It’s been a long hard winter and an unusual spring – that’s for sure. But planning to prepare your cottage so it’s summer-ready is an exciting prospect.
Here are a few steps for prepping your cottage for the summer season:
Before your first trip to the cottage, call ahead to have all the utilities turned back on (water, hydro, gas, phone/internet/tv). Make sure your cottage and boat insurance policies are up to date.
Collect all the tools, cleaning supplies, paperwork, keys … that you will need before you leave home for the cottage.
One of the most important parts of getting your cottage ready for the summer is to turn the water system back on to feed your fixtures and appliances. Hopefully, your plumbing system was all drained properly and plumbing antifreeze added where necessary (toilet bowls, drain traps) so you won’t have any surprise leaks.
If you have a jet pump system running water from the lake you will need to inspect the intake line and foot valve before positioning in the water – not too close to the lake surface or bottom. Use a pump horse or anchor and float system to get the correct elevation.
Prime your pump, open the valve slightly and turn on the power – a breaker or inline switch – continuing to open the valve as the water flow increases. Check a nearby tap to make sure the pump held the prime and hasn’t run dry. Once the pressure tank has filled and the pump has switched itself off, open the next valve to fill the rest of the building. Open all faucets (hot and cold) – if you don’t, then air pressure in the system will keep it from filling properly. Keep a sharp eye/ear out for leaks for the first few hours and check traps for leaks after you’ve run water into each drain. The cold side will fill first and you can then close those faucets (or swing single-lever handles to the hot side) but the hot side must fill the hot water tank first before getting to the faucets which will take longer. Do NOT turn on the breaker to your hot water tank until you have water flowing from the hot side of all faucets – failure to do so will mean you’re going to be replacing at least one and probably both of the heating elements in the tank.
Give us a call or fill in a contact form, and we’d be happy to get your cottage plumbing system up and running for you once you are able to head to your home away from home.
