How To Winterize Your Pool House Bathroom
By When the times comes to close your swimming pool you will also need to winterize your swimming pool house bathroom.
You will have to drain the water from each of the fixtures in your pool house bathroom so they do not freeze and crack from the below freezing weather.
You will need to shut off the main water supply to the pool house. Most pool houses have a dedicated water supply line that will feed all of the fixtures inside. Its a good idea to have the water shut at this point so the pool house plumbing has no water going to it during the winter season. Locate the main water line that is supplying your pool house with water for an extra layer of winter weather protection of your pool house fixtures in the bathroom.
You will need some basic hand tools after you locate and shut the main water supply to the pool house. You will need a pair of channel lock pliers, an open end adjustable crescent wrench, a small paper cup, some paper towels and about 2 gallons of non toxic winter antifreeze made for plumbing fixtures.
How To Winterize The Pool House Toilet
Winterizing the pool house toilet can be done in about 15 minutes with the directions below. You will also need a 1 /2 gallon of non toxic antifreeze that you will be pouring into the bowl for an extra layer of winter protection. Its also a good idea to fully clean the toilet as you are winterizing it.
How To Shut The Toilet Water Supply Off
The first thing you will want to look for is the toilet supply shut off valve that is located on the right side of the toilet 6 ” inches from the floor. This valve will have a handle on it that you can turn. Once you find the toilet shut off valve you will want to turn the handle clockwise (to the right) until the handle cannot be turned anymore. This means the valve is shut off and the water cannot refill the toilet tank or bowl.
How To Remove The Water From The Toilet
Now that you have shut the water supply to the toilet your going to need to drain the toilet free of any water so the toilet tank or bowl does not freeze during the cold harsh winter weather. The first thing you want to do is flush the toilet, this will allow all the water from inside of the toilet tank and toilet bowl to be flushed down the drain. This will help remove most of the water from the toilet bowl. After you have flushed the toilet, you will want to grab some paper towels and dry the inside of the toilet tank. You then will want to take a small paper cup and remove all of the water from inside of the toilet bowl.
How To Protect The Toilet With Antifreeze
Once you have shut the water supply to the toilet, drained all the water from the toilet and then dried the inside of the toilet tank, you will be ready to add some non toxic antifreeze into the toilet tank for extra protection. What you will want to do is pour about 1/2 a gallon of antifreeze into the toilet bowl. This will ensure that the toilet bowl has been fully winterized and also gives the toilet bowl an extra level of protection.
Winterizing The Sink In The Pool House
After you have winterized the toilet inside of the pool house your next fixture to winterize will be the sink. You will need a 1/2 gallon of antifreeze, a pair of channel lock pliers and an open end adjustable wrench. You will also need a really small bucket or catch basin to catch the water that will come out of the p-trap when you go to drain it.
Shutting Off The Sinks Water Supply
The first thing that needs to be done is to locate the water supply valves under the sink. You will need to turn off two valves. One valve will be the cold water supply and the second valve you will be closing will be the hot water supply for the faucet. Look under your sink and you will see these valves. You will want to turn each valve clockwise which is to the right to shut them off. You will want to turn each valve all the way to the right until it stops turning. Once you have shut both valves you will want to open the hot and cold side of the faucet all of the way and leave it like that for the winter. If you still have water coming out from the faucet you will need to tighten the valves a little better or you could possibly have a bad water shut off valve if this is the case.
Removing Water From The P-trap
Once you have shut the water supply valves you will now want to remove water from something called the P-trap. The P-trap is part of the drain piping that is under your sink. Its the plumbing fitting that has the U bend in it. You will need to look under your sink and locate the P-trap, once you do, have a look on the bottom of the bend on the trap and see if there is a removable nut. Some p-traps will have a nut on the bottom of the bend. If your p-trap has this nut you can remove it with the open end adjustable wrench you have, but first you will want to take your small container and place it under the trap to catch the water that will pour out after you have removed the nut.
If you p-trap does not have a removable nut on the bottom of the bend you will have to remove the whole bend of the trap. This can be done by using your channel lock pliers to loosen the two nuts that are on each end of the p-trap bend. You will want to loosen both of these nuts all the way by turning them counter clockwise. Once you loosen the nuts all of the way you will be able to remove the p-trap bend and you will want to pour out the bend of the trap into your container.
Once you have removed all the water from the p-trap bend by either removing the whole bend or just by removing the nut, you will now either want to replace the nut or the bend and then tighten them up. Once the trap bend and then nut have been replaced you will want to get ready to use your non toxic antifreeze that you have standing by.
How To Protect The P-trap With Antifreeze
Now that you have removed all of the water from the p-trap you will want to double protect it by adding some non toxic antifreeze into the trap. What you will want to do is make sure that the nut and the trap bend are tightened one more time. Then you will want to take about a 1/2 gallon of antifreeze and pour it down the drain of the sink. The antifreeze will go down the sink drain and then fill the p-trap bend up which will keep it protected all winter season long.
How To Winterize The Pool House Shower
Winterizing the pool house shower is just like winterizing the toilet and then also the sink. You will need to shut the water, add some antifreeze into the drains and also make sure that the shower is free of water. Here is what you need to do to winterize your pool house shower.
Shutting Down The Shower Water Supply
Inside your pool house near the back of your shower you should have isolation valves to shut off the shower control valve. You will want to locate both the hot and cold shower isolation valves and shut them off by turning the valve handles to the right which is counter clockwise. Once you have the valves closed you will want to open the shower body valve and let all of the water drain out of the shower head. Once the water is done draining from the shower head, you will want to leave the shower body valves open, but keep the isolation valves off.
Adding Antifreeze To The Shower Drain
Once you have all of the shower body drained you will want to now protect the shower drain from freezing. You can do this by adding a gallon of non toxic antifreeze into the shower drain. The antifreeze will push the water out of the trap below and then the antifreeze will takes it place to protect the shower drain and trap below from freezing.
Removing Anything Liquid That Can Freeze
Now that you have all of the fixtures winterized inside of the swimming pool house you will want to do one last thing. You will want to look around the pool house for any containers that have any liquid in them that could freeze over the winter time. You will want to remove these items and place them into a location that will not drop below freezing during the winter. This way your bathroom will be clean and problem free when the pool season starts up again.
If you have any questions, please feel free to post them below,
