Shutting off Water
 

Got into a long discussion last weekend I won't bore you with here but anyhow I was just wondering how many "weekenders" turn off their water main when leaving at the end of the weekend? We never do and haven't in thirty years I was just stating that's probably taking a real chance of getting a toilet leak or a leak from anywhere when nobody is around. Last week a friend had to catch a flight to Florida as their neighbor witnessed water running out their front door :eek: I haven't seen them yet to ask what it was.

My folks do. I would. I soldered in a valve on our washing machine and I shut it off after every load. It took one broken line for me to learn my lesson that water can do a whole lot of damage in a very short amount of time.

I shut off the power to my Hot water heater and well pump when we leave. It's easy enough as there is no priming and I sleep much better.

Here is another reason to shut the pump off if water is drawn from the lake with a suction type jet pump. Many islanders have this set up. A failure of the water line from the lake may result of loss of prime and continuous dry running of the pump. The result being a ruined pump. Happened to my father in law a long time ago.

I also shut off the power to my hot water heater and well pump when we leave for more than a few days.

the water heater you should leave on the power. when the water is heated and then allowed to cool all the way down, bacteria starts to fester in the tank. This becomes a source for Legionares disease. I found this out from someone that ended up getting it this way. I used to shut the power off to the tank as well. Not really saving that much anyways, and I mean not much at all

Shutting of water
 

Unless there is some mitigating circumstance, shutting off the water is always a good idea when compared to the damage water can do to a home in a very short time. I know, I know, people can have alarms in place, but even a small amount of water can cause a large amount of damage.

As Confucius (or somebody) said, "Better safe than sorry".

I have a solenoid valve in my crawlspace that is activated by a switch in the main living area. I did this after the flood of about 2004 when the pigtail under the toilet decided to fail while we were away and ruined all the newly installed carpeting and flooring. We also turn the hot water heater off when we leave.

Thanks - think I'm going to start shutting it off at the source. We have association (from the street) water no well or pump to deal with. There is the main shutoff where it enters the house that's easy enough to turn on and off.

On the island we had a submerged pump in the lake. We always shut off the breaker to the pump and the water heater whenever we were done for the weekend.

Thank you for that information. I'll have to re-visit what I do on Sunday shut down. I don't turn it off to save $$ as it is a small tank; but I have a small leak or two somewhere and I don't want the Hot water tank to run dry.

What about Home?
 

We shut everything off every time we leave. We are up here for three or four days a week and we NEVER shut it off at home. I have no idea why for that matter......

Same here. Seems crazy, but we do the same thing.

Can you provide any additional info re: the bacteria?
Also, I turn my hot water heater off every Sunday before we leave. Mostly because it's electric and the electricity where I am is expensive. It makes no sense to heat the water for 5 days when I'm not there. There is a cost savings for me as I can track every kwh using an online energy manager system provided by the electric supplier. It takes far less energy to heat the "room temp" water back up than to keep it heated all week.

BT

Found this... http://www.elgas.com.au/blog/360-leg...hot-water-tank

Very interesting to say the least!

Dan

Not a lake house but I've always shut off my water and hot water heater in my ski house during the week while I'm away.Here is a chart I found on Legionares.It appears that the bacteria will be killed if the tank is brought back up to these temps which is probably why we never hear about this being an issue with water heaters.
* 70 to 80 °C (158 to 176 °F): Disinfection range
* At 66 °C (151 °F): Legionellae die within 2 minutes
* At 60 °C (140 °F): Legionellae die within 32 minutes
* At 55 °C (131 °F): Legionellae die within 5 to 6 hours
* Above 50 °C (122 °F): They can survive but do not multiply
* 35 to 46 °C (95 to 115 °F): Ideal growth range
* 20 to 50 °C (68 to 122 °F): Legionellae growth range
* Below 20 °C (68 °F): Legionellae can survive but are dormant

Thanks for the information on the water heater. I never shut my water off I have city water but maybe I should in the basement.

As for the water heater I have been shutting the gas one off for 2 years now especially in the winter and the electric one before that. I have never heard of legionnaires (serious disease) festering in the heaters. As for cost my previous electric water heater would run all the time in the winter months.

Here my thoughts

Most people almost never shut their water off at "home" when they are on a public water supply, and just going away for a weekend.

I never shut the water heater off.. The risk is low, and off or on, when the water heater goes it goes and drains either hot water or cold water....

As for the water coming from the lake at the camp, I do shut the jet pump off... Mainly for fear that the prime will get lost and as previously mentioned the pump will run forever dry...

if there is a fill valve on the cold going into the tank and a valve on the hot leaving the tank
leave the power on and just shut those two valves, the water in the tank will not move

also the case is few and far between but it can happen and has enough for me to not do it

Hmmm interesting I do lower the hot water tank to "vacation" when leaving and it's always turned back up towards the hotter range when people are there. I have no idea what the temp ranges are the dial just reads "Vacation" "warm" "hot" well you get the point. Must be getting hot enough as nobody has gotten sick from it in thirty years that I know of.

key is to make sure you let it heat up fully first and then run it if you are going to shut it down

I'm not too sure this is wise as there may be some expansion or contraction issues that could cause the tank to burst.

We turn the main water off at the holding tank, turn the power off to the well, and turn the hot water heater to the vacation setting every time we leave. Takes 15 seconds and gives peace of mind.

don't forget there is a pressure release value for that that is hopefully routed correctly so that it doe snot blow water everywhere, but unless it is dropping below 40 degrees and above a hundred something degrees (higher than the hottest setting on your tank) for that to be an issue

This Is Good Advice
 

I find it useful to evaluate questions like this that involve risk by considering two criteria:

1. What is the likelihood that the event will occur? .. and ..

2. If the event were to occur, how bad could the damage be?

Some events may be likely to occur, but if they do the resulting damage would probably be minor. Other events, however, may be relatively (or very) unlikely to occur, but if they do the damage could be significant.

This is similar to considering the possibility that a fire will burn your house down while you are away. The likelihood of it happening is very small, but the damage caused if it did happen would be catastrophic. (That's why almost everyone who owns a home buys homeowner's insurance.)

In the case of a water pipe breaking, the pressure tank leaking or rupturing, a pressure release valve letting go, etc., in your home while you are away, the chances of it happening are small. However, if one of those events does occur, the damage could be extensive.

All thing considered, following DesertDweller's advice seems prudent as it virtually eliminates the risk of incurring any significant water damage while you are away. Plus, the preventative effort is easy and doesn't cost anything.

Another Thing to consider
 

Make sure you have metal hoses on your washing machine. The rubber ones can fail after a while. Also, check your ice maker hose on your fridge periodically. I've seen these fail and cause major damage. I keep meaning to replace mine with a metal hose. I think I'll move this up my list of items to do.

Turn off Power to pump
 

We turn off the power to the water pump, and the circuit breaker to the hot water heater.

From time to time over the years one or the other has been forgotten. I am sure the power to keep the water hot in the spring and fall is very high since the heater is not in a heated area... (well there are no heated areas when we are not here).

One year in the fall I forgot to shut the power to the pump. The power company was reading meters and heard the water gushing under my house. A pipe connection had given way. Fortunately they called a neighbor they knew and he told them how to turn off the power to the pump and also called me.

I much appreciated their help and try to remember that each time we leave for an extended period.

This spring a neighbors pump was running and running. I know they had not come yet for the season having someone get their water ready prior to their arrival. After a day of listening to the pump (only when I was on my dock) we turned off the power to it and told them when they arrived a week later. It seems a hose from the lake to the pump had popped off.

The moral of the story - turn off the water!

IG

Also, many of the new washing machine mixing valves (that you hook the washing machine up to) have overflow protection. If the valve detects a high flow of water, it automatically shuts off.

Belieeeve me, I can vouch for that. This is when I installed a shutoff at the pipes leading into the washer machine.

There are several automatic washing machine shut off valves. Some are timer based and fairly inexpensive while here is one that senses your electric running on the washer and open/closes by that. http://www.supplyhouse.com/Watts-000...FZGPHwodcpgA8Q

Water off at lake house any time we leave. Water on at regular house anytime we leave (except washer hose - that gets shut off).

Flood proof hoses. I have them on the washer, dryer, ice maker and dishwasher. The one for the dishwasher saved me a ton of money at home, only had a cup or so of water come out when the dishwasher itself failed.