Closing a New Hampton camp or lake house for the winter, or opening it back up in the spring — done methodically, documented in writing, so nothing gets missed and nothing splits in February.
New Hampton runs from the Pemigewasset River up into hill country toward Center Harbor and Sanbornton, with the New Hampton School campus at its center and a scatter of houses along Route 104, Route 132, and a web of back roads. There’s no municipal water system serving the town generally — effectively every home is on a drilled well with a pressure tank, and a private septic system on the other end.
That means the classic well-country problem list. Waterlogged pressure tanks that make the pump short-cycle. Pressure switches that stick. Well lines entering through fieldstone or block foundations where cold comes in with the pipe. Pumps that quit with no warning and no water at all until someone comes out. And the underlying reality that a power outage here means no water, period.
The pond and small-lake camps — around Pemigewasset Lake and the smaller waters — are the seasonal component: modest camps, simple systems, closed each fall. They’re quick to winterize when it’s done right and expensive when it isn’t, because a small camp with a burst line is still a full interior repair.
The rest of it is farmhouses and year-round homes that have been added onto over a long time, with plumbing that ran wherever it was convenient in whatever year it was installed. Long driveways, deep frost on exposed ground, and outbuildings with their own water are all part of the picture.
If your New Hampton well pump is short-cycling — clicking on and off every few seconds when you run a tap — stop using the water and get it looked at. That’s usually a waterlogged pressure tank, and running it that way burns out a pump that costs several times more to replace.
Shutting down a seasonal house properly is not turning off a valve and opening the faucets. On a well system the pump is shut down, the pressure tank drained, the pump line relieved, and the whole distribution system blown out with compressed air at low, controlled pressure — because water left standing in a horizontal run is exactly where a pipe splits. Water heaters are drained. Every trap gets non-toxic RV antifreeze: sinks, tubs, showers, floor drains, and each toilet, with the tank and bowl emptied and treated.
Then the list nobody remembers. Whole-house filters and water softener tanks hold water and crack. Ice makers have a supply line and a reservoir. Dishwashers and washing machines hold water in the pump housing. Outdoor showers, dock hose bibs, boathouse sinks, wet bars, and irrigation zones all need to be drained separately. On a lake-draw system the foot valve and line have to come out of the water before ice-in.
We finish with a written record of what was drained, what was left charged, and where antifreeze went — so whoever opens the house in the spring, including a different person entirely, knows exactly what they’re walking into.
A standard Lakes Region camp winterization typically runs $175–$450 depending on the number of fixtures, whether it’s a well or town supply, and the extras (filters, softener, irrigation, boathouse). Spring startup runs similar. Booking both together is the way most owners do it.
Aim to be done by the end of October. The first hard freeze in the Lakes Region can arrive in early November and does not wait for your schedule. Waterfront and private-road properties should book earlier still, because access gets harder once the roads soften or the snow starts.
You can, and for a house you visit in winter it is often the better choice — but it is only as reliable as your power and your furnace. Most homeowner policies require a minimum interior temperature, commonly 55°F, or a shut-off water supply in a vacant home. If you leave heat on, add a low-temperature alarm so a heat failure does not become a burst pipe you find in April.
Water softeners and whole-house filter housings, ice maker lines, dishwasher and washing machine pump housings, and outdoor showers or dock hose bibs. All of them hold water, all of them crack, and none of them drain when you open the faucets. A written fixture list is the only reliable fix.
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