Major Water Main Break in Bowness Area

[#-3]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

3 to 4 days in summer? What does this imply about winter? You're shutting off your water lines when you go out to dinner?

I frequently leave town for a week to ten days and I never shut the water off. I have someone there every couple of days to look in, and feed the cat. I assumed this was standard practice.

Winter I would be 1 over-night, Summer I wouldn't bother for a weekend but anything longer I would turn it off.

Actually semi-saved me the other year, I was away for a 5 day super long weekend, and when I turned the water back on my water tank started leaking. I didn't notice right away, but later in the evening when I couldn't get hot enough, I went and looked and found a big wet spot on the floor, that luckily hadn't gotten much wet. I'm not sure if the leak was slow enough that it would have just gotten the store room wet to the cleanout drain.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Huh. I have never bothered. Maybe I should, although my house is pretty new. Obviously I turn off the water to the outside taps in the fall but that's about it. Is there any negative consequence to turning the water supply off and on a dozen or so times a year, though?

[#-3]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Huh. I have never bothered. Maybe I should, although my house is pretty new. Obviously I turn off the water to the outside taps in the fall but that's about it. Is there any negative consequence to turning the water supply off and on a dozen or so times a year, though?

I'm not sure what the duty cycle of a ball valve is, but I know my dad is super anal about it basically anything overnight, and has a 30 year old ball valve that has probably been turned on/off 600+ times without effect.

[Engine09]

I was recently out of the country for a month, I didn't turn off the water because I had someone checking in but I shut off the hot water heater and emptied/unplugged my fridge.

[Fuzz]

Probably more risk never opening and closing a valve. Stuff can build up, oxidation, etc and then when you really need it, it can break, or not operate at all. Probably less of an issue on newer ball valves. I had to have my ancient gate valve replaced because it leaked, and scared me every time I had to turn it. I guess if you have a tiny leak like a faucet drip, lines depressurize and it's always hardest on lines/joints during re-pressurization, particularly if you don't have water hammer aresstors(your newer build probably does). You can turn it on slower if that's a concern.


One issue is if you have hardwood floors and are gone for awhile your humidifier won't be working. Going to depend on the house if that's an issue. I also turn off my on demand water heater. Not sure it's necessary, but it's one button.

[Dentoman]

Originally Posted by Hockeyguy15

If we are going away for a weekend or longer I shut off the water. Takes 5 seconds, seems like a no brainer to avoid disaster.

Me too. Always have. Heard too many horror stories of toilets cracking, pipes bursting, hot water heater leaking etc. Still have someone come into the house for insurance purposes.

[Weitz]

I’ve heard mixed stories on say flipping the taps after turning off. Anyone do that?

[Tron_fdc]

I had a pot filler turn on and run full out on a counter for a week once when I was out of town. $100k in damage......flooring, cabinets, drywall, electrical, basement, you name it. There was a river running down my stairs into the lower levels of the house.

Insurance told me that if someone isn't checking on the house every 2-3 days they wouldn't cover it.

Highly recommend turning off water when you leave for more than a weekend.

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by Weitz

I’ve heard mixed stories on say flipping the taps after turning off. Anyone do that?

Like drain the water out of all the pipes to each faucet? I would guess that leaving them dry might make it riskier to fill them up again, but I also have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about.


100 feet of 1/2 inch pipe holds about 3.9L of water. A 0.25mm hole could leak that amount in an hour. So a leak while you're asleep or at work could be much worse than a leak with supply off while you're away longer.

[Calgary Highlander]

Originally Posted by Tron_fdc

I had a pot filler turn on and run full out on a counter for a week once when I was out of town. $100k in damage......flooring, cabinets, drywall, electrical, basement, you name it. There was a river running down my stairs into the lower levels of the house.

Insurance told me that if someone isn't checking on the house every 2-3 days they wouldn't cover it.

Highly recommend turning off water when you leave for more than a weekend.

We had the Moen Flow Shutoff installed for this situation. It also reduced our monthly insurance premium --> https://shop.moen.com/pages/flo-smar...NpJHvBiYgmbw8k

[kevman]

Based on no science at all, refilling the lines "feels" more violent when you turn the water back on than just leaving them full. Personally I wouldn't bother leaving the taps on. But I also don't bother turning my main off unless we're gone for a few weeks so take that for what its' worth.

Pot fillers always seemed like a disaster in the making. Unlike other fixtures, they have no drain near by so any issue is going to be a big issue.

[surferguy]

any news on the backfilling of the pipe?

[fotze2]

Originally Posted by Calgary Highlander

We had the Moen Flow Shutoff installed for this situation. It also reduced our monthly insurance premium --> https://shop.moen.com/pages/flo-smar...NpJHvBiYgmbw8k

FACK I hate the subscription model. Does it detect drop in pressure? Low level? How does it discern between someone using a faucet and a very slow pinhole leak?

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by surferguy

any news on the backfilling of the pipe?

Today could be the day we get to use water again, but also maybe not.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Calgary Highlander

We had the Moen Flow Shutoff installed for this situation. It also reduced our monthly insurance premium --> https://shop.moen.com/pages/flo-smar...NpJHvBiYgmbw8k

Was the insurance premium drop enough to cover the monthly cost of the service?

[fotze2]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Today could be the day we get to use water again, but also maybe not.

Surferguy would like to backfill a pipe.

[fotze2]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Was the insurance premium drop enough to cover the monthly cost of the service?

I imagine its $20 off for the year.

[Nancy]

Just suffered through the second dishwasher leak of my lifetime. These are nefarious because you don't know there is a leak until the hardwood starts buckling.

I am going to try the following:

https://www.amazon.ca/Detector-Dripp.../dp/B0CHZ83LQD

https://www.amazon.ca/Camco-20-5-Inc...dp/B09BBMN93G/

We also had a pinhole leak in our copper PEX manifold spraying out water while I was on vacation, but luckily my son was home and eventually discovered it. I am curious if one of those home shutoffs would have helped in this situation?

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Huh. I have never bothered. Maybe I should, although my house is pretty new. Obviously I turn off the water to the outside taps in the fall but that's about it. Is there any negative consequence to turning the water supply off and on a dozen or so times a year, though?

If you never use your valves eventually they'll probably seize. I actually think using them a couple times per year makes the valve less likely to fail.

I close mine about 5x per year (any time I'm gone more than 3-4 days).

[#-3]

Originally Posted by Weitz

I’ve heard mixed stories on say flipping the taps after turning off. Anyone do that?

I'm pretty inconsistent with doing that, if you do do that, you will get air bubbles coming out of your faucets even a day or two later. I suppose if you did have a pipe crack it would limit the total amount of water that leaks.

*I do leave my outside hose bibs wide open when i turn that line off for the winter. I figure if there is residual water in there, the path of least resistances would be to freeze out of the tap.