| Author | Message | ||
     No_rice |
so anyone have any experiance with that? my hours got cut to 30 hours a week a bit ago. now today they decided they wanted to do seasonal layoff crap. well atleast the way it looks anyway. the owner is "going to think about it" over the weekend. so... that leaves me with no job. yes i can get unemployment. im just not sure i can survive on that. much less if i can keep my sanity. having sunday, monday and tuesday off every week was leaving me way to much time to think about things lately and thats not been a good thing. anyway, enough whining. i am debating on disapearing for a few months this winter. which would leave my house just sitting here. it irritates me to think i have to leave the heat on all winter just so the pipes dont freeze. i do have heat wrap on them but i doubt that would be enough if the heat wasnt running. so... what would you do? drain all the plumbing, seal the place up and leave it? if so what is all involved in that. i would figure you would have to pressurize the lines with air and get all the water out but what do i know. any brilliant ideas? obviously i need to do this to try and keep my cost down during the winter. and if im not here why pay for heat... hell i still havent even turned it on yet anyway! | ||
| Andyss1w |
ok, drain the house down including draining the water heater(turn gas or elec off to heater prior to draining heater). hook air up to the house, blow anything remaining water out.remember to open all faucets and take apart all angle stops. sponge out toilet trap and tank. drain any remaining water out of any other traps. (ie sink and lav.)fill all traps and including toilet with rv antifreeze. fill toilet tank with about an inch of antifreeze. make sure all ball valves are turned half open. ball valves will freeze and break in the open or closed position. if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask. this is not hard, just takes time (2hrs.) and a little bit of thought. | ||
| Sifo |
I've seen my uncle and my dad do this many times in northern MI. Shut the water off, open all the faucets to let the lines drain (outside ones too). Flush toilets one last time. Plunger the traps to get most of the water out on sinks and toilets. Pour some antifreeze into the traps on sinks and toilets. Never any problems. The pipes don't need to be completely dry. They just need to be empty enough so that when any remaining water freezes it can expand without having to expand the pipe. One point I'm not sure about. My dad's place and my uncle's place both had well water that can be shut off and drained. If you are on city water all you can do is shut the valve off, but you still have water up to the valve. That would leave a place for water to freeze. I'm guessing a mobile home can be easily disconnected if you are on a water source not under your control though. Hope thing turn around for you soon. | ||
| Thumper74 |
RV antifreeze is cheap and can be found at most autoparts stores. | ||
| Brumbear |
shut the valve off at the street if you have citywater they may even do it for you. MOTHBALLS in the garage and cellar and attach it will keep the furry fellas at bay a little. If you have a well shut the valve drain everything mothball the rest trow the main breaker lock the door see ya in the spring. DO NOT FORGET TO DRAIN THE HOT WATER HEATER!!!!!!! and before you power it up in the spring DO NOT FORGET TO FILL THE WATER HEATER | ||
| Rotzaruck |
shut the valve off, but you still have water up to the valve The water meters (if you aren't on a well), around here all have unions on the inlet and outlet. If we don't have a valve in a box below ground level, we loosen the meter union and drain the water in the riser back to there. Pressure regulators can cause a little trouble draining sometimes. Most of them have unions also, or you can take them apart and put it back together. If you have an electric water heater, put a piece of tape over the breaker so you don't forget and turn it on before you fill the tank with water. However much time it takes is worth the effort, sometimes the pipes in mobile homes are very hard to get to and repair. | ||
| Bluzm2 |
Tim, Is the plumbing in your mob copper or PEX? Pex is less sensitive to freezing copper is not.. You still need to drain or blow down all the plumbing. If you cant get the water shut off "at the street" you may be able to get by with heat tape where the water enters the trailer, before first valve. Then drain everything else. This is what my neighbor does with their trailer up in way northern MN, just leaves the heat tape on all winter. Brad | ||
| No_rice |
im going to go insane. i am officially unemployed as of today... layed off for the winter, how ever long that ends up being. anyway, i have a main shut off to the trailer so that is not a big problem. the draining all the lines will be a bit hard. as far as ive seen most of the plumbing is pvc. there is a bit of copper under the sink, but i know we just redid the whole bathroom and its all pvc. plus i figured i would have to dump antifreeze down the plumbing to help make sure also. that makes sense. | ||
| Bluzm2 |
Tim, just blow it out. Make up a fitting and hook it to a compressor. It doesn't have to be a big one. Then sponge out the water in the toilet(s) and dump in some RV antifreeze as mentioned above. Then the only thing you have to worry about is the line feeding the trailer. Bummer about the layoff Tim, really sorry to hear that. Brad | ||
| Oddalloy |
Tim... not sure if this is applicable to mobile homes or your situation but if you have Homeowners Insurance, you might check your policy... some insurance companies won't pay-out for a "covered loss" (fire, break-in, storm damage, etc.) that occurs while the dwelling is not "continuously occupied". Their definition of continuously occupied varies too. I ran across this issue when a family member passed and the house was vacant while on the real estate market. I hope things turn around for you. -Scott | ||
| Svh |
Tim- I hope things turn around for you soon. What do you do? Is there a better market for your career somewhere else? Keep your options open. EBR may be hiring Dec 1....  | ||
| Xl1200r |
Man, good luck with the job - that really sucks to hear. The advice in here good, but may be a little overkill. We close up a 100+ year old cottage every year on the shore in MA. We turn the water off at the street and disconnect the line at the meter going into the street. Then all the faucets are either left open and on or removed. Drain the water heater, washing machine, etc. We don't use any air to blow out the lines, but this cottage is elevated off the ground, so perhaps that's the reason. We also don't sponge out the toilet - just flush and plunge out as much as you can and then add the RV antifreeze. Good luck with it - if it were me, I'd probably just set the thermostat to 40 degrees and leave it... Hope you figure out what you need to figure out. |
