In dealing with the aftermath of water damage, I wonder if there is any downside to shutting off the main supply when leaving on vacation?

Water sensors are being installed, after the fact of course, and we can generally respond in 30min to an hour. Though, a burst washing machine hose could do some damage in that time.

Anyway, without being paranoid and overreacting, thoughts? Turning the main, or even the washer hoses off, daily seems excessive and an invitation to issues cases by wear and tear.

I do exercise the valves, as a friend got caught with a stuck open main valve, have good insurance and try to make stuff water resistant or out of the way of water. The flooring seems to be the only real loss this go round. Some personal items are ruined but we got lucky.

I will be getting some pallets or something to keep items off the basement floor some at least and we use mostly plastic totes with lids for storage. A lot needs to go away of course.

They make automatic shut off valves that will activate when sensors are tripped.

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Though, a burst washing machine hose could do some damage in that time.

Speaking of washing machine hoses, a recommendation that I've been given was to replace the hoses every 5 years. It was really easy when my employer was moving me every 2 to 5 years (i.e. throw them away instead of moving and buy new at new home). I'm on year 8 and should probably replace with new braided hoses.

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Originally posted by a1abdj:
They make automatic shut off valves that will activate when sensors are tripped.

That seems like a better idea than an alarm that'll still take 30 to 60 minutes to shut off.

I'll also say that a broke toilet line/valve can cause a lot of damage over a weekend. I learned this one at work. I had a demolition project in NYC at an shutdown gasoline distribution terminal. My job was to manage demolition of the tanks, piping, etc. and do absolutely nothing to the office & maintenance building (actually had huge maintenance bays for tanker trucks). A few weeks into the project, I arrive on a Monday morning at the old facility to meet my inspector and find water pouring out of the ceiling. My inspector gets the electricity shut off, and we go searching for the source of the water leak. Some turds had broken into the huge office above the maintenance shop, broke into the tampon machine in ladies bathroom to steal quarters, and then decides to do some damage by breaking the ladies bathroom toilet valve off the wall. That 1/4" valve leaked thousands of gallons over the weekend. The new buyers happen to show up while water is still pouring out of the ceiling, and proceed to give me an asschewing since I was the senior company person present. When they finish with me, I call corporate real estate and let them what's going on.

Different situation here, no basement and my floors are terrazo, however, I kill the main when I leave for more than a few days. My house is mid century but has been re-plumbed with pex, but I see no real reason NOT to turn the water off when I'm gone for more than a few days.

I'm not sure about other geographies but some of my appliances need water, especially the makeup water of the furnace boiler. But if you have none of that sure shut it off. I can't so I have an alarm system that measures the amount of time the water is running and triggers an alarm if its not normal.

I have never used any of those devices but would be worth a look.

When I moved to our current home. I relocated the water heater and laundry from inside the house to the garage. That reduces the risk quite a bit.

Still may look into more. I do turn off the water if going to be away more than a day or two.

We shut the water off when we travel. I installed a valve to separate the house water from the landscape water. House off, landscape leave on. I also shut off the water heater and recirculating pump. When I shut the water off, I also relieve the pressure at the spigot outside.
It gives piece of mind. We had a WH leak once and we were about 300 miles away… It just happened to be in the garage, so no interior damage.

Growing up with the family in the poopie-pumping business, over the years we heard from lots of people with basements full of thousands of gallons of water.

When I go away even for a weekend, I shut the water off. I don't use the "main" though, not anymore. I used to, but it's a 60 something year old gate valve and every time I'd touch it the packing nut would start to leak and I'd end up fiddling with it to get it to stop weeping. Eventually I installed a ball valve just past it and I use that instead.

I shut my main water line off on vacation, the shutoff valve was replaced a few years ago by my plumber with a modern ball valve that replaced a 70+ year old boiler valve that was leaking.

No issue shutting off the valve to the house. We do it when we leave for a few days or more.

We shut the water heater off and release the pressure from the expansion tank if we are leaving for more than a few days. We actually had the expansion tank let loose once. The water heater was inside the house, the expansion tank bounced off the 10’ ceiling in the laundry room, and water was shooting straight up from the water heater cascading off the ceiling. We were really lucky we were home when it happened or it would have been a real mess.

I had no idea they make automatic valves. I’m going to look at those.

I have a 1/4 turn ball valve on the outside corner of my house . Very easy to shut the water off . I don't have any equipment that would need to have it on . So yes , I shut it off when leaving for more than a day .

In my custom residential construction business our homes were routinely second homes for most of our clients.

In both our written home procedure manual and our final walk through with our clients we showed them where the whole house water cutoff was located and how to operate it. We recommended that if you were going away for more than 24 hours to shut the water off. The valves we used were designed for repeated use and we never had a failure. Conversely one client who “forgot” to head our advise lost power for an extended time while they were away and had a disaster upon their return…
Fortunately, their insurance covered it but the headache wasn’t worth it.

I have noticed that all homes around here are being built with the main shut off located in an interior space . Usually the garage , inside of an enclosure .

I shut my water off at the street when we leave town.

I suffered a broken washing machine valve once and it put an inch of water on the entire apartment in a few hours.

I’m usually home, and don’t have any of the detectors, but might get some in the future.

Shut off the breaker for your electric water heater too.

My washer and water heater are in my garage so if either gets a leak, damage will be minimal.

But, I shut the hot and cold water off to the washer when I am out of town. If I was going to be gone for more than a week, I would shut off the supply where it comes into my house. The valve leaks by some but it will minimize a leak if one occurs.

When I was remodeling my kitchen, a friend and I were demoing. We just happened to be there when the water supply to my fridge ruptured. A lot of water sprayed before I could shut off the valve. The stainless hose appeared to be in good shape and was only a few years old yet still ruptured. It would have flooded my house pretty quickly had I not been there. Come to think of it, I need to replace that hose.

The only time we have was with threat of freeze when we went to Denver for Christmas.
Got all but 1 & had an outside sink fixture crack.

As others have said, I always shut off my main if I leave for an extended period of time. No big deal, ball valve in the basement. However, I have a gas heated house. That makes it easy. Having a boiler needing make up water is a different situation.

My thought now is should I bother drain my pipes for the cold months when I go away.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 6guns,

I have a Z-wave controlled water valve.
With sensors placed at every possible source of water in the living space.

I can control it from my phone.

Its gone off twice in a few years.

Once for a toilet shutoff that had a very slow drip that puddled up enough to set off the sensor and once when the ice maker line on the fridge split, I wasn't home for that one and it could have been a real mess.

There is a main supply valve and sprinkler shut off valve in the basement.

I may look at shutting the supply out by the sidewalk. We don’t have anything requiring water and the water heaters are gas so I’ll have to look at that. I doubt they’d have an issue after a week of no water supply. Maybe just turn them way down.

Again, trying hard not to be paranoid but 1/2 or more of the flooring needs redone, maybe a kitchen cabinet.

I shall also be installing an additional separate shut off for the fridge, having it next to the fridge is great until you can’t move the fridge to get to the valve. I think it can be routed to be accessed from the pantry common wall.

I have a 1/2hp sewage ejection pump/sump pump but of course non of this water made it to the drain that feeds it.