OUR 800 SQ. FT. log-and-frame cabin two hours outside of Whitehorse was never designed to be lived in from November to March. In our first winter, plummeting temperatures and frozen pipes regularly set us scrambling for every space heater, hair dryer, and heating blanket we could get our hands on. On -30°C mornings, I opened the kitchen faucet with trepidation. Would there be water? Showers? Coffee? The rest of the day hung in the balance.
We’re hardly alone in our struggles with fair-weather plumbing. A growing number of cottagers are embracing the colder months. Some are attempting to stretch their three-season water systems into four. Others, conceding to Mother Nature, are taking a rustic and more old-fashioned approach (e.g., drilling a hole in the ice or melting snow; see “The Old Ways”, p.62).
Choosing the best option for you comes down to budget, how often you visit the cottage, the conveniences you want while you’re there, and how literally you care to interpret the Zen proverb “chop wood, carry water.”
The four-season system
If your ice-auguring days are behind you and you don’t mind paying to keep the cottage heated all winter, upgrading to a four-season system may be well worth the investment—especially if you’re planning to retire to the cottage, or live there part- or full-time (as we did).
The goal is to freeze-proof each stage of the water’s journey, from intake to kitchen sink to septic tank (see “Don’t Forget the
