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Do you turn water off when going on vacation?

OG Goat Holder

OG Goat Holder

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I’m talking 3 days or more. I’ve never done, but many people do. I’ve replaced some pipes lately due to pinholes so it has peaked my interest.

On one hand, I do believe pipes reach a ‘homeostasis’ but if you just flip the shutoff (assuming you have modern valves and not 1960s shlt) and don’t drain the house, should be fine as far as pressure right?

Just a peace of mind sort of thing. If worst case happens, it could be bad.
 
SchrodingersDawg

SchrodingersDawg

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I turn it off at the street. And then I flush the toilets to empty the tanks after I've turned off the water.
 
OG Goat Holder

OG Goat Holder

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GloryDawg said:
My house was built around 2005. We have been in this house since then. We have gone on several 10 days' vacation and we have never turned water off. We live in Brandon. We have an ice maker.
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You don’t need to turn it off if you don’t turn off water. It should stop when it’s full.
 
11thEagleFan

11thEagleFan

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Why would you turn the water off when you go on vacation? Do you also turn it off when you leave for work in the morning? I would think any minimal benefit wouldn’t be worth the effort. I turn the thermostat up in the summertime and down in the winter when we leave, but that’s all.
 
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OG Goat Holder

OG Goat Holder

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11thEagleFan said:
Why would you turn the water off when you go on vacation? Do you also turn it off when you leave for work in the morning? I would think any minimal benefit wouldn’t be worth the effort. I turn the thermostat up in the summertime and down in the winter when we leave, but that’s all.
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To prevent a catastrophic leak, thought that goes without saying. I’ve seen pipes bust. Doesn’t happen regularly, but it does happen.
 
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dawgman42

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cowbell88

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Glad my wife hasn’t thought of this yet. She already unplugs alarm clocks, box fans, lamps that are not on timer, and anything else that she considers nonessential.
 
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Crazy Cotton

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I did for any winter vacation like a cabin over Christmas because of pipes freezing, but didn't bother for other travel. Then about 10 years ago we were leaving for a vacation and I was carrying luggage through the laundry room, which is a pass-through to the garage. One of the washing machine water hoses broke literally as I was in the laundry room, It was a braided stainless hose but it seperated where the hose meets the screw portion, just popped apart and water was shooting everywhere. If we'd actually left on time, for once, we'd have had a house and garage full of water. So no I go down to the basement and close the main valve when we're headed out.
 
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woozman

woozman

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OG Goat Holder said:
To prevent a catastrophic leak, thought that goes without saying. I’ve seen pipes bust. Doesn’t happen regularly, but it does happen.
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I’ve had it happen. The threaded fitting on the intake to the toilet in our master bathroom broke several years ago. Luckily I was home and turned the valve off within 3-5 minutes. It still was able to flood every room but one in that time spreading under the walls from that location. Had to do the whole Servpro thing where they came in that night and ripped all the floors out and set up the blowers and dryers.

It probably is a good idea to shut it down if you’re gone for a while, but I never have and based on my experience - you’d have pretty catastrophic damage if you had a line break 3-minutes after you left home for your weekly grocery trip or dinner out…
 
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OG Goat Holder

OG Goat Holder

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woozman said:
I’ve had it happen. The threaded fitting on the intake to the toilet in our master bathroom broke several years ago. Luckily I was home and turned the valve off within 3-5 minutes. It still was able to flood every room but one in that time spreading under the walls from that location. Had to do the whole Servpro thing where they came in that night and ripped all the floors out and set up the blowers and dryers.

It probably is a good idea to shut it down if you’re gone for a while, but I never have and based on my experience - you’d have pretty catastrophic damage if you had a line break 3-minutes after you left home for your weekly grocery trip or dinner out…
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That’s good insight. Almost like it’s not worth it.
 
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TheDawg-Pound

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I'd make sure the refrigerator/ freezer is shut. For some reason it's always when people go out of town when it's left open
 
Dawgbite

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11thEagleFan said:
Why would you turn the water off when you go on vacation? Do you also turn it off when you leave for work in the morning? I would think any minimal benefit wouldn’t be worth the effort. I turn the thermostat up in the summertime and down in the winter when we leave, but that’s all.
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Guy I worked with had been through a divorce and ended up with a huge house on the golf course. The house was outdated so he was redoing it to put it on the market. He’d just completely redone the finished basement and had started on the main floor. He went out of town on a long weekend and came home to water running out the doors. A toilet tank valve had stuck and flooded the main floor and completely flooded everything downstairs stairs in the basement which he’d just spent about $50k on remodeling.
 
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johnson86-1

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11thEagleFan said:
Why would you turn the water off when you go on vacation? Do you also turn it off when you leave for work in the morning? I would think any minimal benefit wouldn’t be worth the effort. I turn the thermostat up in the summertime and down in the winter when we leave, but that’s all.
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I have seen someone have about $150K of damage because the hose feeding either their dishwasher or icemaker came loose and just poured water into their house for about a week. That was over a decade ago so I assume it’d be over $200k of damage today. Luckily insurance covered it but I’d be curious to know whether they have mold
Issues at this point.

I don’t turn my water off when I leave, but after seeing that, if you had an easy shutoff valve, I could see why people might do it.
 
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Pookieray

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I have before and wish I would remember to do it every time we go on vacation. However, I understand why someone would say if you don't do it every time you leave the house what's the point.

Check your insurance policy, I posted on here not long ago about my parents policy getting cancelled by the not so neighborly people and her new policy only covers water damage up to $10k. Only policy they could get due to water heaters being in attack.

I'm on a well so not only would I have a flooded home I'd have a larger electric bill also.

I'll do it anytime I think about it from now on. It simple to do and things do happen.
 
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11thEagleFan

11thEagleFan

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Upon further reflection, I could see turning it off when leaving in the winter to avoid having a pipe burst.

With that said, some of y’all must have terrible neighbors. Anytime we leave out of town, I tell my neighbor Rick, who has a key to my house (I also have a key to his). The conversation goes like this:

“We’re going out of town for 10 days. Do you mind keeping an eye on my place?”

“No problem.”
 
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jethreauxdawg

jethreauxdawg

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11thEagleFan said:
Upon further reflection, I could see turning it off when leaving in the winter to avoid having a pipe burst.

With that said, some of y’all must have terrible neighbors. Anytime we leave out of town, I tell my neighbor Rick, who has a key to my house (I also have a key to his). The conversation goes like this:

“We’re going out of town for 10 days. Do you mind keeping an eye on my place?”

“No problem.”
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Great neighbors are awesome. My wife and I say we can never move because our neighbors are so great.
 
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PooPopsBaldHead

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No. If you have cast iron or PVC you will cause more problems by leaving pipes dry than wet. The only excuse would be if you expect temps 30-40° lower than normal for that time of year.

3+ months minimum for me to cut if my water.
 
OG Goat Holder

OG Goat Holder

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PooPopsBaldHead said:
No. If you have cast iron or PVC you will cause more problems by leaving pipes dry than wet. The only excuse would be if you expect temps 30-40° lower than normal for that time of year.

3+ months minimum for me to cut if my water.
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Pressure should not theoretically change if you just close the valve, but not drain the house?
 
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Howiefeltersnstch

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In all seriousness I suppose it is a good precaution. You never know what could happen. I never have done any of that before. I did work with a guy who had is water heater burst and do an unbelievable amount of damage. It was in his attic. Which was a huge surprise to me. I guess that's the new thing ?? Idk but he has a very nice house in Madison. They were all at work when it happened
 
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fedxdog

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I turn off my electric water heater in our place at the lake. It keeps my Entergy bill down. All other reasons are just preventative.
 
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thekimmer

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I do. Have an easy to reach cut off valve in my garage. I also turn the water heater to vacation mode.
 
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patdog

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I dont turn it off when I go to work every day. And I’m gone at work a lot more than I’m gone on vacation.
 
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Motodawg

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Dawgbite said:
I usually don’t but I have cut it off. If you do cut it off remember to cut your hot water heater off as well. You will burn a hot water heater up if it goes dry.
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Brother the hardest part of replacing a water heater is draining the old one. You are talking about electric water heaters that burn the elements when they run dry. This is never going to happen unless your tank bursts and what’s the point of it then? I’m a 20 year master plumber. You can trust me on this
 
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