Turn the water off. Even a minor drip can be a big problem if left unnoticed for a while. If a washing machine hose bursts or the water heater tank gives out and no one is home your entire house could be flooded and your water bill could be thousands of dollar.

Turning the water on and off doesn't stress the plumbing, it's no harder on the plumbing than turning a faucet on and off. What can be an issue is the shutoff valve itself, if it hasn't been turned in a while it can get stuck and trying to turn it can break it. That needs to be fixed right away anyway, you need to be able to turn off the water in an emergency at all times. Turning it on and off regularly will exercise that valve and make it last longer.

The most unreliable plumbing is the very new and the very old.

Plumbers make mistakes like anyone else, sometimes it takes a little while for them to show up. I'd be much more trusting of ten-year-old plumbing than ten-month-old plumbing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's common for there to be disagreement re: shutting off the water. If a house were vacant for months, obviously you would. A better discussion would be: if you turn-off your water, what steps? What is the procedure. And for turning it back on. A safe way that protects the pipes.

Main water off.
Open all the taps until water stops running out of them.
Shut the taps. Leave.

Return home. Main water back on.
Run taps briefly to get air out of them. They'll sputter a bit as the air and water come out but they're fine.

Not sure what you mean by "protect the pipes." Are you worried the pipes will burst suddenly if they're cold and you turn main water back on? That main water will be coming cold into the pipes and shouldn't burst or hurt them. Never had a problem with turning them off or on in decades of doing it.

The surge of water from the water main turning on can bring on a leak or dislodge sediment that was previously blocking a drip. A plumber who wants more business will suggest turning it off and on. Or a young plumber used to working on newer houses.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fwiw, it's bad for older pipes to shut off and turn on the main water. It's to be avoided if at all possible.

No it isn't. Where did you get that idea/

No here. Our plumber actually told us that it’s bad for the pipes and turning it off and back on could actually cause a problem. We do usually still turn it off if we are going to be gone for a really long time but we also have water alarms and it’s connected to an app on our phones so we would get notified of something was happening with water.

I'm the one who posted that several plumbers have all said to turn main water off and not one ever mentioned it causing a problem. And we've got an old house with old pipes...But I totally agree re: having water alarms all the time! We don't have the type with an app (which sounds great) but when we're home they've helped with catching overflows and other issues before problems got going! Water alarms are essential, IMHO.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have cat, so water is left on (pet sitter will hopefully let us know if there's a water emergency).

Heat is bumped down to 62, or AC bumped to 78.

Tankless water heater stays on.

Pet sitter can give the cat water from jugs you filled before you left, PP. Get one of those "cat fountains" that circulate water for the cat to drink and which are fed from a jug and not the water main.

Do you have a basement? If your pet sitter comes in and out quickly, the sitter isn't going to know if your basement is silently flooding from a burst pipe, if the sitter is stopping in on the main level to feed and see the cat briefly.

Have a great fountain and litter box is in the basement. They would probably be able to tell. But I'd think someone might want to wash their hands after cleaning the litter box. Also, what if they need to use the bathroom?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fwiw, it's bad for older pipes to shut off and turn on the main water. It's to be avoided if at all possible.

op here. our pipes our brand new. i think that's why dh thinks nothing will happen.

He's wrong, OP. New construction does not mean that they won't crack if they ice up inside the pipes. Heat on, water off, drain the lines before you go.

Anonymous wrote:I shut it off in the summer and leave it on in the winter for both water and hot water heater

Risk to the water heater from shutoff in winter is very low IF the heater has sufficient water in it and doesn't have any leaks.

Anonymous wrote:It's common for there to be disagreement re: shutting off the water. If a house were vacant for months, obviously you would. A better discussion would be: if you turn-off your water, what steps? What is the procedure. And for turning it back on. A safe way that protects the pipes.

Main water off.
Open all the taps until water stops running out of them.
Shut the taps. Leave.

Return home. Main water back on.
Run taps briefly to get air out of them. They'll sputter a bit as the air and water come out but they're fine.

Not sure what you mean by "protect the pipes." Are you worried the pipes will burst suddenly if they're cold and you turn main water back on? That main water will be coming cold into the pipes and shouldn't burst or hurt them. Never had a problem with turning them off or on in decades of doing it.

Anonymous wrote:Have cat, so water is left on (pet sitter will hopefully let us know if there's a water emergency).

Heat is bumped down to 62, or AC bumped to 78.

Tankless water heater stays on.

Pet sitter can give the cat water from jugs you filled before you left, PP. Get one of those "cat fountains" that circulate water for the cat to drink and which are fed from a jug and not the water main.

Do you have a basement? If your pet sitter comes in and out quickly, the sitter isn't going to know if your basement is silently flooding from a burst pipe, if the sitter is stopping in on the main level to feed and see the cat briefly.

Anonymous wrote:YES. 10000000000%. Unbelievable people don’t shut off their water when traveling. Heat stays on but lower.

Our neighbor went to the beach for 3 weeks. At some point her toilet line burst. She came home to find tremendous amounts of water damage due to multiple days/weeks of running water in the home upstairs from the burst line.

You can only imagine the nightmare in repairs and cost required to fix it. None of it covered by insurance of course. Always, always shut off the water and drain the lines when traveling for multiple days.

NP. This, above.

Important tip -- shut off the water main and then drain the lines. Go around the house and turn ON all the taps, kitchen, bathrooms, basement sinks too, and let the water run out of them until it stops. Draining the lines is very important because if you just shut off the water and the heat fails while you're gone or there is a bad cold snap, you can get frozen pipes even if you shut off the main water; there is always water sitting in your house's pipes when water is shut off.

Leave heat ON. You can look online for tips about what temperature to choose. But never leave a house in the winter with the heat all the way off or the water on!

Source: Four different plumbers over many years. I've always talked with plumbers when they do work here and all of them say to shut off main water when you leave. A couple even said they do it in their own homes when they are gone, even overnight, because they've witnessed some spectacularly bad damage in people's homes, from water that flowed for days or weeks while the homeowner was gone. We now switch off main water and drain lines quickly before we leave for any trip. It gives a lot of peace of mind.

Have cat, so water is left on (pet sitter will hopefully let us know if there's a water emergency).

Heat is bumped down to 62, or AC bumped to 78.

Tankless water heater stays on.

It's common for there to be disagreement re: shutting off the water. If a house were vacant for months, obviously you would. A better discussion would be: if you turn-off your water, what steps? What is the procedure. And for turning it back on. A safe way that protects the pipes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fwiw, it's bad for older pipes to shut off and turn on the main water. It's to be avoided if at all possible.

No it isn't. Where did you get that idea/

No here. Our plumber actually told us that it’s bad for the pipes and turning it off and back on could actually cause a problem. We do usually still turn it off if we are going to be gone for a really long time but we also have water alarms and it’s connected to an app on our phones so we would get notified of something was happening with water.

Shut off the water, turn down the heat and water heater but not completely off.

Anonymous wrote:Fwiw, it's bad for older pipes to shut off and turn on the main water. It's to be avoided if at all possible.

No it isn't. Where did you get that idea/