Please Share Your Best Winterizing Tips & Tricks

Sat, 14 Nov 2020 00:22:06 GMT

Hey fellow cabin owners - please share your best winterizing tricks for your seasonal cabin shut down. From plumbing to water, to windows and pantries, what’s your process? Please share your tips.

Mon, 16 Nov 2020 13:59:22 GMT

If your refrigerator has an automatic ice maker you should disconnect the tiny water line that goes in the back. Do this the day before you shut down. With the appliance still on the little valve at the back of the fridge will open when new ice is called for. Then a little water will drain out of the valve. Once upon a time my plastic (expensive & hard to reach) valve froze and cracked, before I started draining it the day before.

Mon, 16 Nov 2020 14:00:20 GMT

Desiree has provided good general instructions in an email message. I will add one item missing in that message since I have bitter experience with freezing here in sunny Arizona at 7500 feet. Her caution about making sure all lines drain is important but for those cabin owners who us an rv pump to maintain pressure, attention to it is also crucial. Pumps should have a drain valve and that should be opened. If the system is set properly that will help drain all lines. Finally I might add that the lovely fresh water container you have standing on a mantle will explode if left filled. To your regret. As it was to mine.

Mon, 8 Feb 2021 16:32:59 GMT

Would love to get a copy of that email (benmpolk@gmail.com)!

Mon, 15 Feb 2021 17:12:43 GMT

Hi Ben, I'll send it off to you now!

Wed, 6 Aug 2025 00:56:27 GMT

Our Cabin is at 8000 feet in elevation in the northern CA sierras. We use a shop vac at the lowest spicket to suck out the excess water in the lines.

Wed, 6 Aug 2025 00:57:22 GMT

I posted this under another post, but I thought I would post it here because it has to do with winterizing cabins.....

I'm investigating our shutter situation. We have an off-grid cabin in the Northern CA Sierra’s at 8,000 feet elevation. It snows past the windows in the winter.

We currently use heavy plywood for shutters. We are looking for something easier. We came up with two options:

1) metal roll-down shutters

2) Hurricane-strength windows  

The pros and cons we have discovered so far:

Metal roll-down shutters: Expensive (more than replacing the windows with Hurricane-strength windows), and not particularly attractive, good for security

Hurricane-strength windows: less expensive than metal roll-down shutters, and the windows should withstand the snow pressure without needing shutters. They are rated for lateral pressure (pressure from the snow build-up) of 80 PSF, whereas the existing 1/4 polywood wood shutters that have been working for years are rated for lateral pressure of 16 PSF, so it seems reasonable they will withstand the pressure from the snow. They are also rated to withstand a 2x4 propelled at a speed of 50 feet per second (approximately 34 miles per hour).

My questions on the Hurricane-strength windows: 1) Does anyone have experience with them? 2) Will they really withstand the snow build-up, leak, or fail in any way?

Any thoughts? Advice?