There are times in which you will need to drain the plumbing system in your home. Sometimes, if you are fixing a major problem like a water hammer problem, or if you are doing a seasonal (or a winter) shut down of a particular property, or if you are doing other types of major plumbing activities or repair, it will become necessary to do a total drain of the plumbing system.

If you are doing a seasonal shutdown, chances are that you are doing much more than simply draining the pipes, but this can be a big part of it. If you don't drain the pipes, they might freeze, and this will ruin them, not to mention causing a mess. For major repairs, any type of water left in the pipes can cause problems, so it is always best to drain the water completely.

The first step to draining the plumbing system in your home is to shut off the main water valve at the water meter. Then, you begin at the top floor, and open up all of the sink faucets. Next, you'll go to the basement or to the lowest level of your home, and open up the faucet in the laundry tub or lowest sink. Let all of the water from the above floors drain out. The next step is to go back to the upper levels and open up all of the tub and shower faucets. Then, flush all of the toilets. Leave the faucets in the open position. You should see that there is no water coming out of the faucets. There might be a slow drip coming from the faucet at the lowest level of the home, as all of the water remaining will dribble out. That is all that it takes to drain the plumbing in your home.

When you are finished with your repair, you will need to reactivate the plumbing system. In order to do this, you should first close the basement faucet, or those in the lowest level of your home. Then, close all of the upper faucets. This will allow water to remain in the pipe to charge the air chambers that might be found in the system. Next, you want to go back and open up the main water valve that will let the water back to your pipes. Go back to your home, and one by one, starting at the highest level of your home, turn on the faucets and let the air and water come out. It will sputter out until only clear water comes. The first water that you see might be discolored, and this is completely normal. Then, open up the shower faucets and do the same thing. The next step is to flush all of the toilets. When the water is all running clear, go back around and turn off all of the faucets, starting at the highest level of your home. The next time you use a faucet you might have the water sputter, but this won't last for very long and everything will be running like normal soon.