Anonymous wrote:You all. Stop.

If you were closing up your cabin or beach house for the season, you'd turn off the water and drain the pipes. You don't do that for your DC metro home that you'll be returning to in 48 hours. You'll certainly be turning down the thermostat or putting it in vacation mode, but not during your HVAC completely off. The pipes aren't going to freeze.

I have friends with a rental in Tahoe that have days between renters. They don't even do this.

IF you are worried about a power outage, remember that a well-insulated home will take many hours to dip into the 30s...and the temps in DC are already above freezing today and will continue to climb.

I honestly had no idea anyone did this.

Anonymous wrote:Rookie homeowner question here - what if your heat is a steam boiler? Does turning off the water main compromise the heat somehow? We always turn off the water when we leave in the summer, but last year we didn't go anywhere in the winter so I haven't considered this.

Do you really have steam or is it hot water? Steam is uncommon in residential, hot water is the norm.

Your system should be sealed, it should never require makeup water if it isn't leaking. Turning the water off is not a problem.

Tip for people with hot water systems: your system will have automatic water makeup valve that adds water if the water gets low. That valve should be turned off in normal operation. If you system needs water, it's leaking and that leak needs to be fixed. If that valve is left open a leak can go undetected for years and cause real damage. Plumbers will usually leave the valve open after servicing the system because it takes a long time for all the air to get out after the system is open, and they don't want to hang around and wait for that to happen.

I left early Saturday and just returned home. I’ve never turned off my water when going on a trip.

Because of the cold I left my taps dripping (I hopefully didn’t waste too much water) and opened the cabinet doors beneath the sinks to allow more warm to reach the pipes. All was fine.

Anonymous wrote:You all. Stop.

If you were closing up your cabin or beach house for the season, you'd turn off the water and drain the pipes. You don't do that for your DC metro home that you'll be returning to in 48 hours. You'll certainly be turning down the thermostat or putting it in vacation mode, but not during your HVAC completely off. The pipes aren't going to freeze.

I have friends with a rental in Tahoe that have days between renters. They don't even do this.

IF you are worried about a power outage, remember that a well-insulated home will take many hours to dip into the 30s...and the temps in DC are already above freezing today and will continue to climb.

We turn off the main water valve and the water heater whenever we go away. There’s no good reason not to.

You all. Stop.

If you were closing up your cabin or beach house for the season, you'd turn off the water and drain the pipes. You don't do that for your DC metro home that you'll be returning to in 48 hours. You'll certainly be turning down the thermostat or putting it in vacation mode, but not during your HVAC completely off. The pipes aren't going to freeze.

I have friends with a rental in Tahoe that have days between renters. They don't even do this.

IF you are worried about a power outage, remember that a well-insulated home will take many hours to dip into the 30s...and the temps in DC are already above freezing today and will continue to climb.

Anonymous wrote:Shutting off the main without also draining the pipes will not prevent pipe freezing.
Close the main, then open every faucet in the house and flush the toilets.

Sure but will WAY limit the damage from any burst pipe or spontaneous leak

Anonymous wrote:Can someone give advice about water heater and water supply? What if there is a electricity outage too?

https://diy.stackexchange.com/questions/37662/should-a-gas-water-heater-be-shut-down-if-the-water-main-has-to-be-turned-off

I'm wondering about this too. I just read the whole thread you linked and am even more confused than before I read it.

Anonymous wrote:Rookie homeowner question here - what if your heat is a steam boiler? Does turning off the water main compromise the heat somehow? We always turn off the water when we leave in the summer, but last year we didn't go anywhere in the winter so I haven't considered this.

I would def leave water on in your case. Personally I think shutting off water for a two day trip is overkill particularly with heater on. You are not winterizing your house. You are gone only a few days

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for posting this. I didn’t know this was a thing…leaving for a week and planning to do this too.

It’s not a thing, at least in the DC area. It’s especially cold this year so I can see being concerned, but normally you can away for a week or two in December and not need to worry about your pipes freezing if you keep the heat on.

Rookie homeowner question here - what if your heat is a steam boiler? Does turning off the water main compromise the heat somehow? We always turn off the water when we leave in the summer, but last year we didn't go anywhere in the winter so I haven't considered this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can just shut the main valve; you don’t have to drain the pipes. Presumably you are leaving heat on (do that!). The idea is to limit water damage, not to make the house waterless.

Drain the pipes.

Can somebody spell this out for me? Can I turn off the main line, flush toilets, open faucets? Do I need to do anything about the water heater? And what do I do when I return?

Turn off the mail shutoff valve. Leave your heat on. Don’t drain any pipes (except your exterior hose bibs, assuming you didn’t do them already). When you come back, turn the shutoff valve back on. That’s it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can just shut the main valve; you don’t have to drain the pipes. Presumably you are leaving heat on (do that!). The idea is to limit water damage, not to make the house waterless.

Drain the pipes.

Can somebody spell this out for me? Can I turn off the main line, flush toilets, open faucets? Do I need to do anything about the water heater? And what do I do when I return?

Anonymous wrote:You can just shut the main valve; you don’t have to drain the pipes. Presumably you are leaving heat on (do that!). The idea is to limit water damage, not to make the house waterless.

Drain the pipes.

You can just shut the main valve; you don’t have to drain the pipes. Presumably you are leaving heat on (do that!). The idea is to limit water damage, not to make the house waterless.

Can someone give advice about water heater and water supply? What if there is a electricity outage too?

https://diy.stackexchange.com/questions/37662/should-a-gas-water-heater-be-shut-down-if-the-water-main-has-to-be-turned-off