Winterizing the plumbing system with Dad

By Richard Brignall

Winterizing the plumbing system really comes down to one basic principle: What goes up must come down. To keep water from freezing in the pipes (and bursting them), supply lines should all slope down to a low point under or outside the cottage.

Cold autumn mornings may make us pine for the dog days of summer, but fall has its own benefits. Though the nights are longer and days shorter, there’s more time to do all the projects we put off during the summer. We trade in the swimsuit for a flannel shirt, replace the ice tea set with a large thermos of coffee, and set out with renewed energy to get a few projects finished.

The most significant job for many cottagers, of course, is putting the cottage away for winter. It’s also a key one for keeping anxiety at a reasonable level: Do a bang-up job in fall and you’ll sleep better through the long winter nights, without having to worry about whether you forgot to leave the taps open or lock the door to the boathouse on your final trip to the cottage.

I’m fortunate that the only sleepless nights I have during the winter are when I’m yearning for the next cottage season. I rarely find unexpected surprises waiting for me in the spring.

Father knows best

This peace of mind didn’t happen overnight, though, but was part of a learning process that started as a rite of passage when I was a boy, following my father around the cottage as he closed it down each fall. He showed me how the jet pump draws water from the lake and pushes it to the pressure tank. The pressure tank holds the water, but also pushes it on through the interior plumbing lines to all the faucets. He explained that the hot water tank has two elements inside, top and bottom, which heat the water to a set temperature. Dad’s dire warnings that any water left to freeze at any point in that system over the winter can cause the pipes or tanks to burst left indelible marks on my young psyche. But most important, he provided the best reason for doing the job right in the fall: If I didn’t, not only would the resulting mess likely be my fault, but more jobs would appear in the spring because it would become my responsibility to find the breaks and get the water system running again.

Life was simple when we first became cottagers, and not just because I was only 11 years old. A one-room cottage and a shower house were all we needed to have fun on a weekend – we didn’t even have a kitchen. Our water system was as simple as the cottage and should have been a snap to winterize. However, the hot water tank and pressure tank were located on the deck beside the shower house, with all the copper pipes leaving the tanks in various directions. With the tanks open to all the elements, they were starting to rust in the worst of ways – from the bottom up.

At least closing the water system in the fall was a simple task: The shower house was the only building with running water. The supply lines to the two sinks and shower in this building drained to a single point located near the pressure and hot water tanks, which themselves were easily drained through valves on the bottom of the tanks. (We learned after the first year that a length of garden hose fitted onto the drain valve made for a much drier winterizing experience.)

A new addition

After a couple of seasons we added a kitchen and, eventually, put on an even larger addition that not only doubled the size of the cottage, but also transformed us as cottagers. We now had a fully functional bathroom, a full kitchen, and a laundry area. We also had to completely redesign the plumbing system.

Our first step was to move the pressure tank and hot water tank under the cottage, which was enclosed and thus dry all year long. Since this was the lowest point of the system, the supply lines between the two tanks and the interior plumbing would drain when the tanks were drained. In addition, we sloped all the supply lines from the kitchen and bathroom to one set of drain valves that was located on the exterior wall of the cottage, just in case any water did remain in the lines.

When we installed this new system, we also made sure everything was accessible. Why spend time crawling around under the cottage on your hands and knees to open drain valves each fall if you don’t have to?

Not everyone learns from Dad

Unlike my experience following Dad around, the learning process can be very different for new cottagers, who often throw themselves suddenly into the responsibility of maintaining a cottage. Chores seem straightforward enough over the summer – cutting grass, changing a few loose boards on the deck, taking the empties back – but come fall, cottagers may be left scratching their heads, trying to figure out the previous owner’s water system draining procedure, the heart of the winterizing process.

More than one professional has had calls from panicked cottagers seeking advice about plumbing. Ray Landry, of Raymar Plumbing and Heating in Kenora, is a kind of father figure for new property owners (and many long-time ones, too) on Lake of the Woods. He sees it as his mission to educate cottagers on the benefits of proper plumbing and thorough winterizing. “I install systems for lots of people who also want me to close them down each year, which I’m happy to do,” he says. “But I always try to teach the owners how to open and close their places themselves. Everybody in the family should be involved in learning how their cottage plumbing works. Once you know that, creating an efficient closing-up system is easy.”

Here, then, are 10 tips from the pro, himself

Published in the September/October 2004 issue of Cottage Life magazine.

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