Frank Piranio
Selective Plumbing
HAWLEY, PA — I just saw that my question made it into Dave Yates' column ("Winterizing plumbing in vacation homes," August, pg. 44). I feel like a celebrity!
Things are still picking up and I will probably start getting those winterizing calls real soon. I did some tinkering and came up with a special system of my own using Dave's basic approach. I work alone and can't be watching the pump at the washing machine hook-up, so I developed a remedy for that.
I have my pump completely mounted on a wooden stand that bungees to my hand truck for easy carting. I also have a domestic expansion tank and pressure switch, check valve and other valves to shut off everything to avoid accidental spillage while carting.
Now, while making the rounds to all the fixtures, I can shut off the pump at the cut-off pressure until I reach the next destination. This eliminates the excess duration of pump noise. The expansion tank eliminates the short cycling of the pump and everything runs only when needed. Of course, a pressure gauge is also there for monitoring the system. I like the bells and whistles.
I did a winterizing of my own home using food coloring and the system worked great. Now we'll see how the real test goes in the field. Thanks to Dave for all his help.