Estimated cost for minimum winter heat

[skocars]

I hope this is an appropriate question for this Forum.

I live in NY and just bought a home in Utah. It was a foreclosure and was nearly three years old and never lived in. The last winter the bank had it winterized, water lines drained and all traps filled with RV antifreeze. The gas was turned off and it sat in the cold all winter.

My biggest concern was the hidden water leak when water was turned on. We were lucky and it checked out. Now I am trying to decide how to handle winter this year. I recognize that doing what the bank did, the same person another year may miss a spot and have a problem.

My question is, does anyone have a ball park idea of how much it would cost to maintain a minimal temperature with gas heat? What would that temperature be? The home is at 5,000 feet above sea level and gets a lot of snow.

Your opinion and suggestions would be appreciated and helpful. I am inclined to do both, winterize and keep a minimal temp, if the cost is not prohibitive.

[BHD]

If it is on natural gas, call the gas supplier in the community or if on propane if you can find the supplier.

and see if they have any records on the property and its usage, and at current rates what the bill would average for the year.

or what the average residential bill is in the community,

there are to many variables to make any type of guess, IMO.

[cpw]

I can't give you any good advice on costs. But off the top of my head, it seems that a proper winterization wouldn't be subject to a power failure like your heating system would be.

[Mr. Ooter]

I would for sure have a plumber winterize the house. Not some hack either. The more you pay the more peace of mind you should have lol. My house was a foreclosure too and they didn't even drain down the boiler when it was "winterized"

The bank actually had it winterized twice by two different property management companies and they both screwed it up. I called the second one and he even lied about it and stated he blew the lines clean and they held pressure when he was there.. yeah right lol. I know it's not the case because there was no way for him to hook up a compressor!!

Anyways, hire a plumber at least. If you have the furnace turned on have it serviced and think about a freeze alarm too if you're serious about keeping things intact and running good.