PSA: Always turn off your house main water supply when you go out of town in the winter

Submitted by Charlesinrichmond t3_zuf2br in rva

Something that most people in New England know, but people down here may not is that you should always turn off your main water supply when you go out of town. Summer too, but it's really the winter that's the big deal.

What happens? Pipe freezes, splits, melts, and 100,000 gallons of water gets pumped into your house. It takes a pipe freeze, which is a minor and perhaps minorly expensive annoyance, and turns it into an epic flood and disaster.

Also, I saw someone left their temp at 55. Don't do that, unless you have professional knowledge it's a good idea. It's a really really bad idea to do when you aren't there. Thermoclines are a thing!

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thethunderheart t1_j1j3832 wrote

Man you couldn't have posted this like two days ago? Smh we're already out of town.

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[deleted] t1_j1jbpq0 wrote

Do you have neighbors who can turn it off?

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thethunderheart t1_j1jem2l wrote

Yea my buddy of mine has a key, he's looking in on it; I am very grateful.

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chairmanbrando t1_j1jy0ra wrote

Note: If your main shutoff is in the crawl space, and it probably is if you're in the 'burbs, anyone can do it.

...Including a stick-up man who wants you to come outside defenseless to see why your water ain't working... 🤷‍♀️

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RefrigeratorRater t1_j1k5fyg wrote

Isn’t there usually a shut off out closer to the street too?

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chairmanbrando t1_j1kage7 wrote

Generally, yes, unless you're on a well situation in which case who the fuck knows. Houses likely have their homeowner's valve underneath while city/county valves are out in the yard near the sewer connection. The city's/county's will probably require a water/meter key to turn, though. If you bought yourself a house, the inspection report should note the location of your homeowner's valve. For me it's in the crawl space; there's a pipe that taps into the county's shit, and where that meets up with the house's pipes there's a valve with a big-ass handle. City properties likely have the homeowner and city valves near each other in the yard.

Edit: What refrigerator is #1 in your books?

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Charlesinrichmond OP t1_j1ksb73 wrote

In most situations you don't need a key to the house you can do it at the water meter with a street key

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Charlesinrichmond OP t1_j1ks6w6 wrote

Sorry. Seriously. Didn't occur to me to post it until I saw something here today and I was like oh my God

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TheFakePlissken t1_j1j2xr8 wrote

Turn it off at the main and drain the system from the lowest sink. If power goes out there’s no or little water in the pipes to freeze.

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lunar_unit t1_j1j4ws6 wrote

Amen. I just did this before I left town on Friday.

I actually installed a valve where the water comes into my house, with a hose attached, so I can drain my entire water pipe system in a few minutes.

A few years back, I didn't do this and came home after a 3 week trip in January, to the terrible sounds of water spewing.

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TheFakePlissken t1_j1j54k1 wrote

I can’t imagine coming home too that. I turn mine off at the meter by the street. It’s easier than in the crawl space.

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balance07 t1_j1jwlda wrote

I turned mine off in crawl space on Wednesday before we left town, and left kitchen sink open. I'm worried about the couple feet of pipe upstream of the shutoff valve, in the crawlspace. That's full and pressurized.

I am assuming all is ok, been monitoring temps in my vented attic which must be much colder than in crawl space, and it only got down into 20s for some hours. I think crawlspace was fine.

But now I'm gonna turn off at street from now on. I hate the crawlspace.

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balance07 t1_j1jwwd6 wrote

Oh also put house at 72 deg (thanks for remote access, nest!) so hoping that helped crawlspace too.

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Charlesinrichmond OP t1_j1kskvn wrote

Truth is even pressurized if you dump 5 gallons it will be a pain in the ass but not a disaster. One room's worth of hardwood floors say

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balance07 t1_j1ksy6n wrote

If the line from the city bursts, it'll dump until it's shut off tho, unless I'm missing something?

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Charlesinrichmond OP t1_j1l0a9c wrote

Yeah but the shut off for that is usually right inside and in truth I've never heard of anything busting there even though the ones a foot in make me a little nervous

Best reason for Street key is how easy it is though unless you have a basement and a quarter turn

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balance07 t1_j1luh7s wrote

Thanks for the reassurance that it's super unlikely that that section would freeze and burst. Def gonna always shut off from street meter from now on.

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fl_man_in_rva t1_j1j7l2y wrote

A few years ago I had a pipe break in the middle of the night so it was only going for a few hours. I don't even want to think about a few days.

I isolated and drained outside spigots and irrigation system. Furnace was kept on at normal temperature so I should be ok.

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ArmoredFan t1_j1kea0q wrote

Isn't this bad to also do though? Often when you shut off water and drain, when it comes back on a lot of sediment stirs up and can clog various things

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lunar_unit t1_j1kh7at wrote

Where would this sediment come from?

I've never had any issues doing it.

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Charlesinrichmond OP t1_j1ksr8n wrote

All water city and well usually has some gunk in it that gets stirred up. But you only need to pop the aerators and whatever filters to fix it it's not actually a big deal. Sort of thing that will take you two minutes

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Charlesinrichmond OP t1_j1kso0l wrote

While true it's not a big deal you just pop the aerators off

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ArmoredFan t1_j1kvwd0 wrote

Unless you know, water runs into various other things besides a faucet.

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Charlesinrichmond OP t1_j1l0ide wrote

Tell me more I've only been doing plumbing on houses for 25 odd years or so... Always more to learn

But so far the places sediment plugs up are pretty consistent and yes that would be the faucet aerators. So we bleed something without an aerator first then we pulled the aerators and bleed the faucets. It's really not a big deal except for the new grohe aerators which are complete pain if you misplace their stupid doohickey

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ArmoredFan t1_j1l2gwb wrote

Oh of course please education me more on 25 years of professional doohickey fixing.

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Charlesinrichmond OP t1_j1qhl7e wrote

nope. you clearly aren't interested. And not very good at comprehension. So it's unlikely to be useful

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ThesisSparta t1_j1ks0yi wrote

I do this every time I go out of town. Winter, for obvious reasons. But last July my hot water heater burst and the shutoff valve malfunctioned. I was thankfully in the basement at the time and caught it, but so much water so quickly. I couldn’t imagine if I had been gone for the weekend.

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Anianna t1_j1koykc wrote

Flush the toilets after turning the water off, too, so the tanks don't freeze and crack.

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Goaliedude3919 t1_j1kf3yn wrote

What's a thermocline and why is leaving the temp at 55 bad in regards to it?

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Charlesinrichmond OP t1_j1ksgvj wrote

Thermocline is the temperature gradient it's dependent upon the house insulation (in this context)

If you've got a really well insulated house with pipes that aren't in the outside walls 55 will be fine. If you've got an old Richmond house with pipes in the outside walls 55 at the thermostat might mean 20 at the pipe in fact frequently does

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Goaliedude3919 t1_j1kstjq wrote

Ah, interesting. We just built our house about a year ago, so sounds like we're probably fine leaving it at 55 then.

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Charlesinrichmond OP t1_j1l02hy wrote

Probably yes. And I guess finding out early that your contractor cut corners is better than later

Still turn off the house water if you go out of town in the winter though

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adar4 t1_j1khoho wrote

Grew up in New England and quite literally never thought of turning our water off. My family never did, and friends didn’t either, it wasn’t even a discussion. When i first moved to VA I was very confused about why every landlord I had was incredibly insistent about us doing it all the time. Eventually chatted with a neighbor who told me that since the houses down here aren’t built for the cold in the same way, and a single cold day can do you in. Now I’m way too paranoid about it 🤣

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User-NetOfInter t1_j1ku9f0 wrote

They don’t bury the water pipes as deep in the south.

Frost line is/was much higher in VA, so they don’t/didn’t bury the pipes as deep compared to the northeast

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Charlesinrichmond OP t1_j1ksvuo wrote

As someone who used to do construction in Massachusetts it happens all the time up there

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JeffRVA t1_j1j9atv wrote

And if you live in an apartment/condo leave a phone number with your neighbor that you can be reached at in case there’s an emergency.

My mom’s condo had water leaking in after the neighbor’s hot water heater leaked over the holiday while she was out of town and we couldn’t reach her until the following business day which was like two days a later when we could finally reach someone at her office to get them to call her for us.

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Lickbelowmynuts t1_j1jnrul wrote

Yeah I would just add to turn off you’re water if you’re going to be gone longer than a day or two, or can’t quickly drive home. Even in the summer. I have roommates for the time being. Their water heater was mounted in the ceiling of their condo. Not sure exactly what but some part malfunctioned and led to their condo flooding out. Luckily the neighbors saw it, but it was still too late. You never know what could happen and they would have saved themselves thousands of dollars in damages.

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GumbySr t1_j1k8ymf wrote

Is this still the case in homes with radiator heating?

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Charlesinrichmond OP t1_j1ksxwp wrote

Yes. Type of heat has nothing to do with the issue

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User-NetOfInter t1_j1kui5i wrote

Exactly. Water is coming into the house VERY cold since the pipes are relatively close to the ground compared to the north east. Frost line can hit them for extended cold periods.

Also happy holidays Charles. Always good to see you here with the homeowner/landlord pro tips.

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buztabuzt t1_j1klzq4 wrote

Yes if you have pipes that will be cold (attic, crawl space, walls, etc.

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[deleted] t1_j1q4t1x wrote

I left out of town on the 18th… guess I’m screwed when I get back 🤦🏾‍♂️

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Davidm241 t1_j1q99vy wrote

I do it in the summer also. Our water heater is in the attic and sprang a leak one year while we were at the beach. What a mess.

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ubiquitous_delight t1_j1kxo2d wrote

I have no idea how to do that unfortunately

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Charlesinrichmond OP t1_j1l0z2q wrote

You can do it at the water meter with the street key or go looking for where the cold enter your house. If it's a crawl I would go straight to the meter

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ltfpark t1_j1ky0od wrote

OP, or anyone else knowledgeable: have one upstairs sink and toilet next to it with no flow. Other sink in same br all good. Everything else fine so far. Assume local freeze? When is this gonna burst? Tried running hot water and warming br with no change already. FML

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Charlesinrichmond OP t1_j1l18p9 wrote

Yes local freeze. Start dripping the hot there that will freeze next. Running hot water won't do anything except for delay freezing the hot pipe which is a good thing

Try and get more heat in the bathroom and watch for water spraying everywhere when it thaws out. If it's pex you probably won't have a problem if it's copper you might. You need to know how to shut your house water down instantly before it happens.

If you see leaks you want to open up all the Cold taps below it and shut the water off as soon as possible. Shut water off first then open the taps to relieve pressure

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ltfpark t1_j1l2g4w wrote

Will do! Thank you! Think it’s a mix of copper and pex from what I can see in the basement. I’m guessing that house water is the bigish 1-2in black hose lookin thing coming out of the ground and leading to everything. Have other sink dripping already, will do hot. Much appreciated

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martimar17 t1_j1m9mxl wrote

I have an electric heat pump. Would shutting off the main water line effect the ability to keep the house warm? I tried looking it up and asking friends but no real answer.

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7th-cup-of-coffee t1_j1ntqa8 wrote

I line in a large apartment complex. Is there anything special we should do before leaving town?

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user_name1745 t1_j1nviju wrote

Just had a pipe burst in our house (luckily we were home) any plumber recs? 🫠

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[deleted] t1_j1jatpm wrote

[deleted]

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InterstateExit t1_j1jpk59 wrote

It works. Your instance may be extreme, but saying that it doesn’t work is spreading misinformation. If a home’s pipes run inside an outside wall they may freeze more easily than if they are being replenished by underground non-frozen water under a house or inside insulation. Mr. Charles here knows what he’s talking about, and this article may help clarify why your in-laws’ precaution didn’t work.

Edited job to non.

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[deleted] t1_j1jxt89 wrote

[deleted]

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chairmanbrando t1_j1jydji wrote

I mean, what kinda dripping are we talking here? If it's 5 degrees outside in an area not used to such temperatures, you should be running the tap furthest from your source (if not multiple taps) with a low stream -- not dripping. Moving water doesn't freeze as readily; that's a physical fact of nature, bruh. Yes, your water bill will be higher, but it'll be a hell of a lot cheaper than having your walls and floor torn up to fix a disaster.

But is your shit still gonna freeze even with streaming taps if a random cold snap takes us to -10? Yeah, probably! My pipes froze this morning in the 5-degree bullshit despite dripping (but not streaming!), and I unfroze them with a space heater under the kitchen sink at a 2/10 temperature setting.

Edit: More cold pro tips for anyone scrolling by:

  • Keep your sink cabinets open (if you're not doing the space heater thing). Let your house's conditioned air get anywhere pipes are.
  • Buy insulating foam pipe wraps from Lowe's (fuck Home Depot) and get them on all the exposed water pipes you can find in your crawl space.
  • If your heat pump can't keep the place sufficiently warm, turn on aux/emergency heat and give your pump a rest. It'll run constantly otherwise, and depending on its age and the type of refrigerant, there's only so much it can do.
  • Space heaters on indoor pipes (under sinks but also at your water heater) can conduct that heat through the pipes' run into your crawl space, lessening the chance of freezage.
  • Replace your rotting half-inch plywood crawl space door with something that has weather stripping and some kind of backing.
  • Replace your crawl space vents with ones that actually seal up nicely when closed. If you can see light through or around them when they're closed, they can be better!
  • Know where your main water shutoff valve is; if you're in the city, this may require a water key, so get one!
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guiltyofnothing t1_j1kc71t wrote

Are insulated pipes code in Virginia?

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Charlesinrichmond OP t1_j1ktade wrote

In some places. But they delay the freeze and they just change the thermocline location they don't necessarily fix things

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guiltyofnothing t1_j1ltfyb wrote

In Richmond, you’re probably best focusing your efforts on insulating your crawl space and sealing the vents vs insulating your pipes. Just seems overkill.

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InterstateExit t1_j1ka9x9 wrote

The difference is that by saying unequivocally that it doesn’t work can cost people thousands. By saying it works, far more people can save their pipes. Your information is solipsistic while the general consensus is backed up by the experience of many.

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Charlesinrichmond OP t1_j1kt09i wrote

No it works I'm not exactly sure what happened there. Though by works I don't mean it's foolproof or anything.

If you don't drain the system it's going to be a minor annoyance but balancing that against the likelihood I wouldn't bother and I don't. Turning the shut off so the city doesn't fill the place up with water is pretty key though

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