prairie point

We have two water systems here.

Inside the house we have co-op water. There are also two outside water faucets that dispense co-op water. One near the back door and another out by the road next to the water meter.

We also have a well, which feeds a dozen outside spigots and an animal water trough with an automatic cutoff valve. It’s nice having all the outside spigots because I can link together a couple water hoses and reach almost any spot on the property except for the really rugged slope down to the lake.

But now that we are starting to get low temps in the mid-thirties at night I’ve had to start a new nightly ritual. About sundown I go out to the pump house and shut off the pump, then open a valve to drain the whole system. I don’t have to wrap any of the spigots that way. Not to mention that there are a couple runs of pipe that are above ground anyway.

It may seem early to start this ritual but I’d rather be safe than sorry. I forgot once last winter and had to do some repairs.

When we lived in town we only had two outside faucets and next to each one was a valve that was below ground. I got into the habit of controlling the faucets with the below-ground valve and never having to think about freezes at all.

I need to find some kind of weather alert to remind me. I don’t watch the news and weather on TV so that’s not the answer. I could just plan on doing it every night, but there will come a night I will forget.  I’ve got the forecast on the menubar of my browser.   That is the best I can do for now.  I’ve been looking for some way to subscribe to freeze warnings from NOAA, or something of that sort.