We turn the water off in both our homes. Once four years ago we went to town in the winter for a shopping day and dinner when we got back an up stairs bathroom faucet connection had broke. Four thousand gallons of water later we walked in to a waterfall coming over the loft balcony, light fixture with water coming out and enough water to knock out the furnace. The Allstate insurance man said he'd seen worse in the Colorado mountains where a water line broke in a vacation house and the temperature was below zero. The basement filled full and froze solid before water was seen coming out of their doors.
