Opening the cottage: the plumbing checklist for spring

What should you check before turning on the water?

Start with a walk, not a valve. Follow the water line from the lake or the well head all the way to the cottage and look for anything winter moved: a heaved section here, a foot valve sitting out of the water there. Inside, put back every drain plug and cap you pulled at closing, and close every tap and valve you opened to drain the system. The classic opening flood is a laundry tub drain plug still sitting on the shelf where it spent the winter.

While you are under the sinks, run a hand along the copper. A line that froze with water in it splits in a hairline you will not see from a distance, and it will not leak until pressure hits it. Finding it with your fingers now beats finding it with the ceiling later.

How do you bring the pump and pressure tank back up?

Prime the pump if it is a jet pump; it needs to be full of water before it runs, and letting it scream away dry for a minute is the fastest way to need a new one. Check the air charge on the pressure tank while the system is still empty. Then power the pump and let the tank fill, and open one tap at the far end of the cottage, cold side first, until the sputtering stops and the water runs clear.

Now do the slow tour: one fixture at a time, watching and listening between each. Bring pressure up gently and the system will tell you where winter got in, one drip at a time, instead of all at once.

How do you refill the water heater safely?

The tank must be completely full before it gets power or gas. Heating an element in a half-empty tank burns it out in minutes. Open a hot tap somewhere in the cottage and fill the tank until that tap runs full and steady with no spitting. Only then turn the breaker on or relight the burner. If the tank was showing rust in the fall, look again now; opening weekend is a better time to learn it is done than a July long weekend with the place full.

When should you call instead?

Call when the pump will not prime or you find a split line, and call when the system holds pressure everywhere except one wall you cannot see into. Those jobs go quickly with the right parts on the truck and badly with a weekend and a guess. We open cottages every spring across Oro-Medonte and the Innisfil shoreline, and the calendar fills weeks before the long weekend, so book in April, not May. Openings are booked visits like any other, with the price set before we start.