Draining
Your Pipes to Prevent Freezing
If you have lost power and don't have heat, and you are expected
to be without power for more than a day, it would be wise
to shut down the cold water main in your basement and disconnect
the union connection on the meter. Carefully separate the
meter connection on the house side just enough so that you
can drain out the water in the pipes. Make sure you put some
type of container under the connection to collect the water
being drained. Go to all faucets and shower valves and open
them up. This will break the vacuum within the pipes and allow
some of the water to drain out. At this point you will have
to drain the hot water pipes as well. First, you will want
to shut off the gas valve on the hot water tank. In front
of the water heater where the gas pipe connects to the gas
control on the water heater there is a knob on top of the
control that has three (3) positions on it: OFF-PILOT-ON.
The knob should be in the ON position and you want to turn
it to the OFF position by just turning it and lining the OFF
position with the black mark on the valve. Then you will need
to attach a hose to the bottom of the heater where there is
a drain valve. Keep in mind that you will be draining the
entire contents of the tank and the water within the pipes
going throughout the house, so you will need to make sure
the hose is draining to a sufficient drain. Next, proceed
to open the hot water faucets to allow them to drain.
NOTE: This procedure will drain most of the standing
water within the piping, but there may be some low lying areas
and pockets that will not drain on just gravity. In order
to completely drain all the water you will need an air compressor
to blow out all the water.
If you have a forced hot water system and it is subject to
freezing, you may also want to have it drained out. This
will take a Licensed Plumber.
If you would like to schedule an appointment please call
our office and we will come drain it for you.
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