OMG. Yes you are insane for considering it! :)

Austin Air: Thanks for the comment. Patrlceny, do you have any wisdom to offer me on why this is not a good idea? Thanks!

Having no heat is not worth the risk of a burst pipe or or other damage. You could go as low as 50 degrees if you are trying to save some heating costs. If there is any concern of a power outage then draining the plumbing would also be a second layer of protection.

Draining the pipes is a good start but there are low spots in pipes that may not drain, leaving you at risk of bursting. Keep the heat on low.

Yes, my wisdom is to tell you to listen to the folks here telling you not to do it. :) It's a horrible idea.

I always had the winter heat set for 60 degrees. We had baseboard hot water heat that I didn't want to drain so I set the heat actually higher than needed but it gave me a cushion if the power and heat went out. I had a freeze alert set up in the house that would call my cell phone if the heat dropped to 50 degrees because that meant the boiler wasn't working. I would call my neighbor to check the house and arrange for the heating company to come over and check the system.

Hi, HU,

In my experience, houses do best when indoor environmental conditions are as constant as possible throughout the year.

In an unoccupied house, where the furnace had to be replaced, the pipes were drained, A few things happened.

Near-record cold.

Water left in the joints frozem needed replacing.

Water left in the softener froze, needed a new valve and tank.

On a warm day, opened some windows. The warmer, moister outside air flooded in. The colder, dryer inside air wasn’t ready for the humidy, water literally ran down the walls.

The upshot: Keep the heat on, regardless if you drain the pipes.

We have a summer cottage on an island where the ferry doesn'r un from Nov to March. No one leaves tge heat on all winter. You need to thoroughly drain everything. We have a valve under the house. We pump out the water in the toilet bowl and replace it with antifreeze that works with out septic system.

Basically, you need to know where every drop of water is and get rid of it. Toilet bowls, water heaters, etc. Our cottage is small, our systems simple. Never had a problem in 50 years.

You should keep the heat on. We have a weekend place in PA (zone 5b), the low temp over there could be -15 F. The main house we use is a big old farm house, we normally drain the pipes and keep the temp at 50F while we aren't there. There are some power outages during bad winter storms every year. We also keep two humidifiers running 24/7, one is in the unfinished basement, one is on the 1st floor. I know it's a pain to keep the heat on, but it would cost a lot of more to fix damages.

thanks for the advice all