Shut off the external water supply, and open the outdoor faucets to allow residual water to drain. Test your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors – residential fires are more common in winter and carbo...Shut off the external water supply, and open the outdoor faucets to allow residual water to drain. Test your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors – residential fires are more common in winter and carbon monoxide can be a byproduct of heating if you have a gas furnace. If there are any stretches of extremely cold weather, keep a small stream of water running in a few faucets to guard against freezing/bursting pipes.