Before a trip should I turn off the water of my house?

6.7 tow rig wrote:

Sprink-Fitter wrote:

6.7 tow rig wrote:

Sprink-Fitter wrote:

6.7 tow rig wrote:
Turn it off or you will come home to a swimming pool in the basement. Imagine if you left on a Friday, and a pipe breaks up stairs. You come home Sunday after the water has run non stop for 48 hours. Yep, it happened and was an absolute disaster. Same goes for your camper, if you leave turn it off.

With thinking like you do , you might as well shut it off daily, what if you leave for work at 6:00 am and the pipes break and you don't get home until 6:00 pm?

Then you have 12 hours of water filling your basement instead of 48. Pretty simple really.

So 12 hours wouldn't be that bad?

No. 6 inches of water is better than a foot and a half. Bottom boxes in storage were ruined, boxes on top weren't. If your house is on fire would you rather the Fire department just let it all burn to the ground or would you rather have them put the fire out so you can salvage some of your personal items?

Let it burn to the ground, that way insurance don't argue with what you can save or not.

Yes always turn it off. Takes 10 sec. I have two valves, one for house, one for sprinklers. House is off even for one night. Neighbor knows where the shutoffs are and can turn off sprinklers too in event of malfunction. Wet season sprinklers off too.

I turn off the water when gone more than a week.

If it is for several months I cover the toilets and toilet tanks with plastic wrap.

Sink drains usually have a stopper that can be used.

Then I wrap a small plate with plastic wrap a set over each drain that does not have a stopper.

Sprink-Fitter wrote:

6.7 tow rig wrote:

Sprink-Fitter wrote:

6.7 tow rig wrote:
Turn it off or you will come home to a swimming pool in the basement. Imagine if you left on a Friday, and a pipe breaks up stairs. You come home Sunday after the water has run non stop for 48 hours. Yep, it happened and was an absolute disaster. Same goes for your camper, if you leave turn it off.

With thinking like you do , you might as well shut it off daily, what if you leave for work at 6:00 am and the pipes break and you don't get home until 6:00 pm?

Then you have 12 hours of water filling your basement instead of 48. Pretty simple really.

So 12 hours wouldn't be that bad?

No. 6 inches of water is better than a foot and a half. Bottom boxes in storage were ruined, boxes on top weren't. If your house is on fire would you rather the Fire department just let it all burn to the ground or would you rather have them put the fire out so you can salvage some of your personal items?

mowermech wrote:
I never have, and don't plan to start now.
For every horror story that is told, there are literally hundreds (if not thousands) of people who have not turned the water off, were gone for several days, and came home to no problems at all.
BUT, those folks are never newsworthy.
It just isn't very high on my list of concerns.

I totally agree!

I never have, and don't plan to start now.
For every horror story that is told, there are literally hundreds (if not thousands) of people who have not turned the water off, were gone for several days, and came home to no problems at all.
BUT, those folks are never newsworthy.
It just isn't very high on my list of concerns.

6.7 tow rig wrote:

Sprink-Fitter wrote:

6.7 tow rig wrote:
Turn it off or you will come home to a swimming pool in the basement. Imagine if you left on a Friday, and a pipe breaks up stairs. You come home Sunday after the water has run non stop for 48 hours. Yep, it happened and was an absolute disaster. Same goes for your camper, if you leave turn it off.

With thinking like you do , you might as well shut it off daily, what if you leave for work at 6:00 am and the pipes break and you don't get home until 6:00 pm?

Then you have 12 hours of water filling your basement instead of 48. Pretty simple really.

So 12 hours wouldn't be that bad?

Sprink-Fitter wrote:

6.7 tow rig wrote:
Turn it off or you will come home to a swimming pool in the basement. Imagine if you left on a Friday, and a pipe breaks up stairs. You come home Sunday after the water has run non stop for 48 hours. Yep, it happened and was an absolute disaster. Same goes for your camper, if you leave turn it off.

With thinking like you do , you might as well shut it off daily, what if you leave for work at 6:00 am and the pipes break and you don't get home until 6:00 pm?

Then you have 12 hours of water filling your basement instead of 48. Pretty simple really.

Two seperate issues:
- Fresh water side (ie turn the main off): This has absolutely nothing to do with cockroaches but in the event of a leak, it won't continue to leak for days. Compared to going to work for the day, if you dry out a wet floor in a few hours, it's likely to do little if any harm. Have it soaked for a month and it's likely trashed.
- Sewer side: It's unlikley you have cockroaches in your sewer pipes but possible (septic system is highly unlikely as decomposition keeps oxygen levels down. city sewer still low probability but possible). As long as the P-traps don't dry out, not an issue. If it's winter time, I would go with some antifeeze so the P-traps don't bust when they freeze. Never had a problem with it evaporating out.

NC Roamer wrote:
We are on a private well. When we leave for even one night, I always:
- Turn off the toilet fill valves.
- Turn off the washing machine fill line valve.
- Throw the circuit breaker for the well pump.
When leaving for more than three nights I also throw the breaker to the water heater.

Why not just shut off the main water valve coming in the house, one valve instead of two for the washing machine and one for each toilet?