How to Blow Out Your Home/Cabin Plumbing For Winter
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- Опубликовано: 13 сен 2024
- Originally recorded December 11, 2016.
If you have a cabin or summer home, you may wish to close it down for the colder season(s). While you can set the heat in the house very low, if you drain the plumbing in the house (which would also include hydronic heating), the heat can be shut off completely without risk of pipes bursting.
This video demonstrates a method for blowing out the plumbing in your house. While this may not cover every aspect of your home, it should serve as a good guide and at the very least, provide ideas on how to perform this operation.
Utilizing an air compressor (I had a 6-gallon air compressor for this task), I was able to blow out most of the water in the plumbing system, including the hot water tank.
Make sure you cover every area in and out of your home that deals with water. This would include every sink, shower, tub, faucet, toilet, drain, dishwasher, fridge ice maker, water cooler, humidifier, cooling tower, etc.--every single one of these needs to be dealt with. The video shows the easiest methods I have devised to do this.
I had opted to blow most of the hot water out of the tank with the compressed air because the water heater tank can act as a pressure vessel to assist you in removing the water from the pipes. By utilizing the compressed air, you can expel the water from the tank and pipes faster.
You will want at least 1 bottle of RV antifreeze to protect the drains from freezing. This can usually be purchased at a mass retailer (such as WalMart, Home Depot, Lowes, Menards) for just a few dollars. You may have all of the other tools to do this service, but if not you can improvise and create your own tools and methods, or purchase items similar to what I used.
TOOL TO CONVERT AIR LINE TO WATER: • Homemade Tool (for blo... 
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I'm a contractor and that's the best video I've ever seen on winterizing a home. Very informative. Great job. Thank you.
Thank you very much, I appreciate it! Hopefully this video has given you some ideas.
I completely agree!!
Thank you so much for making this video. I’d been lost without it. I’m new to closing up my cottage and this step by step video is going to help me so much - can’t thank you enough!
No problem, had to do this one anyway, might as well take you along.
Thank you for making this video! I watch it every year as a refresher for blowing out the waterlines at my lake vacation home. I’ve never experienced any negative issues when following your excellent advice. God bless!
You're quite welcome.
I am a retired middle school teacher, you did an awesome job here. Congrats, the local tech school could use you. We need skilled workers, you would be a great teacher. Thank you for an excellent lesson here on this, I am doing my own winterizing to me new single-wide mountain getaway. Stay safe. Thx.
Thank you Jack! You are one of hundreds who have told me I'm a great teacher. I never pursued becoming one although I know I'd be great at it. I'm a computer technician by trade, but I know my stuff inside and out.
I am winterizing a cabin this winter for the first time and this was VERY informative. Thank you for the clear step by step and explanations. Great Video!
Thanks very much, I'm glad this helped you out!
I've watched a lot of videos on winterizations. This was the best.
Thanks very much Tony!
Jay has helped me immensely via email, he’s a true professional from LonGisland! 😊👍🏼✊🏼 Thanks again Jay, you da man!
Great to hear Paul! My pleasure!
Possibly the best, most thorough video on this subject. Thank you in 2020.
You're quite welcome Bruce!
I was wondering how to to clear my pipes in our vacation house due to an expected record low in our area. This is the best video I have seen on youtube. Thanks!
You are very welcome, thank you so much for the kind words! I'm glad this helped you out!
I learned a lot from this video. Very helpful to a novice as myself. I now feel confident I can winterize a prefabricated home which is not being used at the moment.
Thanks very much, glad to hear it!
Great video. It helped me a lot for my first winterizing. Your voice is perfect for this type of narrative. Great job. Thank you.
Thank you so much!
I have watched this video more than any other on RUclips. I watch it every fall. Super informative and clear.
Thank you so much! I really appreciate the kind words, and am very happy this helps you every year! Hearing great words like that makes me strive to continue making videos, and continue to improve further. Thank YOU very much!
This is a very useful and well-explained video, which I’ve replayed at winterizing time every year since finding it. It gave me a number of good ideas. Thanks very much!
You're quite welcome James!
Very informative. Will definitely use you input to winterize our beach hours. Thanks!!!!
You're welcome.
Thank you! You helped a homeowner clear out a tub faucet after changing the cartridges didn't help. I really appreciate it!
1. Air compressor quick connect -> 1/4” male adapter
2. 1/4” female -> 1/2” male adapter
3A. 1/2” female -> 1/2” coupling (used this for tub/shower spigots)
3B. 1/2” female -> 3/4” male hose adapter (will use this later)
No problem at all! I'm glad you could take this information and adapt it to your particular issue!
Great video! It has always been my experience to completely drain down the water heater and tie the hot and cold lines from the heater together...This way creates a loop. all the water wont blow out of the water heater , it always needs to be drained from the drain valve on the heater like you showed. I've had customers do everything you did besides drain the heater from the bottom or don't drain the well tank down properly. We see it a lot out here in the North Carolina mountains where a lot of people from other states own bed and breakfast rentals. Thanks for sharing.
This is just a faster way to empty the tank. When done, you always drain out any residual water from the water heater. I have never heard of tying the lines together, and cannot see what purpose that would possibly serve except to make the person who told you that seem smarter than they are.
Don't ignore the physics here. We know that water freezes, and when water freezes, it expands. It can expand as much as it wants as long as there is room for it to do so. Water will expand and defy the force of gravity if that's what it has to do, as long as the force for it to do so is less than the force required to burst the pipe (it is). Pipes burst because water pressure is against it, and faucets are shut off. The water freezes and has to expand. It has nowhere to go but OUT through the pipe walls. So as long as it has room to expand (by getting rid of as much water as possible, it can freeze and thaw as much as it likes, and won't cause damage.
Thank you for your time in creating the video, and for editing it down to the essentials.
I might add that our dishwasher has a trap too (along its drain line), so it may be prudent for some to further drain some antifreeze through the cancel/drain cycle to complete the dishwasher prep. Even if there's no trap in the dishwasher drain line, most dishwashers drain UP to the disposer so there's likely to be some residual water at the low-point beneath the dishwasher that may damage those fittings or one-way valve when frozen.
Thanks Jon. Yes, that's a good point. Back when dishwashers had a knob you could turn, that worked great. Now, there's only buttons, and half the time you don't know what the machine is doing, the other half of the time the machine doesn't know what it is doing.
That being said, drains aren't nearly as much of an issue. We always hear about people who have pipes that freeze and burst in the cold. Most times, those pipes are under pressure. The whole point here is that air is compressible, water is not. When water is under pressure in the pipes, and then it gets so cold that it freezes, that makes the water expand, as water expands when it freezes. Now there's no place for the ice to go in a pipe that's under pressure as it's all water, and no air. Because of that, the ice pushes out on the walls of the pipe, and it breaks in the weakest spot.
Drains have traps, but they are open on each end. Water can indeed freeze in the traps, but there is air at each end, so the freezing water can expand.
Dishwashers used to have one-way valves, nowadays they run the pump one way to wash, and the other direction to drain; the drain is never blocked off completely.
Broke two pipes one winter as I did not know how to blow out my water pipes. I have been following this video every year and have never had a problem. Thanks for the video
You are quite welcome! Thank you very much for watching, and no worries, this video will always be here for you as a guide.
@@jaykay18 You know what is funny, I thought I was losing my mind. I have saved your video twice and noticed that it is the same house in both videos, but just a little different video (for instance you don't call the plumber a moron in this one). Either way they are both good videos and again, thanks for doing them. Oh and you don't wear a hat in the first one.
@@jonathangadbois1287 Thanks very much. Yes, I did two of these videos.
Excellent video. I have 13 cabins to do. Never done it. Now I feel confident about it!
Thanks, good luck!
Thanks for posting this video. It was very helpful to me when I winterized my summer home.
You're very welcome.
Great video! I appreciate that you have addressed the dishwasher and fridge water dispenser. Drains are relatively easy to winterize without a compressor, but this was interesting as well. I drain my plumbing by gravity, but there are several drain caps under the cottage that need to be accessed and opened. The compressor looks like an excellent alternative.
Thanks Ted. Try the compressor, then go back and remove those drain caps and you can see how well you did. I'd be willing to bet there might not be a need to remove them after you see the difference.
Outstanding video, I have struggled with winterizing our cabin every winter and since we don’t live there we have plumbing issues a lot of the times.I have learned a lot from this video, so THANK YOU! Very informative, makes me feel comfortable on trying it out!
Thanks very much!
What a FANTASTIC and thorough video. Nice work.
Thank you!
That's the best and clearest video I've seen on how to winterize my cabin! Thank you, great job. Must be because your name is Jay. So is mine! We are super geniuses... "Wile e coyote"
Thank you very much! Yes, I remember that episode of the cartoon very well!
Excellent Video and I'll be doing all that you show on my cottage. Stay well and thank you.
You are very welcome.
Thank you so much for this! Bought a cottage and this was very intuitive.
You're welcome!
Thank you very much for the video! We just purchased a cottage this year and I have to tackle this job in the next couple of weeks.
You're welcome Dan! Any questions or issues, just leave a comment!
@@jaykay18 Would you winterize a clothes washer the same way you approached the dishwasher?
@@dan0nym0us66 In general, yes. For a more modern washer, one that has electronic controls, I'm not terribly familiar with.
For the old school ones, what I would do is, with the air already connected and doing its thing, start a wash cycle, set it to warm, so it blows out both the hot and cold. Once that's cleared out, advance the machine to the spin cycle and let it complete.
You have a few choices at that point. You can pour the RV antifreeze in, and that will mix with the remaining water and prevent it from freezing, or you can remove the drain hose from the sink or standpipe or wherever it empties into, and hook a Shop Vac up to it, I'd bet that would pull the residual water out of it. If you use the Shop Vac method, you'd want to of course pour the RV antifreeze in the standpipe or sink so that trap doesn't freeze.
For newer electronic washers, you're really on your own, and it wouldn't make much difference anyway because they're going to break within 3 years irreparably. You can try some of the same steps, but often those keep pockets of stagnant water in them, probably helps with them breaking so often.
This video was really quite good. Thank you so much for taking the time to make it!
You're very welcome!
Thank you for this video. We tried it out this past fall. Works great
Great to hear!
Awesome video I’m trying to make an instruction sheet to winterize our cabin so this has helped a lot thanks
You're very welcome!
Nice in clearly never saw just a good explainer on you tube
Thank you.
Finally! Instruction in HOW to blow out the lines instead of just “blow out the lines”. Thanks! One question, is it necessary to blow out the drains if you pour anti-freeze in the traps?
That's up to you. I am very thorough with everything I do. You can just pour antifreeze, but if that $4, sorry, inflation, $8 bottle of antifreeze fails, you have bigger problems.
Best video with the best tricks I've watched! Love the plunger head trick! thanks! Next do a boiler system drain video if you get the chance! thanks again!
Thanks very much! This house didn't have a boiler, so I couldn't show that. The steps are pretty much the same with that. The drain on the boiler should be at the lowest point. The rest of the valves are higher, and on the same plane. Hook the air to each one to blow out each zone through the drain.
Top notch! Excellent job explaining everything!
Thank you kindly!
Amazingly thorough. I just called a plumber and they want "$350 to $900" to do this, I'm better off just paying for the heat. But this is very approachable process. Looks like about $20 of materials and ill save money even if i have to buy a bigger compressor used just for this.
Thank you very kindly. Give it a shot. The same can be done for the heating system. Remember, you don't have to get ALL the water out, just most of it. Water freezes when it expands. Under pressure, in a closed system, it has nowhere to escape but through the pipe. In an open system with most of the water blown out, even if there's an elbow that's filled with water, it's OK if it freezes there, there is plenty of room on both sides for it to expand. As long as it's all thawed out before water is reintroduced, it should be just fine.
Thank you for the great Video, Very Helpful!
You're welcome.
Really appreciate your detailed instructions.
Thanks.
great job detailed right to the point no wasted words
Thank you.
BEST VIDEO ON WINTERIZING! THANK YOU
You're welcome.
Very clearly presented , Thank you !
You're welcome.
Thanks for the instruction!
You're welcome.
Perfect video - exactly what I needed to know!
Thank you!
Awesome informative video 👍
Thank you Mike!
As always, an excellent job!
Thank you kindly!
Will have to winterize or family
Cabin and a vacant house that has not been sold. Thank you
You're welcome.
Very, very helpful. Thank you 🙏🏼.
No problem Hector!
This video was great and helped me winterize my cottage last year, and just re-watched it to get ready to do it again! This year I added a water softener...do you have any videos or advice for winterizing one of those?
Thanks. Sorry, I don't have any videos regarding a water softener.
Hi Jay! I have been following your instructions for 5 years, they are the BEST! now i got a refrigerator with ice maker. How do i also winterize the ice maker please...!
Thank you. To get the ice maker clear, you need to make it call for water. How your fridge does that, I can't tell you, as each one is different. If your fridge allows water through the door, you can actuate that, and that should certainly suffice. Leaving the fridge and freezer doors open will allow any remaining water to evaporate; anything that freezes will not be under pressure with nowhere to go, and therefor should not cause any damage.
@@jaykay18 THANKS!!! I ONLY HAVE AN ICE MAKER INSIDE THE FREEZER SIDE.
@@VIVIANPALLADINO-s5l No problem. As long as you can get it to where it would normally take on water, it will then take on air and blow itself out.
Thanks for the information! It do look to hard to do.
Thanks again for the info
No problem. It's very easy to do. The hardest part is continuing on until you are satisfied that you have done a good job. Once you are satisfied, the job is done.
Thank you for posting, very useful information, I only had one thing that didnt work very well....I followed directions as you describled, but when i tried to drain the hot water heater, it just spit and sputtered right from the start. The water heater is 50 gallons and I let it do this for about an hour. I probably didnt even get half the water out of it, so I just hooked up a hose and drained it out the bottom. The water heater is right next to the outside door on the mudroom, so it was no hassle. Maybe I did something wrong?
The premise is to hook the air supply up to the hot water line. The reason is because inside the hot water tank, the cold water inlet has what's called a "dip tube", that runs to the bottom of the tank. The hot water going out doesn't have that dip tube. It's done that way so the water in the shower doesn't go cold in a few seconds time, cold enters at the bottom of the tank through the dip tube.
When you hook the air to the hot, it forces air into the top of the tank. With cold faucets open, you will effectively force (most of) the hot water BACKWARDS through the system, and have hot water coming out of the taps. In this particular house, the hotshot plumber who put those connections in did it backwards. Usually, it's hot on the left, cold on the right, but this was backwards. If you blow air in through the cold, you will get spitting and sputtering only. The hot water tank won't fill with much air. So it's possible you may have hooked it up backwards. That tip is only a timesaver, allowing the compressed air to push the water out faster, rather than letting gravity do the trick. It's not entirely necessary, and in fact it cannot and will not remove all the water from the tank, so you need to open that drain at the bottom anyway. You can rest assured that you got out all the water you were going to get out.
Wonderful. Thank you!
You're welcome.
Really good video!!!!
Thank you.
Great job, thank you for being clear!
You're very welcome.
Ok, this is just what I was looking for. Thanks for going to all the trouble to make it for us. But I'm not going to use "that same sponge" that I use in the toilet to put between the doors of the fridge 😝. Thinking I might spring for a new sponge for that...
"That same sponge" was not the toilet one! The fridge was wiped down on the inside with an identical sponge.
@@jaykay18 Oh good - now I can go ahead and eat my breakfast! 😉
Thorough job
I _only,_ and _always,_ do a thorough job.
What a freaking genius
Thumbs up!
Thank you very much!
Should I pour anti-freeze into basement sump pumps? Or just shut off sump pumps?
How about basement floor drains? Should I pour Anti-freeze? If so, how much?
I keep coming back to your video try to myself familiar with the process so when I actually do it I don’t forget important stuffs. 😆
Can’t thank you enough 🙏
Sump pumps should be left operational--just in case. If you feel better pouring antifreeze down there, it certainly can't hurt.
For the floor drains, shin a bright light down it first. If you see the reflection of the light, that means there's water there that could freeze and crack the pipe. So in that case it would be a good idea. If those floor drains haven't been used and there's no water down there, no need to waste it.
You're very welcome.
Great video
Thank you.
Excellent how-to. I first saw this video a couple years ago and I have used this process in my cabin many many times without any problems. Method works great. My water heater is old and ready to be replaced soon and I am considering a tankless water heater. How would you do this procedure for a tankless water heater? Would it be the same process? Just hook up the compressor to hot water line (say, from the washing machine) and do the same process? Could you hook up to a cold water line? Anything special need to be done with the tankless unit to ensure it is evacuated of water?
I don't exactly know the ramifications of that. From what I understand, a tankless water heater monitors the flow, and makes the flame larger, the more water that flows. Blowing air past it in the opposite direction might not be a good idea.
What I'd do is pressure your system via an outdoor spigot where the garden hose would connect to; ideally you would have one BEFORE the water heater. That would allow you to blow out both the hot and the cold lines in one shot, and the tankless heater shouldn't care about it being air instead of water, provided of course you shut it off first.
Personally, I wouldn't buy a tankless model. However, for a place that's a cabin where nobody is there during the week, and only there on weekends for example, it's actually a good idea. No need to keep that tank hot all week when nobody would be using it. It's just a matter of tried-and-true technology versus this new stuff. There are a lot of failures with new technology, and it takes them quite some time to get the bugs worked out.
@@jaykay18 Thanks for the reply. I agree on the "tried-and-true" technology comment. Also, good point about blowing air in the opposite direction might not be a good idea... I didn't think of that. As it is, the tankless would probably be a better option for me for the reason your mention, though (i.e., infrequent use & lots of downtime). So if I understand correctly - to make this work with a tankless heater I would hook up the compressor to an outdoor spigot and then open each faucet indoors, one at a time, and toggle them from hot to cold until no ore water comes out either hot or cold ... and this would blow the air through the tankless heater in the proper direction since it is blowing from the cold side and not the hot side? Do I understand that correctly? And, it would also clear the water out of the tankless heater as well, with no need to drain that separately or anything since compressed air was run through? Again, great video, and thanks again for your helpful info!!
Yep, you got it Paul! What you may do, when it's time for the tankless to be installed, if you're having somebody do it, slip them a 20 and ask them to put a valve with a drain in it before the heater. That way you can be sure you get all of the water out of the line. If the house is set up in the fashion where there's an outdoor spigot plumbed in BEFORE the water heater, this would be unnecessary because you're blowing air past there. I'd imagine it would work fine also if you didn't have or do any of that, it's just one of those things to be "doubly double sure".
@@jaykay18 I'll have to check, but I believe the cold water supply to the washing machine is located before the water heater so I might be able to use that to connect to the compressor which would allow me to do all the work indoors. Thanks for your help.
That would be perfect if it's there! You're very welcome Paul!
Yep doing it myself this year for the first time. The price to have it professionally done has just gotten too outrageous! I paid to have it done convince at the end of the season but i just cant justify it any longer.
Prices just go up and up and up. If anything, this may help people to be more self-sufficient.
Thank you for the great video! I was wondering why the antifreeze since there is no more water in the drains or in the toilet?
Every drain, including the toilet, has a trap. The trap is there to keep sewer/septic tank gases out, and also varmints and insects that may be in there. It works by always keeping a charge of water in there. Since water can freeze and damage the pipes, it is removed, then refilled with antifreeze, which, by nature, cannot freeze, effectively recreating the trap as it were originalyl designed.
@jaykay18 Very clear. Thank you for your reply!
@@DanTheMan77777 You're welcome. I leave no stone unturned, and no doubt in one's mind.
Great video. Hope my system isn't frozen tomorrow morning
Thank you. Yep, getting cold quick this year!
When blowing out water are you shutting off water faucets when moving to next room to clear out water? Great video I’m going to try this year doing myself. Thanks again.
Thanks. Yes, when you're done with one faucet and there's no more water, shut it off. That will direct the air pressure to the rest to help clear out as much water as possible.
The plunger tip to blow out pee traps was great too
Thank you!
Hi Jaykay, thanks so much for this informative video. Question 1: Hot water tanks have a spigot/drain at the bottom. Once drained, would it work just as well to connect the air compressor to this spigot, instead of - as you show - the hot water pipe connecting to a washing machine? Question 2: In either event of where you connect it, if blowing air into a 40 gallon tank with a $99 compressor, wouldn't that take awhile to get it up to 30 psi?
Thank you!
Excellent questions, which of course, deserve excellent answers:
1. While you could theoretically connect the air compressor there, you'd want to gravity drain all the water out of it first. To do that, open all of your hot taps inside the house, then open that drain on the water heater. Allow it to drain until it pretty much stops. You don't really have to worry about getting water in the compressor as long as your hose is already charged with air, or you have a valve like I did. Of course, you're not going to be getting that much water come out of the pipes since the bulk was already gravity drained.
2. Let's make math really easy--take this hypothetical situation:
Let's say the water heater is 30 gallons, and you have a 3 gallon air compressor. Let's also forget the PSI rating and just make believe we're going straight to 100 PSI. The 3 gallon air compressor adds 3 gallons, so now we're at 33 gallons total. Plus piping, but we'll make believe that's negligible. In a perfect world, it takes 4 minutes for the compressor's 3 gallon tank to charge up to 100 PSI. Now we add another 30 gallons, 30 divided by 3 is 10, so 10 times 4 minutes plus the 3 gallon tank on the compressor is 44 minutes. WAY TOO LONG to wait.
But we're not going to 100PSI, we're going to about 30. And, the compressor is 6 gallons. So theoretically it would be a lot less time. Well, I'll give it to you this way--I've never actually waited long enough to have the compressor shut off. You'll want to give it a good 5 or 10 minutes, absolutely, but any more than that and you're wasting time and electricity. When this house is shut down, it's already pretty cold out so I really want to get out of there as fast as possible. I never rush the job, I take my time, but there's a difference between being thorough and being obsessive/compulsive. The main idea here is to get as much water out of the pipes as possible. It's not possible, nor is it necessary, to get every last single solitary drop out of the pipes. Water expands when it freezes. Now if you think of a large pipe, like a sewer pipe in the street, that pipe is never filled to the top with, er, we'll say water in this case. It's only got a small river going through the bottom of it. If that's what was left in your house plumbing, that would be fine, because that small amount of water would freeze, but would never expand to the point where the pipe would burst. What you do have to watch out for are the low spots of the pipes, and elbows and tees, making sure there's no water sitting in them. Chances are very good that if water were to freeze solid in them, it wouldn't make a difference because the entire rest of the pipe is clear, so the water can expand out that way, rather than freezing the entire diameter of the pipe, expanding further, and bursting it. That's why pipes burst--there is nowhere for the water to go in the completely water-filled pipes. Water is not compressible, air is.
So I'm sorry for giving you a science lesson at the same time, but I hope you learned the concept here is to ensure that there's enough room for water to expand when it freezes. If the pipes were left pressurized and all taps were off, then they freeze solid and the only place for the water to go is out the walls of the pipe. When you remove most of the water, there's plenty of room for whatever residual water to expand, preventing burst pipes.
As an extra bonus, if you have an inground sprinkler system, the same principles apply, not just in the lesson, but also in how to do it (of which I have several videos of). Thanks for writing, in good, clear English with proper spelling, capitalization, and punctuation; it's really a breath of fresh air seeing that! I certainly hope this further information helped you. If I was not clear on something or you have any additional questions, just let me know!
Hey Jaykay it all worked out well! Tho another question. (And again, thanks for the voluminous and helpful reply!) I did shut off the valve to keep compressed air from going into the basement water expansion tank. But could something seriously get damaged if compressed air got into there, considering it uses compressed air itself to push the water upstairs?
We actually have three cottages, the well in the back, big cottage supplies all three. Because of the funny way the valves are set up, I couldn't blow compressed air into the cold water lines for the smaller cottages unless I opened up the valve for the water tank and filled it too with compressed air. I ended up connecting the compressor to a drain valve at the smaller cottage and that worked to blow out the cold water lines I think. It's confusing cause of how the cottages are plumbed, I'll have to take a serious stab at trying to diagram it all out.
But what would be the downside of letting compressed air get into the water tank? Other than taking a while to fill? Or is the issue that you don't want compressed air then going down into/towards the well pump underground?
Anyway, we'll see next year when we turn everything on again how well this worked!
jaykay18 k
Great video! Quick question. What should be done if the is no spigot is hooked into hot line. I have 2 cold. One above valve coming from main supply in ground and another hose bib on exterior. 2 sinks and shower return lines from hot water heater. Feed air directly through drain on hot water heater?
In your case, I'd ignore the hot lines entirely. Open the drain valve on the water heater and let it gravity drain. It would probably be a good idea to open all of the hot taps, showers, what have you, and allow that to gravity drain back as well.
You can then hook into the cold line and blow that out in the same manner as I did in this video. When you're all done with that, leave your air compressor running and close off the drain valve on the water heater. The air compressor will now "charge up" the water heater. This is going to take a long time, and you don't have to wait for the whole thing. Give it a good 5 or 10 minutes to run. Then you can reopen the hot water taps and hopefully there will be enough pressure to force anything trapped in the lines out. If there's any doubt, let it run longer and hit it again.
Remember the point here is to remove as much water as possible. You can't get it all, that's impossible. We're trying to prevent water from freezing and having NOWHERE to go. That's how pipes burst. But if the pipe is 90% empty, there's tons of expansion room for any water left in the pipes to freeze. It can freeze and thaw all it wants, just like an ice cube tray in your freezer. It's open on top so it can expand. Take it out, let it melt, freeze it again, you can do it over and over again with no damage to your ice cube tray.
What about a washing machine with hot and cold feeds and an outdoor expansion tank with exposed well water line feed hose?
If you can tie in to that feed hose, that would be a great place. Just drain the hot water tank first manually.
Great video. Thank you for uploading it.
If I have two hot water tanks in two different parts of the house, (because of additions being built at different time), how should I proceed please?
I'd drain one out, then close the valve to it. Proceed as shown in the video. At the end, open the drain valve on that tank again in the event there is any residual water.
@@jaykay18 thank you SO much! I’ll do as you suggested when we are ready to leave the house.
Good video, How do you have both the hot and cold water getting the compressed air at the same time? I don't have two unused washing machine valves as shown here.
The air is blown in the hot side. The water heater's hot output line is at the top of the tank, as you might expect. The cold line enters at the top, but there is a "dip tube" that goes to the bottom of the tank. That's done so the water doesn't go cold on your right away. In this case, it's being used as an advantage. The valves don't have to be unused, just disconnect the washer.
To remove water from toilets I use one of those dollar store water cannon toys.
To empty p-traps I just use an actual plunger (no compressed air) to force the water out. If you doubt it's effectiveness just pull off a trap and check. I did, it works fine.
The thing I worry about is the water meter. I have a shut-off before the meter and a shut-off after the meter, I don't see how you could clear that section.
That's good about removing the water from toilets. The compressed air is faster. Not that there's a rush, but I like to do things as efficiently as possible using powers available to me.
I wouldn't worry much about the meter. The water has to be shut off SOMEWHERE. If it breaks before that point, at least you won't pay for it if it's before the meter. But usually it's far enough underground that it won't freeze.
Jay, you re THE man. Even I can do this! I watched the video a couple times and think I’m ready to give it a try this weekend.
Just to make sure I understand this. If I actually have a washer at the hook up,,would I need to reconnect the compressor and outlet hose at a different location, then run the washer through the ride cycle? Where would I pour the antifreeze, in the basin itself?
You have explained that you don’t worry about the line from the well to the house. Last year (I didn’t winterize and that line froze). If I am understanding you correctly, when I initially empty the line of residual water, I am leaving enough air in the line that runs from the well to keep it from expanding too much. Did I pick up what you were laying down, or did I miss the point totally?
Thank you so much for doing this video. Very helpful, and like GEICO, just saved me a LOT of money. 🙂
Thanks very much!
Here's what I would do if you have a washer there already. I'd recommend you disconnect it and hook up the air there, as it helps. If you don't want to do that, you can just hook up to an outdoor spigot instead. The problem with this is that you'll have to drain the water heater entirely first. You'd also want to keep the drain valve on the water heater open and blow air through there as well.
For the washer itself, it depends on the kind of washer. If it's the old-school one with a mechanical timer and it loads from the top with an agitator in the center, and does NOT have a lid lock or play/pause button, do this:
While the air is being administered, set the washing machine to rinse. The air will blow the water out into the machine and it will be pumped down the drain. The problem you will have is there's still water in the machine. The best way to take care of this is with a Shop Vac, instead of antifreeze. Remove the drain hose from where it goes into the standpipe or sink or wall receptacle, bring it down to the floor (water will start gushing out by gravity, even with an empty machine, so have a bucket ready). Or--hook your Shop Vac to the drain hose and then lower it to the floor. The Shop Vac will suck all the water out, or as much as it can, and then you won't need antifreeze. You can still put some in as a precaution of course, and yes, you'd just dump some in, it'll find its way automatically.
If it's a newer machine with a lid lock and/or a play/pause button or it's one of those new front loader spaceships, don't do any of that. It'll break before next spring of its own volition over the winter. Then go out to a used appliance shop and buy a real washer, the old-school kind.
The key with the whole process is this: People's pipes freeze in cold temperatures. Freezing is fine, it's rupturing that's not. Now, the rupture happens because water expands when it freezes. If the pipes are full of water, but all faucets are off, the water in the pipes starts freezing. Eventually it will freeze through, but needs to expand. There's no way for it to escape but OUT, so it breaks the walls of the pipe or at a joint or anywhere that's the weakest point.
Now instead of having the pipe completely filled "floor to ceiling" with water, imagine there's only a little tiny stream flowing through the very bottom of the pipe. If that freezes, it has the rest of the whole pipe to expand in, and nothing bursts. So the idea is to remove as much water as possible. You don't have to go crazy. It's like after washing the dishes, there might be a few spots of water on the counter you didn't see. And what happens? They just evaporate. So that's why when done, you leave the spigots and faucets open so air can get in there (and be expelled) if anything freezes. Also gives the water a chance to evaporate.
The well pump for this house is buried well underground. I let out as much water as absolutely possible, you want to keep as much of the piping as you can completely dry. So if there are drain/freeze plugs, take them out. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Do whatever you feel is going to help your chances of everything surviving over the winter.
Good luck!
It worked to perfection “except” (there is always an exception isn’t there)? In draining the hot water tank, I have removed 16 gallons (and still going). I used the method you described, which was to hook up to the washer connection. If I was not getting anything at any of the faucets, shouldn’t the hot water heater have only had a small bit of residual water in it?
Also, I ran the washer with the air hose and outlet hoses still connected. I only got a tiny bit of water out of the washer (old fashioned kind, with a lock feature -but I was able to manually bypass the lock).
Did I miss something? Should I be concerned? Thanks Jay
Depends on how many gallons the water heater is. You hooked the air up to the HOT connection? Remember what I showed in this video was backwards, the moron that plumbed this in did it wrong, where hot was on the right but should have been on the left like any sink you've walked up to.
It also depends how long the "dip tube" is in the water heater. Neither of us can see in so we don't know. Some go all the way to the bottom, some go 3 inches from the bottom, some go 6 inches from the bottom. The shorter that tube is, the less water you'll get out of the faucets.
If the washer has a lock, all bets are off. However, you probably got all the water out of it that you could with the air, there wouldn't be much. Remember the air does nothing on the drain, you have to remove the drain hose and suck the water out with a Shop Vac, or at least let gravity take what it can by lowering it all the way to the floor and hoping for the best.
jaykay18 yes, I did it through the hot water line. I did note that there is a bypass on the water softener that I engaged. Perhaps this caused me to bypass the water heater too (?). I definitely got air coming through all of the faucets and toilets (just the way it worked on your video). If it wasn’t the bypass, I’ll have to check to see if the same moron plumbed my house next spring. 🙂
Thanks for the great video. It was extremely helpful.
@@jaykay18 I have a machine with locking lid and play/pause button. MY THEORY: Unscrew the water lines from the machine and let compressed air blow out supply lines into a bucket or into the tub if they'll reach. Start the machine to pump water out of the machine’s interior plumbing and into the tub. Use Shop-Vac to pull water from tub thru the drain hose. Add a little antifreeze. That said, I have no idea what I'm doing. Please stop me before I kill the machine. 🙃
Very informative video and just what I needed! Thank-you
You got it, no problem!
awesome video...what is your wisdom and a pump in the bottom of my well? is I drain everything as you did and unplug the well pump will the water drain back down the well?
It should, unless there is a check valve. If there is any standing water, a Shop Vac would be a wise investment.
I like your weatherization methods. Me personal think its overkill to blow air down the traps and sewer you really only need the antifreeze part in all appliances and traps is good enough. My thing i did like is your method on winterizing the water supply lines normally just open them all up and let them drain but connecting an air compressor up at 30 psi is pretty good. The regulator keeps it at a low air pressure not to damage any tanks, fittings, pipes ,...etc. What i am still wondering about is the lines from the well to the water tank it seems you did nothing for that part?
Thanks very much. The blue tank you see is a pressure tank, the drain spigot on it is all this house has. I kept the main shutoff valve closed during this entire process, it's probably not a good idea to blow water backwards down the well, as the pump may not prime easily, which is why I refrained from doing that.
@@jaykay18 Ya but i was wondering if the water in the well lines and pump would freeze ever and damage a pipe so you have to pull all the pipes out of the well and reinstall at the well. I get you the priming would be a bitch the air went completely down but it would be more save. As then it just take longer for the well to prime at the advantage of saver from freezing. Maybe i am wrong on this on maybe the ground insulates it enough or something but was curious on that part of the piping system.
Yeah, the pump is below the freeze line. Again, as long as there is air in the pipes above the well, if the water freezes, it can displace the air instead of the pipe.
@@jaykay18 Got it thanks, on all this if i ever winterize stuff all definitely uses these methods.
Great to hear, thanks!
You can also pour RV antifreeze into the drains, so that sewer gasses don't end up coming into the home, the water helps to keep the gasses out.
Yes, that can be done. But if that $4, sorry, inflation, $8 bottle of antifreeze fails, you have bigger problems. The sewer gases won't hurt anything if the place is uninhabited, and will air out quickly which is something you'd do anyway upon arriving.
@@jaykay18 , If you own the cabin or home, you can do it your way, but antifreeze ensures that the homeowners don't forget to air out the cabin when they get there.
@@johnthree1611 This is a DIY guide. I'm just a guy. But I guarantee you I'll do a better job than a professional you pay for.
@@jaykay18 , 100%. I watched your video years ago, and re-watched it today.
My only question is, how many places can someone hook up their air compressor? I've ran into a few homes that have the stacked washer and dryer, and you can't move them to hook into the clothes washer lines. So I've been hooking up into the water heaters. Are there connections that would attach to a regular faucet?
@@johnthree1611 Oh, so you're making money off my video? Well I'm glad for you. That was the original intent of RUclips, people helping people.
In fact there are adapters that hook up to faucets, like this one: www.amazon.com/Dishwasher-Coupling-Adapter-10521-Antique/dp/B00GP9G860
You'd want to use that really as a last resort, I'd think, a lot of people have leaky faucets and this might spray water everywhere. Better is the water heater drain, or, a hose spigot outside.
Thank you for sharing this process. I have a second floor 1/2 bath in my seasonal cottage. Does it make a difference what floor I blow out first?
No problem. It doesn't matter what floor you start with. I'd probably do the upstairs first, myself. Just seems to "feel" right. You'll also need everything else closed off so you get the most pressure since it's going against gravity and also has farther to go. Remember that the water will fall back due to gravity, where you can get it from lower faucets.
You don't need every last drop of water out, just do a job that you're satisfied with. You'll get most out, and in most cases, won't be a problem.
awesome job
Thank you!
you're welcome!
that's what my brother does too
Thanks so much
No problem, best of luck.
Thanks!
You're very welcome, thank you!
Great video!
Thanks Marshall!
You're welcome
Great video! But I was wondering what about the well pump and the line from the well to the pump? What do you do for that?
That's below grade and should stay at a constant 55 degrees.
ya but there is some of the pipe above ground and some water in the pump.
Is it ok to blow some air down the well?
@@nunya_biznus Should be fine. Never had a problem leaving it like you've seen in the video.
sounds good thanks.
Awsome!! Now I know what to do!
You're welcome.
Lexmark's 567 also uses it for his washers
The anti freeze
Yes, I've met the guy personally. I'm obligated to watch all of his videos.
Great video. Thanks.
Glad you liked it!
Great Video Jay.
I do have one question.
Rather than use a hose when blowing the hot water heater out through the cold water washer hookup, would it also work if instead you forced the water in the tank out through a cold water facet in the bathroom or kitchen? I ask because this way I would not have to leave a door open in the fall where potentially a mouse or rodent could come in and winter in our unoccupied cabin.
Thanks much.
Yes, you can do that, but since you're probably pushing water UP instead of down, you may not get it all. Really, you're looking to get as much water out as possible, the less you leave, the better. There are always going to be droplets and low hanging areas of the pipes, but if you leave the faucets open during the winter, there's room for any water in the pipes to freeze and expand without expanding into the pipe. See, when the pipe is completely filled with water, water cannot be compressed. When it freezes, the water expands, and it has to go somewhere, so it'll go the only way it can, OUT, through the wall of the pipe. If you minimize the amount of water in there, so much the better.
Thank you for the reply. I get it, better to push down not up. I will do it this way..
Sure, no problem. Let gravity help you do the work.
@@jaykay18 Well we just came down to our newly acquired home in north western Ontario after winterizing it using the advice from your video. Happy to say that all plumbing survived the harsh winter. Great resource. Really studied it and put it into practice. Thank you very much..
You're very welcome! Thanks for letting me know it turned out well!
Great video. I have a cabin with the hot water heater in the basement theres no washer or dryer there. Can i hook up the pressure gauge attachment to the bottom of the hot water heater and blow out that way? All 30 gallons? No floor drain there
Yes, you can connect the air there, but don't expect to blow 30 gallons out of it. You can get a lot out, but you'll have to keep the hot water faucets shut and just have the cold open. Also, the water coming out is going to spit and have lots of air in it since you'd be admitting air there.
What I'd recommend instead, if you have an outdoor hose spigot, to connect up there. First, hook a hose to the water heater drain, and drain that manually. Then close it off and blow out the rest through the spigot. It would be wise to open the drain on the water heater again at the end to let residual water out.
Remember, the goal here is to simply do the best you can. You can't get every last drop. Pipes freeze and burst because water expands when it freezes. It has nowhere to go but out. If you replace even some of the water with air, there will be room for the water to expand without bursting pipes.
Also if you home wasn't on a well pump/ well and was from the water supply company this method would only work for main lines into house and after whats from stopping the water suppy pipes from street to house from busting. Its small subtleties i am looking at on this video. Anyway nice demonstration all in all how long did it take you to perform the supply water blow out?
For municipal water, the valve inside the home right where the water enters is what will be shut off. Some municipal water supplies may have another valve out by the curb, but that's not really there for the homeowner to mess with. As far as the line from the street to the house, that's always the homeowner's responsibility. My municipal water supply sells insurance on those lines, but I've never heard of anyone telling a story that their line burst, nor have I ever seen anyone's lawn dug up correcting said problem. It certainly can happen though, it's just rare. Considering most other homes are using water on the block, the water rushing past the tee I'd imagine would help to prevent freezing.
The whole blow out took about an hour or so, longer because I had to record the video. Speedier service could be achieved by a larger air compressor and increasing the pressure.
One thing about being on city water is if you rely on a gate valve in your basement to keep water from getting back in your pipes,you might want to verify that it isn’t leaking. if you can have the city shut off the water that is probably the safest bet.
Graeat video....Im just not sure on my well pump looks to me like the water shut off is after the value to the pump so not sure how to blow it out
I can only show what this house has, everyone's plumbing is different. Every plumber does it different, but they all agree on one thing, high prices.
Thanks
You're welcome.
Amazing video. My setup is slightly different. Can I just blow air and open everything at once, or I need to go faucet by faucet? If everything is closed and blow air, is that a problem (could the pipes get damaged, as they are full of water to start and the air will want to make that water exit somewhere)?
Go faucet by faucet, you're better off. Chances are, your air compressor wouldn't have enough CFM to blow everything out in one go. That's why when people call a sprinkler company to get their inground sprinklers blown out for the winter, they show up with a big tow-behind air compressor. That thing creates so much air that they can blow multiple, if not even all zones out in one shot. That way they can bang out as many houses as possible in one day to maximize profits. Conversely, watch any video on RUclips of the average homeowner blow out their sprinklers (such as mine) and see that they blow them out zone by zone. That's because the average home air compressor can only produce enough air for one zone at a time. You really don't have anything to worry about the the pipes if there's water already in them. But if you are that concerned, open one faucet before you admit any air. Just be prepared to mop up the counter as it splashes out with force.
@@jaykay18thanks a lot for taking the time to reply Jay, I really appreciate it. I’m learning this for the first time this year. I used to pay a plumber, but too expensive now. I bought all the materials I need (including the compressor and pre-made hoses with the correct hock-ups) and it’s cheaper than the one time plumber and I’ll get to re-use that stuff every fall 0:01 . What I’ll do is open one faucet which will be my garden hose faucet. That way if lots of water comes out fast, it will go on the ground.
Do I have to blow air in the HWT, or it’s also okay to let the water off it using the out valve and isolate the HWT with my hot and cold valves coming to it and drain the rest of the cottage?
@@ostcyr That's what sets my channel apart--I make sure to reply to comments, I make it my business. Most other channels couldn't care less or be bothered.
You don't have to blow air in the HWT if you don't want to, that was just a faster way to drive the water out. You can let it drain out it's own valve and isolate it.
Jay, I have in my basement 2 places where I can hook up my air compressor. One is directly under the washer upstairs and the other is on the other end of the house close to the incoming water into the house. Should I hook up the air compressor to both of these or only one.
Probably the one farther away from the incoming water is where you'd want to connect the air. Leave the one nearest the water supply open to allow everything out of the house.
Thanks for the great video.
I have a small 500 sq ft log cabin, which has a well pit outside the cabin with a pump and bladder tank.
I have a 40 gal hot water tank, one kitchen sink, one bath sink, one toilet and a shower.
Question #1 Can I gravity drain the HW tank and then hook my compressor to the drain spigot and force air through the system?
Question #2 Do I drain the cabin water lines into the well pit, then close that valve and pressurized the system
to begin a faucet by faucet blow out of the water lines?
Once completed do I then go back and open all the faucets and well pit lines and leave them open for the winter?
Thanks
1. You can do it any way you'd like. You certainly can drain the HW tank first, but you'd better have a decent compressor. That's a 40 gallon tank, no matter water or air. So if you have your pressure set to 40psi on the air, it has to pressurize that 40 gallon tank to 40 before the compressor will shut off. That's going to take a long time. The larger the compressor, the faster it will be. You'll have a lot of air on hand and likely can blow everything out from there.
2. You can go that way as well. Wherever you can administer air to the system is where you're going to use. If you have an outdoor faucet you can use that. I would leave everything open for the winter.
Remember, no matter which way you do it, you want to expel as much water as possible. It is IMPOSSIBLE to remove all water. The reason pipes burst is because the water inside them expands when it freezes. It has nowhere to go but OUT. If you had, say, an elbow that was lower than everything else, and that still had water in it, but the rest of the lines are clear, it can freeze and thaw just fine with no damage, because the water can expand into the mostly empty pipe as it freezes. Nature will take the path of least resistance, even if that means defying gravity, because that's less than the force needed to burst a pipe.
@@jaykay18 Thanks for the quick response. So to clarify for the learning impaired cabin owner here, is to not drain the HW tank first? If I used a HW spigot from the outside of the cabin ( which I have) would I drain the HW tank first or leave it full to start the process?
@@dennisdemeyere8783 That's the best place to hook your air up. Might want to drain the tank first, make things go quicker. In fact you can even administer a little air right then to hasten the process. Then close the drain on the tank and blow out the lines. Some residual may come back into the tank, so make sure you drain it again when you're done glowing everything out. Again, you can use the air to hasten the process.
@@jaykay18 So does it makes sense to gravity drain as much water as possible, then use compressed air to finish the winterization process?
@@dennisdemeyere8783 Yes, I would. Really doesn't matter either way.
My Alaska home is heated with a boiler, so to keep the house from freezing we need to keep water in the pipes.
You need to keep the heat on to do that. But if you don't live there year-round, you can employ this technique (also blowing out the pipes of your boiler) and save money on heating during the off-season.
What about the hot water heater? Should it not be drained before you do the blowing.
First of all, it's not a hot water heater, because you don't need to heat hot water.
As explained in the video, with a diagram, by NOT draining the tank, and hooking the air up to the hot water side, you can blow most of the contents of the tank out under pressure, which will make it faster. If you want to gravity drain it first, go right ahead, but it will take longer.
Just curious, regarding the water pump. You emptied the pessure tank and all the inside water lines but I'm concerned about the incoming line from my dug well. Would that line not be holding water from some sort of foot valve to the water pump?
Yes, it most likely is holding water. In this setup, there was no way to empty it. Remember, that the ground's internal temperature is about 55°, so no chance of it freezing. Water will also take the path of least resistance, so with other valves open and a head of air, it has room to freeze and expand--even up, against the force of gravity. The reason is because again, resistance. It takes a lot more force to burst the walls of the pipe than it would to counteract gravity.
Good deal
Thanks.
Can you provide details (mfg, model, etc) on the air compressor you used, or make a specific recommendation. I need to winterize a cabin that is approximately 2000 square feet with
2 baths (1 main floor with sink, toilet, shower, 1 basement with sink and toilet), main floor kitchen sink, basement washtub. Plumbing is all PEX water pipes.
I did outline that in the video at 3:43. This is the exact one that was used:
www.harborfreight.com/6-gallon-15-hp-150-psi-air-compressor-68149.html
I also have a full video review of that compressor:
ruclips.net/video/baxi_zkK4os/видео.html
The owner of this home was a cheapskate and wanted something small.
Small is never anything you want in an air compressor.
You always want to buy more than you'll ever need in an air compressor. The same goes for a generator. Most people buy the smallest, cheapest they think they can get away with, then blame the store when the product does not perform.
Get a larger compressor. Look for a 15-20 gallon one. I highly recommend oil-lubricated instead of oilless compressors, as they will last much longer. But be forewarned that oil-lubed compressors may not want to start in the extreme cold, and may need some heating with a hair dryer first to warm them up enough to move.
Brand and model doesn't matter in America anymore. They're all made in China, in the same factory. If you feel that Makita is better than Milwaukee, it's made in the factory just next door. So brand names don't mean anything anymore, just find one you like.
I have a mobie home, so I have access to the main water line as soon as it comes out of the ground. Can I air - pressurize the lines at that very beggining? We live in the house, so I'm mainly concerned with the pipes under the house.
Yes, you can hook in right where your water hose to the mobile home hooks in. Exactly the same way, and the steps in this video are the same as well.
Really the main thing is to get as much water as possible out. Pipes break because water expands when it freezes. It can expand out the faucet because that's off. It can't expand out of the mobile home because there's water pressure coming in there. So it expands OUT, and that's why they break. Replacing that water with air, even if you don't do a very thorough job, will prevent damage to pipes.
Not even sure if you got a well how to go about winterizing the well to tank part or if its even need because i imagine those pipes could freeze to and then you be replacing a well pump and lines which is just as bad as replacing the broken copper pipes in house. Good to know it doesn't take a huge compressor to do sprinkler systems or water supply lines. (well provided its residential if its huge systems then you need a compressor that can get up to enough max psi to beable to get to the full length of psi /ft drops)
Under most circumstances, water under the ground, under the freeze line, will not freeze. The pump is installed below the freeze line to prevent damage to it. All else being equal, the main point here is to leave valves open. Water expands when it freezes. In a house that's operational but the heat is shut off, if a pipe freezes, that entire pipe is filled completely with water. It has nowhere to go but OUT, and that out is going to be through the sides of the pipe. By introducing at least some air, or leaving the "top" of the lines open, the freezing (and expanding) water can displace some air and not burst the pipe.
@@jaykay18 Ok so thats probably the reason the well pump and well lines from pump to tank don't really need to be blown out because there below the freeze line. But how do you know you got all the water out of the well lines above the freeze line there is a small in between section from the tank to the well pumps pipes at the freeze line. Maybe gravity normally takes it back 9 out of 10 times below the freeze line naturally and you don't have this issue all that much is my guess.
I didn't know for sure if I did. But I do know that if I displaced some of the water with air, there would be enough "breathing room" for the water to freeze and then thaw.
Here's how this went. The owner of this house is my mother-in-law. She has this as a vacation home, her regular home has a sprinkler system. That compressor services both. She was interested in having a company come and blow the lines out, but I thought about the process and did some research. Bottom line is this: If she had a company come in, and blow the lines out, but something froze and the pipe broke anyway, would the company that blew out the plumbing own up to the mistake and cover the repair bill? OF COURSE NOT. So rather than waste the money on a buttcrack plumber who will do shoddy work at best anyway, why not find out what the potential problems are and try to solve them? That's what I did.
At the end of the day, in the spring, if the pipe burst, whether I hadn't done something properly causing that, or a company did it, there would be a repair bill for the pipes anyway. So why spend the money on a company who would never do as thorough of a job as I did if the end result would be the same either way? I hope you understand my reasoning.
Sorry to bother you one last related type of question i realize using this winterization method its not to far to uses it as a pressure/leakdown test for testing you plumbing pipes don't have leaks as well (when installing new plumbing systems)
My main question is i am curious if you know of a way to pressure test your DWV pipes. I am stuck with many options of making a fitting from air compressor fittings to different DWV pipe diameters. Curious if you done anything with test leaks in DWV pipe network and what your recommend.
Don't forget to empty your cabinets/etc of bottles/cans that have freezable liquids. Not the end of the world, but it can save you a sticky mess of soda to clean up.
That's an excellent tip, thank you.