Shutting off the water

Up until 2008 I NEVER turned water off......always used 'city water' connection when available and water pump was for 'dry camping'

Then one morning ---4:30am to be exact----dog woke us up acting strange.
We had a 2' wading pool in living room/kitchen and our site plus 2 others were flooded.
Cheap $0.50 fitting at water heater Hot out and broken and 'city water' ran for several hours.

Ruined our day plans .....Devils Tower CG
We squeegeed, we broomed, we used a shop vac (16 gal---dumped it 12 times), we ended up pulling carpet up (put it truck bed for Ins. Adjuster) and run fans/blowers all day long.
Packed up and left next day for Casper WY..

Repairs over 2 weeks, 3 days in Hotel etc.......$6000 Plus

YES we turn off the water.....city water is for filling fresh water tank.
Fresh water tank IS the source for water and PUMP gets turned OFF at night, when we step outside, we when leave etc.

YES.....I am now a TRUE believer. Simple flip of switch and NO WORRIES.


That fresh water tank and pump are NOT just for dry camping

I turn the pump off when I leave the trailer or am getting ready to tow. The switch is right next to the door, so it's easy to do.

I wasn't in the habit of checking the pump when I first got my trailer. Some random stuff I had piled in the sink for travel bounced up, hit the kitchen faucet, and I opened the door to a real mess.

I never shut it off when rig is in use. A water leak can happen at any time and do damage. Most often if a water leak is going to happen, you won't notice it until it has already done the damage. Boy turning the water on and off all the time, would not be a fun thing to do. I would have had to do it at least 1,800 times in the last 5 years.

Hammerboy wrote:
Just a curious question. How many of you turn your water off when it's not in use? Example, we camp a lot in state parks where we don't have city water. If we do a day trip we simply flip the switch off. I've heard of stories before of trailers getting flooded because of a plumbing failer of some sort. And we all know the build quality isn't getting any better.

Dan

maybe we are just anal, but when we are away from the trailer for any length of time I turn off the water pump, and water heater. And at night I turn off the water heater. water is still warm in the morning. And actually we very very seldom hook up to water either. If I do need water and we are at a site with a spigot, I just fill the fresh tank and use the trailer pump. the few times I've hooked to a spigot it goes off when we leave as well

and since we have an electric awning, that comes in when we are gone for much time as well. that's the big one, more chance of wind doing awning damage than the other things going bad IMHO.

and water at home gets turned off when we travel, along with the heat/AC set to low.

I never shut it off.

Hammerboy wrote:
Just a curious question. How many of you turn your water off when it's not in use? Example, we camp a lot in state parks where we don't have city water. If we do a day trip we simply flip the switch off. I've heard of stories before of trailers getting flooded because of a plumbing failer of some sort. And we all know the build quality isn't getting any better.

Dan

I shut the water off anytime I'm leaving the trailer and turn the water pump off if using it when not needed. It just too easy to make sure Mr. Murphy doesn't visit you unexpectedly.

Larry

Off always when away and like Bobbo, water pump off when not using it.

Don't forget to turn off the water heater if the water is off. While unlikely, any water loss could cause damage to the water heater.

If we leave, I make sure the RV water system will not remain pressurized.

We turn the water off anytime we are away from the camper whether it's on the pump or city connected.

Many years ago while we were in South Carolina, we had a water pipe fitting come loose and it flooded the storage of our then 5th wheel. Lesson learned.