Prudence or Paranoia?

[byways]

I shut off my water to the TT every time we leave. I just don't trust the system to hold, and I certainly don't want to clean up a mess when I return. Is this unwarranted paranoia, or is it prudence? Do you shut your water off?

What other things do you do every time you leave?

[KarenS144]

I MEAN to turn the water off at the spigot when we're gone & at night but seldom remember to do so. I do (most of the time) turn off the water heater.

I think the only thing worse than having your RV flood would be to wake up in a house boat and step in water when you crawled out of bed. That happened to me during our boating years because I didn't turn the water off & the hot water tank leaked. I will NEVER forget the feeling of water squishing up between my toes that morning! The hold filled with water and because the stateroom was 2 steps lower than the living area, it, the head and a couple of closets got wet. Took hours to pump it out...what a mess!

[Rick_Jay]

I always shut off the water when we leave.

I have a question: For all of you who shut the water off, do you make sure to shut off the water heater too? It would be bad if the leak caused the hot water tank to drain and then the electric and/or gas heater kicked in.

Yeah..."paranoid" might describe me. 🙂

~Rick

[coolbreeze01]

Prudence trumps wishful thinking.......

[bikendan]

dahkota wrote:

mbopp wrote:
Yeah, if I remember I shut off the water. If we're dry camping I shut off the pump and water heater.

x2

x3!

[Ron8877]

The piping in my mh, which is a 1986, is the same piping as what I put in houses as a plumber. The plumbing will handle 80psi water no problem. In the past 7 years I have only seen water coming out of a rv 1 time.
Ron

[fla-gypsy]

SOP for me to turn water off when leaving. I have seen what can happen. Camping friends had a water heater tank fail. It was not pretty

[stetwood]

We had a H20 that spouted a leak only under high pressure out west that caused us to abandon a trip. Since that time we just use our tanks. By the way when we leave home for more than 4 days our house H20, well and water softener is turned off. Saves a few pennies that way and potential lots of damage. I know it could happen while we are here, but just being paranoid.

[JaxDad]

From a technical point of view it would seem that repeatedly turning the water on & off would cause more stress and fatigue and therefore increase the chance of failure, not decrease it.

[othertonka]

mr. ed wrote:
I don't even use the city water connection. I always run off the on-board tank and pump. I never have to worry about leaks because if I hear the pump running with all faucets turned off I know I have a leak somewhere. Besides, it's so easy to just flip off the pump switch than turn off the city water spigot every time I leave the RV. And to boot, the water pressure is always the same...

I do the same thing as you, as I posted above, my pump works just fine and like you state, the pressure and flow is always the same every time I use it.

[RoadXYZ]

mr. ed wrote:
I don't even use the city water connection. I always run off the on-board tank and pump. I never have to worry about leaks because if I hear the pump running with all faucets turned off I know I have a leak somewhere. Besides, it's so easy to just flip off the pump switch than turn off the city water spigot every time I leave the RV. And to boot, the water pressure is always the same...

Same here.

Had a toilet overflow once, flood was minor, but nonetheless gave us a reason to only have water pump on ... period.

Always turn off water spigot when leaving for a overnight, not for 6 hours of less though.

On our stix'n brix, yes, we turned off the water when going for the weekend or longer. Had two friends who had flooding when they went to Coast or California. Once friend had it twice, guess they never learned to turn off water at the main water valve, likewise the electric was switched off.

We tend to learn from others.

Cautious and Prudent .... rather than paranoid.

[Community Alumni]

I shut the water off when we leave the rv. Started doing so since a connection broke in our 5th wheel about 10 years ago while in Myrtle Beach; flooded the rv. :E

[Francesca_Knowl]

Bobbo wrote:

Francesca Knowles wrote:
If I had a rig that couldn't survive/withstand ordinary water pressure in its plumbing, I'd fix it.

I have seen campground water pressures approaching 100 psi. Unusual, but it does happen. There is no RV that is plumbed to withstand that kind of pressure.

Doesn't everyone carry/use a pressure reducer for hookup between spigot and rig?

Sorta thought that was standard equipment these days...

[imgoin4it]

We not only turn it off every time we leave we have a water alarm on the bath room floor that goes into alarm if it gets wet. DW and I both there one night when the commode supply valve leaked and fresh water overflowed and we were not aware until she went into the bath. Water running out the bottom of the coach and swelled up and ruined the bath floor. Not a cheap fix. Water leaking into an RV is not as remote as one might think. Have friends that say WHEN IT LEAKES not IF IT LEAKS.

[Bobbo]

Francesca Knowles wrote:
If I had a rig that couldn't survive/withstand ordinary water pressure in its plumbing, I'd fix it.

I have seen campground water pressures approaching 100 psi. Unusual, but it does happen. There is no RV that is plumbed to withstand that kind of pressure.

[Matt_Colie]

I never leave the water system live when we are away from the coach.
We turn off the propane at the tank when we aren't using it (electric reefer). I block up the air suspension and unload it when we will be next to it. When people ask why I bother with and all the other similar things I do, I tell them that I am paranoid, but old and paranoid.
It has served me well on more than a few occasions.

Matt