Cabin Winterizing Process; plus other notes
(last updated on 12-12-2022; instruction G.4 was added)
  1. Winter Preparation:
    1. Un-plug the heater which is next to the fireplace.
    2. Assure that the Dishwasher Hose is drained, and leave the door open.
    3. Squeegee the water from the insides of the upstairs balcony glass; wiping the water off the sill with an old bath towel.
      1. The squeegee is located to the left of the microwave, on the floor.
    4. Shut-off Hot Water Tank Power Switch.
    5. Draw about 3 gallons of hot water in a 5 gallon bucket from the bath tub, and place this bucket outside the front door.
      1. This bucket of water is for washing your hands later on.
    6. Shut-off the outside water supply valve (located outside and low, to the right).
    7. Open the following and leave open:
      1. The little vent valve on the side of the outside water supply valve.
      2. The outside blue cold tap (located high)
      3. The outside red hot tap (located low and to the left).
      4. The downstairs bathroom sink hot and cold.
      5. The upstairs bathroom sink hot and cold.
      6. The bathtub hot and cold, plus:
        1. Set the shower diverter valve at the half-way position, and lower the wand to allow it to drain.
        2. Return the wand to the hanger, and set the shower diverter to TUB-ONLY (no water diverted to shower head).
      7. The Kitchen Sink hot and cold, plus lift the sprayer head up out of the sink as far as it goes, and hold the sprayer trigger open to drain.
    8. Flush the downstairs toilet, and hold the flush lever down to get most of the water out of the tank.  Next, use a plumber's friend to plunger out most of the water from the bowl.
      1. Repeat the process for the upstairs toilet.
    9. Put about a cup of anti-freeze (ethylene glycol - RV Antifreeze is best) in the following:
      1. One side of the kitchen sink drain.
      2. The bathtub drain.
      3. The upstairs bathroom sink.
      4. The downstairs bathroom sink.
      5. The Clothes Washer sewer drop.  Lift-out the drain line, pour in the anti-freeze, and then REPLACE the drain line.
    10. Put about a pint of anti-freeze in the following:
      1. The upstairs toilet bowl.
      2. The upstairs toilet tank.
      3. The downstairs toilet bowl.
      4. The downstairs toilet tank.
    11. 60 watt light bulbs & cords are stored on the coat rack next to the downstairs back door.  The thermostat-controlled outlets are the two closest to the two toilets:
      1. String a 60 watt light bulb off the upstairs toilet tank, with the cord wedged under the tank lid.  Don't let the bulb lay against wood.
      2. String a 60 watt light bulb off the downstairs toilet tank, with the cord wedged under the tank lid.  Don't let the bulb lay against wood.
      3. String a 60 watt light bulb to run on top of the hot water tank, plugged into the downstairs toilet thermostat-controlled outlet.  Don't let the bulb be touching anything.
    12. Turn-up the under-the-staircase thermostat so that you can confirm that the three bulbs above, plus the one under the staircase are burning well.  Replace any burned-out bulbs with 60 watt bulbs.  Once all bulbs are burning well, turn the thermostat back down to the black pen mark.
    13. Plug-in the two Air-Dryr 1000's Pancake Heaters:
      1. One plugs-in behind the upstairs TV, and is positioned on the floor, in front of the TV.
      2. The other one is plugged-into the outlet next to the front downstairs bedroom, and is positioned on the mini-hallway floor on the carpet, centrally positioned between the two downstairs bedrooms and the downstairs bathroom.
    14. Keep all interior partition doors open, both upstairs and downstairs, to allow for good ventilation.
    15. Only shut the fabric drape on the Dining Room window, leaving the Dining Room Levelor Blind drawn-up.
    16. Lock all the windows and sliding door, shut the drapes and lock the upstairs stairway door.
      1. This is a CRITICAL STEP.  We have "Tweekers" whom have tried repetitively to get into the cabin.  Make sure that:
        1. All windows are latched-locked.  This means that the little lockers are flipped downward, on ten windows, except the upstairs NW window (the one over the new fold-down couch-bed).  That particular NW Window locks by flipping upward.
        2. All windows have their sticks in place.
        3. The Sliding Glass door is locked by flipping the switch downward (just like 10 of the 11 windows), and its' board is in place.
        4. BOTH the standard deadbolt and the handle deadbolt must be locked from inside the staircase.  The deadbolt handle cannot be set to lock and then closed.
    17. Turn-off all power in the box EXCEPT for the six (6) switches with White Labels.  The White Label switches stay on all the time.
      1. FYI:  The switch on the lower-right labeled "Basement" also controls the back-door Security Lamp.  If you were to switch it off for 2 seconds, and then turn it back on, the Security Lamp will turn itself on without timing-out after 12-minutes, thereby defeating the Security Lamp's automatic operation.
    18. Wash your hands in the bucket of water out front, dump the bucket outside, and put the bucket back in the cabin.
    19. Leave the front porch light ON, for security.
    20. Lock up the front door.
  2. Use after the cabin has been Winterized:
    1. Replace the front porch light if it has burned-out.  Spare energy-saver bulbs are found in the adjacent dresser, in the top-right nook.
    2. Turn-on all power switches EXCEPT for the Hot Water Tank Power Switch.
    3. Shut off the blue cold tap at the back of the cabin (located high).
    4. Shut off the red hot tap (located low and to the left).
    5. Shut off the little vent valve on the side of the outside water supply valve.
    6. Turn-on the outside water supply valve (low and to the right).
    7. Go inside and start turning-off all the valves at the sinks and tub.  Make sure that you have clear water running (no air pockets) coming out of the upstairs sink hot water valves.
    8. Turn-on the Hot Water Tank Power Switch.
    9. Flush the toilets a couple of times.
    10. Stow-away the two Air-Dryr 1000's Pancake Heaters to the right of the clothes dryer.
    11. If the back-door Security Lamp is on when you arrive, it is because the PUD Electrical power blinked for a couple of seconds while you were away.  To re-set the Security Lamp for normal operation, shut-off the lower-right breaker-panel switch labeled "Basement", and leave it off for a few minutes.
    12. Stow-away the 60 watt light bulbs & cords on the coat rack next to the downstairs back door.
  3. Spring, Summer, and Fall Preparation:
    1. Add a dash of bleach to both toilet bowls ONLY.
    2. Wash your hands.
    3. Leave the Dishwasher door open.
    4. Squeegee the water from the insides of the upstairs balcony glass; wiping the water off the sill with an old bath towel.
      1. The squeegee is located to the left of the microwave, on the floor.
    5. Un-plug the heaters which are next to the fireplace.
    6. Turn-off all power in the box EXCEPT for the six (6) switches with White Labels.  The White Label switches stay on all the time.
      1. FYI:  The switch on the lower-right labeled "Basement" also controls the back-door Security Lamp.  If you were to switch it off for 2 seconds, and then turn it back on, the Security Lamp will turn itself on without timing-out after 12-minutes, thereby defeating the Security Lamp's automatic operation.
    7. Shut-off the outside water supply valve (located outside and low, to the right).
    8. Plug-in the two Air-Dryr 1000's Pancake Heaters:
      1. One plugs-in behind the upstairs TV, and is positioned on the floor, in front of the TV.
      2. The other one is plugged-into the outlet next to the front downstairs bedroom, and is positioned on the mini-hallway floor on the carpet, centrally positioned between the two downstairs bedrooms and the downstairs bathroom.
    9. Keep all interior partition doors open, both upstairs and downstairs, to allow for good ventilation.
    10. Only shut the fabric drape on the Dining Room window, leaving the Dining Room Levelor Blind drawn-up.
    11. Lock all the windows and sliding door, shut the drapes and lock the upstairs stairway door.
      1. This is a CRITICAL STEP.  We have "Tweekers" whom have tried repetitively to get into the cabin.  Make sure that:
        1. All windows are latched-locked.  This means that the little lockers are flipped downward, on ten windows, except the upstairs NW window (the one over the new fold-down couch-bed).  That particular NW Window locks by flipping upward.
        2. All windows have their sticks in place.
        3. The Sliding Glass door is locked by flipping the switch downward (just like 10 of the 11 windows), and its' board is in place.
        4. BOTH the standard deadbolt and the handle deadbolt must be locked from inside the staircase.  The deadbolt handle cannot be set to lock and then closed.
    12. Leave the front porch light ON, for security.
    13. Lock up the front door.
  4. Use after the cabin has been locked during Spring, Summer, and Fall:
    1. Replace the front porch light if it has burned-out.  Spare energy-saver bulbs are found in the adjacent dresser, in the top-right nook.
    2. Turn-on all power switches EXCEPT for the Hot Water Tank Power Switch.
    3. Turn-on the outside water supply valve (low and to the right).
    4. Go inside and turn-on the Kitchen Sink Hot water, to make sure that you have clear water running (no air pockets) coming out.
    5. Turn-on the Hot Water Tank Power Switch.
    6. Stow-away the two Air-Dryr 1000's Pancake Heaters to the right of the clothes dryer.
    7. If the back-door Security Lamp is on when you arrive, it is because the PUD Electrical power blinked for a couple of seconds while you were away.  To re-set the Security Lamp for normal operation, shut-off the lower-right breaker-panel switch labeled "Basement", and leave it off for a few minutes.
  5. The Cabin is Online, as of 11-5-2010:
    1. The Wireless Router Username is:
      1. Davis
    2. and, the password is found:
      1. in the left carousel of the TV Stand.
  6. Septic Tank:
    1. These items may be flushed-down the toilet:
      1. Things which you have eaten first.
      2. Toilet paper.
    2. These items may NOT be flushed-down the toilet:
      1. Paper towels.
      2. Kleenex.
      3. Sanitary napkins, etc.
    3. Use the minimal amount of detergent you need to wash dishes or laundry.
  7. Dishwasher:
    1. Clean all food off of dishes before loading them in the Dishwasher.
    2. The Speed Cycle is recommended, as it is more than adequate to clean the dishes, and is only 45 minutes long.
    3. ONLY fill the smaller left-side of the detergent dispenser.
      1. Use the dishwasher detergent which is under the sink.
      2. Do NOT use hand dish washing soap.
    4. If the PUD Electrical power blinked for a couple of seconds while you were away, you will need to re-set the dishwasher, otherwise it will not power-up.  To do this, simply unplug the dishwasher from the wall outlet, hold down the <Power> button, and then re-plug the dishwasher back into the wall outlet.
    5. The manual is in the drawer under under the dishwasher.