Collingwood Plumbers gets the same question every October: when is the right day to close the cottage? The short answer is before the first hard frost, which on this shoreline usually means October. The longer answer depends on the cottage.
Why October and not December
South Georgian Bay sits in the snowbelt, and winter does not arrive in one step. It arrives in cold snaps, and the first one can come while the leaves are still on the trees. A supply line in a crawl space only needs one hard night to freeze.
A shutdown booked for late November runs into the same weather it is meant to prevent. A shutdown done in October is done before it. The cottage winterizing guide lists every step in order, so the date is the only decision left.
Three kinds of cottage, three dates
| Cottage | Shut down | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Closed until spring | October, after the last visit | Nothing left to freeze before the first hard frost |
| Visited some winter weekends | Leave heated; drain the lines that freeze | A full shutdown every weekend is impractical |
| A ski chalet in use all winter | Do not drain; protect the heat | The risk is a heating failure, not the cold itself |
The chalets in The Blue Mountains mostly fall in the third row. Seasonal cottages in Wasaga Beach and along the Meaford shore mostly fall in the first.
What to book with the shutdown
The shutdown is the right day to look at three things, because the water is already off:
- Supply lines that have frozen before. Re-route or add heat trace while the house is drained.
- Poly-B. A drained system is the cheapest time to replace exposed Poly-B fittings. The Poly-B identification note shows what to look for.
- The sump pump. It stays on all winter. Test it now, not during the spring melt.
On a well
A cottage on a private well adds the pump and the pressure tank to the shutdown. Switch the pump off at its breaker before draining, so it cannot run dry, then drain the pressure tank and the line to it. Well pump and pressure tank service covers the house side.
Book it before the calendar fills
Shutdowns cluster in the same few weeks every year, because every owner on the shoreline faces the same frost. Cottage winterizing is booked in order of enquiry, and October fills first.