Family returns from vacation to find home flooded, frozen

[stetwood]

A real simple lesson. Turn off your water at the source, whether a well or city water and open several faucets to allow ice expansion.Maybe add some pink stuff to toilet tanks and bowls. This may cost a few dollars but makes for cheap insurance. Have a relative or neighbor check house daily if possible.

[westend]

Gritdog wrote:
In the meantime I have insurance. Just hope it floods the whole house so that the first repair activity involves an excavator!

Me too! And I rebuilt this old house.

FWIW, in my immediate area the ground water level is very high (1 ft under grade, some years) I have a sump pump in the finished basement. One morning during a really big storm, the power failed. My Wife and I awoke 1/2 hr later but the sump pump didn't run and 1/2" of water had flooded the basement before I could find and use an accessory pump. I now have a battery back-up pump and tile floors. If I was away on a long vacation and a bad storm knocked out power and the water table in the ground was high, I would only be good until the sump battery ran out.

We may have to get a smart phone app that links to a water sensor when the Bride retires.

[westend]

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with turning your water off. Those valves usually have loops so they can be locked OFF if you don’t pay. An adjustable wrench should work. The special tool they use is to avoid kneeling and reaching into the cobwebs.

This assumes a main water shut off valve close to the residence. In my area, the mains valve to the house is inside a metal sleeve and the valve is 6' under grade in the sleeve. To turn the mains valve off at the curb, a long handled wrench is needed (curb key). I built one once and IIRC, the size is 1 1/2" square. The City owns the valve and only a licensed water mains guy or a City worker is supposed to operate it. I do know that irrigation crews commonly have and use them.

[BCSnob]

You want a buffalo box key to shut off the water between the main and entering the house. I see them listed at Home Depot.

[hotpepperkid]

When we leave town I turn off the water, ice maker, water heater (electric) and the hot water recircurlator

[wnjj]

ljr wrote:

Farmboy666 wrote:

ljr wrote:
A couple years ago I left the house for the winter with the water off at the valve and the pipes drained. The furnace quit in Feb. The house valve froze and ruptured. I returned to find 28,000 gallons of water in my finished basement.

I now have the township turn the water off at the curb. That involves a fee and some hassle but it’s well worth it.

Do you need to have them turn it off? All of the ones I've ever delt with youc can turn of with a Cresent wrench or water meter key from HD

They have an odd looking tool but I expect I could find away if I tried. On the other hand, the bureaucracies don’t tolerate insubordination from their subjects. I expect they’d find a way to punish me.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with turning your water off. Those valves usually have loops so they can be locked OFF if you don’t pay. An adjustable wrench should work. The special tool they use is to avoid kneeling and reaching into the cobwebs.

[ljr]

Farmboy666 wrote:

ljr wrote:
A couple years ago I left the house for the winter with the water off at the valve and the pipes drained. The furnace quit in Feb. The house valve froze and ruptured. I returned to find 28,000 gallons of water in my finished basement.

I now have the township turn the water off at the curb. That involves a fee and some hassle but it’s well worth it.

Do you need to have them turn it off? All of the ones I've ever delt with youc can turn of with a Cresent wrench or water meter key from HD

They have an odd looking tool but I expect I could find away if I tried. On the other hand, the bureaucracies don’t tolerate insubordination from their subjects. I expect they’d find a way to punish me.

[wnjj]

Grit dog wrote:
In the meantime I have insurance. Just hope it floods the whole house so that the first repair activity involves an excavator!

:B

[Grit_dog]

Oh, and i didn’t used to ever turn the water off when leaving for extended periods and most of the time don’t because the water has to stay on for the animals.
But after seeing 2 separate co workers get their primary homes flooded for weeks, the same winter, random events, while living out on a project, I always think about it and if I can, I turn off the well pump, septic pump and water heater if we’re gone for extended period.
In the meantime I have insurance. Just hope it floods the whole house so that the first repair activity involves an excavator!

[Grit_dog]

spoon059 wrote:

fj12ryder wrote:

spoon059 wrote:
Only on RV.net can this turn into a bitter and personal attack on various ways people chose to protect their houses. You guys are truly remarkable...

You must not get out much. Or belong to many internet forums. RV.net is remarkably well behaved. Maybe even more so without sniping such as yours. 🙂

Case in point...

Well of the forums I frequent, the grumpy old men here are far and away the worst.
Maybe if compared to some others I don’t use, my answer would be different.

That said, I’ve met a lot of cool people here. Had a beer with a couple, even brought some guy a free truck part I had laying around.....but that may a been from a different forum.
I’d hazard most are truly good people here, just like dealing with my father in law though! Lol

[wnjj]

2oldman wrote:
Nice insult, but I certainly wouldn't expect or trust any friend to look in on my home every day, as you are implying. There are many tools at our disposal to handle this, humans being one, but not the only one.

It's no worse than your snarky comment about how some us should stay home. If you didn't mean that to be insulting, my apologies, but it sure read that way.

I wouldn't have someone check my place every day but every few days is not unreasonable. I'm not retired so vacations are 1-2 weeks at most and with pets left behind someone needs to come by anyway.

I also don't worry about a 1-2 day problem. I go to work every day for hours on end and my house sits, completely unattended. A pipe could break and run all day without being noticed. That's a risk I'm willing to take. Having the water run for weeks is not as the results could be so much worse. Turning the water completely off in the summer is not an option with an irrigation system.

Technology it great, until it isn't and the point is I would never trust my house to technology alone.

[spoon059]

fj12ryder wrote:

spoon059 wrote:
Only on RV.net can this turn into a bitter and personal attack on various ways people chose to protect their houses. You guys are truly remarkable...

You must not get out much. Or belong to many internet forums. RV.net is remarkably well behaved. Maybe even more so without sniping such as yours. 🙂

Case in point...

[BCSnob]

We use a house sitter. In addition to watching the house and animals someone needs to check on the heat lamp in the well pump building to ensure the pressure tank and water line does not freeze.

K Charles’ house does not sound like a mess to me. The folks who service our boiler told us about one of their other customers who have a spring in the basement of their house and flowing out of the basement; the house was built that way. Instead of a separate spring house like we have; they have a spring house in their basement. We have wet weather springs on the dirt floor side of our basement; water bubbles up in the middle of the floor. A floor drain out to the pond takes care of the wet dirt floor.

[fj12ryder]

spoon059 wrote:
Only on RV.net can this turn into a bitter and personal attack on various ways people chose to protect their houses. You guys are truly remarkable...

You must not get out much. Or belong to many internet forums. RV.net is remarkably well behaved. Maybe even more so without sniping such as yours. 🙂

[spoon059]

Only on RV.net can this turn into a bitter and personal attack on various ways people chose to protect their houses. You guys are truly remarkable...