Winterize / water main question

[Bszweda]

I will be winterizing my secondary home, and and will be crawling under the crawlspace to turn the water main off. Looking at my home inspection report I see my water main shut off has a hose attached to it. I'm assuming this is for draining purposes,but I'm not sure. I thought most drains had a little plug you unscrew. Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Brad

 

[fishin coyote]

Where’s the main line coming from the pump, Though the block or is it the hose? Don’t think I ever saw a set up like that in the hundreds of home inspections I’ve done.

Could be a setup where you kill the power to the pump and open the valve to drain everything also, We have set up like that with hard pipe at our archery club in the basement

 

[Bill]

Looks to me like that is where the main water enters. What kind of water do you have? Well, rural water or something else?
Is it a place that will have a hard freeze? I fixed pipes every spring until I deleted the copper piping and switched to pex with a manoblock giving me the ability to blow out each line individually.

 

[Bszweda]

It's rural water ... The water should be coming from cinder block wall then the copper piping should go to my water heater. I don't have a pump or sump pump as I'll be doing that this spring. I have no clue what the garden hose is attached to. I hope it's a drain hose and not an active water line. I'll find out more once I get down there, but don't look forward to it.

 

[Bszweda]

It shouldn't freeze unless my heat pump breaks. I'm just being extra cautious in case that happens.

 

[Buckly]

Looking at that picture, that wouldn’t be the water main shutoff that might be a drain. Where is your well? Your water main shutoff would be where the water enters the house and next to the pressure tank.

 

[Bill]

That is exactly how my rural water enters the house. Although it's coming up from the ground via a black plastic pipe. Also my main coming in does not have a shutoff. The shut off is at the meter in the yard. Takes an adjustable wrench or that special tool to shut off. I added a tee and then a pipe with a valve to let it drain before it enters the house. My frozen pipes were a result of a leaking meter shut off and refilling the system after I drained it. I put a short heat tape on the main pipe and leave that plugged in. If the main leaks it just drips out the new valve and doesn't refill the house piping.

 

[Bszweda]

Would you recommend turning off the water main outside and then again inside the crawl space? I also have a shut off next to water heater. The outside main is few feet under ground I had to dig it up to find it just in case I need to know where it was.

 

[Bill]

Would you recommend turning off the water main outside and then again inside the crawl space? I also have a shut off next to water heater. The outside main is few feet under ground I had to dig it up to find it just in case I need to know where it was.

The way mine works is I shut off the main valve at the meter. Water Company doesn't like me doing it but haven't screamed about it.

Then I open the drain I added via the tee under the house. My main comes in and is valued before the Mano block and before it splits to the hot water heater. I shut that valve and blow the lines out.

If you have rural water there must be a meter with a lid on it? That meter has a valve they can shut and lock for non payment. That's what I shut off outside.

 

[buckdeer1]

It shouldn't be a regular hose coming from meter,black roll pipe is pretty normal for rural lines.If you want water off for an extended period of time then some suppliers will put you on vacation rates and shut off your water at meter.Alot of them will charge you a bunch if you break the shut off at meter trying to do it yourself

 

[Bill]

It shouldn't be a regular hose coming from meter,black roll pipe is pretty normal for rural lines.If you want water off for an extended period of time then some suppliers will put you on vacation rates and shut off your water at meter.Alot of them will charge you a bunch if you break the shut off at meter trying to do it yourself

Our water company will shut it off for you. I just show up so often it would drive them nuts. With the Manoblock and pex I can rewinterize in a few minutes.

 

[swat1018]

Could the black hose be going to an out building or something. I'd shut it off at the meter and remove the hose, then turn it on and see if water is running with pressure through the hose normally. Perhaps the black hose runs to a gravel dry well to drain the lines to when you winterize? Like other said, very odd setup.

I'm on rural water. Like Bill, I turn mine off at the meter and again in the basement. My ball valve in the basement has a small pitcock you open. I then open all of the faucets in the house and it siphons out down to the basement.

 

[Bszweda]

So it's similar to Bill's setup. The black hose coming from the ground is the rural water. I turned it off at crawl space and water heater. Main Since it doesn't have a drain valve at a low spot that's the best I could do for now. If my heat goes out I'll probably need to drive down and figure something out. I tried blowing out all the lines from the hooking the air compressor to the drain valve on water heater after it was drained. Not sure if that's right, but I couldn't take off the hot washer machine hookup. This spring I'm installing a sump pump and drain valve which will empty into it.

 

[fishin coyote]

I’d get some heat tape wrapped around the part that’s exposed then in the crawlspace at least until you’re able setup a drain system

 

[bigboreblr]

OFten those shut off valves have a little cap on the side of the valve body, MAybe about index finger size around. Sometimes the cap is on the wrong side of the line.

Open all faucets and go around with a shop vac trying to suck out water in low spots. Get some RV anti-freeze and fill all traps with it. toilet, sinks. Flow extra so you can get the main trap to the septic. Sometimes some traps have drain plugs too. When going around trying to suck water out of faucets, I bring a few feet of 1/4" hose to suck the water out of the traps before pouring RV antifreeze.

Probably 2 gallons should be ok. I wouldn't be too worried If I had some of the 2nd jug left over.

That last run of line I would buy a heat trace pipe for it. You can get self temp regulating 3 to 5 foot long ones and some insulation. Hose looks like black PVC with a brass crimp instead of a garden hose.

My heat pump leaked out a line last month or so. Had to recut and flare and fill back up with 410a. That condensate drain needs to be cleaned every now and then too. But, thats summer issues, but easy to do if your walking around with the shop vac. I hose out the condensor fins twice a year or so.