Shutting Off Water While Away?

The other day a neighbor who is away, and whose keys I have, phoned and asked me to turn her water heater down to “low”, something I always do in my own house whenever I’m away. That got me thinking if it might also be a good idea to shut down the water main (in my own house, whenever I leave for vacation?I wouldn’t presume to do that in my neighbor’s house ). Is their any downside to this (I know the shut-off valve on my water main is in good shape)? Might having the water off for an extended period damage the hot water heater? FWIW I (and my neighbor) have forced hot air heat, so there’s no water going to the heating system. I imagine I wouldn’t want to shut off the water if I had a boiler left on, rather than a furnace.

BobMarvin

in Plumbing 9 years and 8 months ago

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daveinbedstuy | 9 years and 8 months ago

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The other big risk: Washer hoses that aren’t shut off with a valve either automatic (electric) or manually if the water is still on.

thetinkerswagon | 9 years and 8 months ago

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so long as your boiler does not have an auto feed, this should be ok. also, if you shut it off, when you turn it back on and prior to lighting (or turning on) your water heater, I would vent the water heater at the top to make sure no air has become entrained as this could lead to a problem (mostly with electric hot water heaters and the upper element). and run the water in general to let air out of the lines. and as dibs mentions, hot water loops in heating systems. we ALWAYS turn the water off in this house prior to leaving even for a weekend. two stories: I managed a property in NC after college and showed up one saturday morning and heard water running beneath a building. the water heater had let go on a third floor unit and since it was the off season, that unit and the two below were empty and the water had at least 15 hours to destroy carpets (I think we pulled them and dried them in a warehouse), plywood floors, ceilings and whatever else. that was 30,000 1990 north carolina dollars in damage. about a week after we moved into this house, an old fixture let go in my neighbor’s house and it ran from sometime in the middle of the night until about 7 AM. that one dropped their entire kitchen ceiling. Steve

daveinbedstuy | 9 years and 8 months ago

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I do it all the time in my other homes which I heat through the winter using baseboard hot water but leave for extended periods of time. It’s the best second line of defense against bursting pipes if your heating system (whatever it is) goes down for an extended period of time but it does actually have to be really cold (20s and sub 20s) for an extended period to freeze pipes as long as you are well insulated. No risk damaging anything by shutting it off. Also, people who do have a water based heating sysytem should make sure it is a closed loop AND that it is filled with some anti freeze. Plus, in those houses I do not use programmable thermostats which can also fail more easily.