What temperature should a vacant apartment be kept at in winter?

No lower than 55°F is a common minimum, given for example by Indiana's utility consumer counselor for homes left empty while traveling.

Should I turn off the water in a vacant apartment?

Close the unit's own shutoff valves if they serve only that unit. Do not close risers or mains that serve other tenants.

How often should a vacant unit be checked in winter?

At least weekly, and more often during a cold snap. Look for leaks, check the temperature and run the faucets.

How to Winterize a Vacant Apartment Unit

In an apartment building, you usually keep a vacant unit heated rather than draining it, because its pipes are tied to the units around it. Set the thermostat no lower than 55°F, shut the unit's water off at its valve if it has one, open cabinet doors on exterior walls, check alarms, and walk the unit at least weekly until it is rented. Full draining is for a building that is completely empty.

Heat it or drain it?

Single-family guides often say to drain a vacant house. In a multi-unit building that rarely works: risers and branch lines run through the vacant unit to serve neighbors, the boiler loop may pass through it, and a cold vacant unit chills the walls of the occupied units next to it. So the usual answer is to keep the vacant unit warm and reduce the damage a leak could do.

Situation	Usual approach
One vacant unit in an occupied building	Keep heated, shut unit valves if present, check weekly
Several vacant units on one riser	Keep heated, consider a temperature sensor, check more often
Whole building empty for renovation	A plumber drains and blows out lines, or keeps heat on with monitoring

The winterizing checklist

Heat

Set the thermostat no lower than 55°F. Indiana's utility consumer counselor gives that minimum for homes left while traveling (Indiana OUCC).
If the unit has its own furnace or heat pump, have it running and serviced; if it is on a central boiler, bleed and open the radiators so they heat.
Close windows fully and check the weather stripping. Ready.gov advises keeping out the cold with insulation, caulking and weather stripping (Ready.gov).

Water

Find the unit's shutoff valves and close them if they isolate only this unit. Leave risers alone.
Open cabinet doors under sinks on exterior walls so room air reaches the pipes, as Indiana OUCC suggests in very cold weather.
Pour water in every drain trap and add a note to check them weekly, since dry traps let sewer gas in.
Disconnect any outdoor hose on a patio or balcony and store it inside.
Turn off or set to vacation mode a unit water heater if it serves only this unit.

Safety and security

Test the smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. Ready.gov advises working CO detectors on every level.
Lock windows and doors and change the lock code or core if keys are out with a past tenant or vendor.
Leave one light on a timer.
Post your contact number in the unit for contractors and staff.

The weekly walk

A vacant unit can leak for days before anyone notices, so a standing walk is the main protection. Check the temperature reading, look under every sink and around the water heater, run each faucet for a moment, flush the toilets, and look at ceilings for stains from above. Write down the date and what you saw. In a deep cold snap, walk more often.

Example a made-up owner has 3 vacant units in a 20 unit building in January. A porter's weekly walk takes 20 minutes per unit, so 1 hour a week at $25 an hour, or about $100 a month. One small drip found early costs a $180 plumber visit. The same drip found after three weeks soaks the subfloor and the ceiling below, and the owner pays the plumber plus $1,400 in drywall, paint and drying. The walk pays for itself with the first leak it catches.

If a pipe freezes anyway

Shut off the water at the nearest valve that stops the flow, or the main, right away.
Call a licensed plumber. Indiana OUCC warns that thawing without professional guidance can cause costly damage.
Never thaw a pipe with a torch or any open flame.
Once thawed, restore water slowly while watching for leaks, ready to shut it off again.
Check the units below and next to it for water.

Steps follow the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor's guidance on frozen pipes.

Use the vacancy

A winter vacancy is also a chance to finish turnover work that needs a warm, empty unit: paint, flooring, caulking. Our unit turnover checklist covers the make-ready itself. The less time the unit sits empty, the less there is to winterize.

Vacant units in DoorKeeping

Ask your AI app which units are vacant across your properties, straight from DoorKeeping's rent roll, and plan your weekly walks from that list. Repair bills for a vacant unit wait for your approval and go to that property's books. Log anything you find on a walk as a work order and send it to a vendor by link; post vacancies where you already do.

Sources

Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor, Preventing Frozen Pipes, read Oct 29, 2026
Ready.gov, Winter Weather, read Oct 29, 2026

Questions

What temperature should a vacant apartment be kept at in winter?: No lower than 55°F is a common minimum, given for example by Indiana's utility consumer counselor for homes left empty while traveling.
Should I turn off the water in a vacant apartment?: Close the unit's own shutoff valves if they serve only that unit. Do not close risers or mains that serve other tenants.
How often should a vacant unit be checked in winter?: At least weekly, and more often during a cold snap. Look for leaks, check the temperature and run the faucets.