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Turn off water to the house before leaving?


Richjoxyz
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In Florida you need to run the AC or the house will mold up all over. A friend went to Spain for 2 weeks and came back to a green apartment!

 

 

happened to neighbors in Japan too. they took off for the summer( he was deployed, she was a teacher so went home to the states in June.. )came back in late august. and these were concrete apartments. all heir wooden furniture was ruined. only salvaged about have the clothes too.

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That would only be necessary if you had no heat. As long as you heat the house over freezing (we leave ours at 45 when we go away for a long period of time) nothing is going to freeze.

 

Hank

You’re right - of course I recall the ice storm of 1973 - when lots of people had no heat for many days - and there were a number of cracked toilet floods,.

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Let’s see, a few hours worth of water damage vs 7 or 8 days of damage. Hmmmmm.

 

Hmmmmm. This isn't a contest to see who might have the most damage, fer crying out loud! Any damage is a problem, whether 7 or 8 hours worth or 7 or 8 days. Like I described, for us a few hours of spraying hot water required much of the garage's walls to be torn out and replaced, plus damage to much of what we had stored on shelves and to my tools, some of them powered. If 7 or 8 days worth of damage is a big worry to you, then 7 or 8 hours should also be. Just being realistic.

 

We don't turn our water off when on vacation. We have someone who visits the house twice a day to feed and play with the cat. Water is needed for the cat's water bowl and to wash dirty food bowls. Oh, and for use of the toilet by the house sitter if needed. Still, if another leak occurred right after they left for the day, we would be dealing with more damage to be dealt with. And yes, even after "a few hours".

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Here up north, we shut off the water and don't forget to shut off the frig ice maker. We have to leave the heat on to avoid freezing pipes.

 

 

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We just got back from an 11 night cruise. I turned off the water, but didn't even think about the ice maker. It was iced over and stopped making ice. Finally figured out how to reach up inside the door (it's a fridge with in door ice) and clear the ice jam. That's when I found the little switch to turn the ice maker on and off!

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We had a friend whose house was destroyed by mold when the hose to the ice maker broke when he was on vacation in the summer and the water just kept running and running. Now we always turn off the main water valve when leaving for vacation.

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I leave the water on, the hot water furnace needs water to heat the house.:(

 

This is my case.

 

I run a Wink Hub to control various lights in the house. I leave the program running all the time, even when home, so the lights are on at similar times.

 

I set thermostat to 50 in winter and 80 in summer to reduce consumption.

 

I turn of most other electronic devices, but do not unplug things.

 

I did have a bit of flooding from leaking pipe when returning from a work trip, but not enough damage to call the insurance company. But again, in heating season, I need to have the water on to supply the boiler.

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Can't turn the water off or the pool will have major problems when we get back, and the sprinkler system needs it also.

 

I leave the thermostat at 75 in summer, 70 in winter.

 

We are usually gone for several months at a time but have a house sitter that keeps water in the pool and gets the mail. She also flushes toilets, runs some water in sinks etc. She rotates what light are left on.

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The condo above mine used to be owned by snowbirds whose visits tapered off to a couple weeks two or three times a year. They would turn the main water valve to their apartment off. Until it burst due to the pressure. Twice. (Hopefully their insurance company collected from the plumber who replaced it the first time). First time ruining their carpet, second time flooding a bathroom as they had turned on the tap at the sink to be sure the water had stopped running--but forgot to close the tap. So no way am I turning off the same 40 year old valve in my condo.

 

My mom used to turn off the valve to her water heater (no access to main valve in her condo) until I showed her articles about how draining it actually causes leaks. And as one post above relayed, much more likely to leak than most anything else is the water connection to your fridge's ice maker. Which may not have its own shut off valve where it was connected to.

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We always turn off the water at the cutoff in the basement when we go away overnight--ever since coming back from a Labor Day weekend to find water leaking through the ceiling into our kitchen from the bathroom above. It was a small mess.

 

We turn off the water at the street during the winter at our beach place.

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If your home will be unoccupied for more than a long weekend you should always shut off the water...preferably at the water meter. Anything can happen, even during the non-winter months. Even if you have a water leak that is outdoors you will be charged by most water utility companies for all of the water that is discharged. Some water companies have a water monitoring program that will alert you via email if your water usage exceeds limits that you select (x-gallons per hour or per day) and you should sign up for it if it is available.

 

During winter months in cold climates the importance of shutting off the water is multiplied several times because of the potential of having a pipe break due to freezing conditions. A furnace or a boiler will prevent your house from freezing as long as there is not a part failure. Almost any part that fails on a furnace or a boiler will render it useless and a part can fail at any time. You can also have a frozen house due to an extended power failure. Or you can run out of propane gas (it is extremely rare to have a natural gas delivery failure) or heating oil because these are delivered products and, yes, sometimes the delivery doesn't happen. Another situation that crops up every now and then is one or more broken windows. If that happens then the heating system runs continuously but cannot keep up...a triple hit: high heating bill, a high water bill and water damage. If you do not have a reliable means to cut off the water then call a plumber and get it fixed.

 

So, yeah...turn off the water. It takes all of what, a minute or two?

 

A smart thing to do is to purchase and install an internet connected thermostat. I recommend the Honeywell 6000WF model. The price is right at just over $100 at Home Depot and you can install it yourself if you are moderately handy...or you can hire a pro to do it. An internet thermostat will allow you to check in on your home's temperature from any internet connected device anywhere in the world. You can adjust the temperature remotely (very nice when you are on the way home and want it warm when you get there). But the best feature is that the thermostat will email you if the temperature in the home falls below a point that you have selected. That means that if you have set the temperature down to, say, 50F and you are monitoring for, say, 45F then you will be emailed if it ever hits 45 and you will know to contact someone to deal with it before the situation turns critical. You will also be emailed if there is a power failure or a loss of internet connectivity at your home.

 

Of course, if you have a monitored security system you can monitor for temperature as easily as you can for security and fire, just call the security system contractor and ask them to make the necessary changes.

 

By the way, if you believe that you can't turn your water off because you have a hot water heating system you are almost always mistaken. Call a heating professional and get that problem (a small leak in your heating system) dealt with. There are numerous important reasons why you should never tolerate a leak in a hot water heating system.

 

So always turn the water off.

 

I own a heating and air conditioning company and I see these things happen every year. Totally preventable. Turn off the water. Especially during the winter in cold climates.

 

One other tip: Your electronic devices can be damaged whether you are at home or away due to a power surge. Some power surges are not preventable (your house gets struck by lightning and you do not have lightning rods) but most are preventable. I recommend a whole house surge arrestor that is installed in the home's electrical circuit breaker panel. The cost is modest...about $100 for the device...and you can either install it yourself or you can hire a pro to do it. A whole house surge arrestor won't prevent all damage every time but it can prevent most instances of potential surge related electrical damage.

Edited by trapeze5
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We live in a dy climate. We travel often, plus two-three month trips in the winter.

 

We turn off our water (and drain the lines in winter),we set the water heater to low, the furnace temp is turned down. We turn off/and or unplug some items when on longer trips. We have someone check our home from time to time. HOA does snow removal and gardening so this is not an issue.

 

If we are gone for a few months we reduce our auto insurance to theft and fire only.

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Can't turn the water off or the pool will have major problems when we get back, and the sprinkler system needs it also.

 

Same here, especially this time of year when its really dry. I was just gone for 2 weeks and I would have had major pool problems had the water been shut off.

 

If not for the pool and sprinklers though, I think turning off the water would be a good idea.

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Our neighbor is a snowbird and had a water leak .... what a mess.

 

He also has a pool that he thinks has a leak because the pool people are always filling it. However, he has two separate lines, one for the house and one for the pool. I don't know if he did this after the leak or not, and I don't know how expensive this is, but it's an idea for pools.

 

We'll be gone for 11 days and I just put water in the pool. We have a pool service and our pool people know where the water valve is to turn it on if needed to fill the pool, clean the filter, etc.

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How many people recommend turning off the water to the house before leaving for the cruise?

We always turn the water off when we go on vacation. A friend's icemaker line came loose while they were on a two week vacation, and water ran for an undetermined amount of time. They had to replace most of their first level flooring. I'm not taking the chance.

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Well this thread has now got me worried. Never switched our water off before so had a word with the people who installed the boiler and who also refitted our kitchen and added a single switch to turn off the water rather than a cumbersome stopcock.

 

We want to leave the heating on its lowest level for just 30 minutes twice a day, but we've been told that if we switch the water off we will also lose the heating!! Will query this further, but am now faced with a 5 weeks holiday wondering if the flat is okay :(

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