower than 55°F. Lower saves very little and gives you no margin during a multi-day event.
• Open cabinet doors under sinks on exterior walls so household heat reaches the pipes.
• Install a freeze alarm or a smart thermostat with a low-temperature alert that reaches your phone. This is the item that actually saves the house.
• Add water leak sensors near the water heater, under sinks and at the laundry connection. Ones that alert remotely are worth the difference.
• Best of all, fit an automatic shutoff valve that closes the main when a leak is detected. On an unoccupied property that is the difference between a puddle and a catastrophe.
• Have somebody local check the property after any hard freeze. A neighbour with a key beats any device.

The things people forget

• The ice maker line — a small tube running to the back of the fridge, easily missed and easily split.
• A water softener, filter housing or reverse osmosis unit, all of which hold water.
• The boat house, pump house or dock plumbing.
• An outdoor kitchen or bar sink, which is by definition outdoors.
• The washing machine, which holds water in the pump and hoses.
• A dishwasher, same reason.
• The water heater pan drain, which should be clear before you leave rather than after you return.

Opening it back up

1. Close all the faucets you left open before you turn anything on.
2. Open the main slowly. A sudden surge into an empty system produces water hammer that can damage fittings.
3. Refill the water heater completely before restoring power or gas to it. Confirm water runs steadily from a hot tap first.
4. Walk the whole property while the system is pressurised and look and listen at every fixture, under every sink, and at the water heater.
5. Check the meter with everything off. Movement means something split while you were away and has not made itself obvious yet.
6. Flush the lines through until the antifreeze is gone and the water runs clear.

We cover the lake communities across Rockwall, Hunt and Kaufman counties as part of our normal route. Family-owned, based in Rockwall. TX Master Plumber TXM11693, TX HVAC TACLB2360E. (469) 338-5533.