Turning off water when you go on vacation

[tripleshot]

We recently had a plumber over to install a kitchen faucet and I mentioned something about the fridge water line maintenance because I was paranoid it would burst when we were out of town. It’s 7 years old. He looked at it and said it was in good shape and a good nylon line.

Anyway, he said we should always turn off the water to the house when we go out of town to avoid damage from a broken water line (fridge or washer). I didn’t clarify, but would that cause any issues if we have a well and water softener that cycles water often? Like if the salt sits in the softener for our 14 day vacation in July, would that cause issues when we turn it back on when we get home?

Any other tips? For some reason I’m really paranoid about this. I did have the 7 year old washing machine lines replaced. They said the dishwasher lines weren’t necessary to replace. And the dryer has one too for the steam function.

[hamster]

You could turn off the power to the pump I suppose, but then you'd have to drain your pressure tank otherwise you'd still have 80 gallons or whatever of water that could come in and that's supposedly not good for them.

We have turned off our water heater on rare occasion, but never the actual water.

[Susie]

We don't... but my dad is living the consequences of not turning it off.  It was a vacation property, about an hour from his year round house, and a pipe connection came apart near the upstairs bathroom shower valve in January, about 2 weeks after his Christmas holiday tenant had left.  The house was warm, furnace was running normally, it was just shitty luck and poor workmanship on the copper plumbing 20 years prior that finally caught up.  We think it went a few days before it was noticed by a neighbor.  No mold, but by the time it was found the ceiling had come down in the kitchen/DR, and the house was a wet disaster.

Almost the entire interior of the house was destroyed.  The flooring in every single room.  The sheetrock walls in the entire house, sparing one upstairs bedroom.  Kitchen cabinets, counters, appliances.  Thank goodness for insurance... and that no one actually lived there full time.  

Sure gives one pause about leaving it on!

[hbomdiggity]

my house has sprinklers... so I guess I'll choose water damage over fire!

[icedcoffee]

We always turn off our water if we're gone more than a night or 2. I can't speak to the water softener, but my parents had a well at their vacation home. They always turned off the water and left the well on. No issues.

If it's really cold out you should drain your pipes after it's off. Just turn on a faucet and let the rest of the water run out.

[tripleshot]

Thanks for the thoughts. I don’t completely understand how the well/pumps/water shut off works but it’s good to know it’s an option. We built our house 7 years ago and little maintenance things are starting to pop up so I think that’s why I’m paranoid. Plus being gone for 14 days makes me a little nervous. Maybe I should get a few of those water alarms you can connect to the WiFi.

[lolalolalola]

Apr 25, 2019 11:21:19 GMT -5 hbomdiggity said:

my house has sprinklers... so I guess I'll choose water damage over fire!

That is great- I used to work with a process safety engineer who was so passionate about sprinklers in houses. I don't know why we don't all have them!

[dr.girlfriend]

My friend got this installed when it was a new product called "Flow Logic"...looks like it got bought out by Moen.

meetflo.com/

[tripleshot]

Apr 26, 2019 10:55:33 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

My friend got this installed when it was a new product called "Flow Logic"...looks like it got bought out by Moen.

meetflo.com/

That’s pretty awesome!  Maybe one day, but it’s not in the budget right now.

[devonpow]

We had our fridge line break while we were out of town - and it caused $30k worth of damage The water mitigation people were appalled we didn’t turn off our water - but we had never thought about it before then. We turn off the indoor water now anytime we are gone more than 24 hours. You can also get water sensors that trigger an alarm if there is a flood - by the washing machine, hot water heater etc etc. A friend of mine has it all hooked up and they can remotely shut off their water if need be, but we are not that high tech lol

[mrspez07]

You’ve now all made me paranoid and jinxed me for our upcoming trip away for 2 weeks!
Our problem is the water shutoff valve in the house will also shut off the irrigation (installed after house was built 40 years ago). In May/June it doesn’t really work to shut off irrigation for 2 weeks.