Experience draining pipes for winter? (house, island, place)

[Teresa1127]

I'm wondering if anyone has had experience with winterizing a vacant house. I've heard that it is not good for a house to be subjected to below freezing temps. That it can cause walls to crack, etc. If you've had experience winterizing a house, please let me know if you feel it did any harm to it to go through a winter without heat.

We bought a house with the intention of demolishing it. The boiler in the house just broke and needs to be replaced. We aren't 100% certain we are going to demolish it - so need to preserve the house. Would like to avoid putting in a new boiler until we are certain we are not going to demolish it. The house is on Long Island.

TIA

[Clifford63]

You better do it fast if it is not too late already. Water expands and cracks things like pipes and boilers. If you boiler is old, you might find that replacing it is very expensive if you have to do aspestos abatement.