questions about leaving home for a while...

I am leaving my house for an extended period and I am wondering what I need to do to protect my plumbing. I have read that it is safest to shut the water off and drain all the lines. I also read that doing this can dry out seals and cause leaks when the water is back on. I feel like I should leave everything on and have someone come to my house and run the water every so often. Is this a good solution? I also want to save money by conserving energy. Is it safe to turn off the breaker to my water heater? It is located in a closet in my garage. (It doesn't have a vacation setting, I don't think.) Where I live, we have 4 seasons so it can get very hot and very cold here. I am not sure what to do. Please help...


PS - If you have any advice on what to do with a fridge / freezer that is cost effective in this situation please feel free to share that knowledge...

Regarding the refrig/freezer....you should unplug, thaw them out, then wash the inside thouroughly with something like lysol, and wipe dry. Then remove the doors, or tie them open. If you let the door stay closed, no matter how good it was cleaned and dried, it will stink!

When you say "extended period" I am assuming you mean over the winter, in which case you either have to leave the heat on, set to about 50º, or winterize meaning drain and blow down all water pipes and putting RV antifreeze in all the toilets and traps.

There is something to the fact that seats and seals can dry out, and this is just something you may have to deal with when turning your services back on. It probably beats the potential catastrophic damage from a cracked toilet tank, burst supply line, etc. These things are also potential problems in a long-term vacancy. You can have a pressure surge or creep-up which would cause these problems.

As for the water heater, it either needs to be full with water service turned on, temp set at 120, or power turned off and tank drained.


If I misunderstood, and you were talking about vacancy of a few weeks, and not months, we might have a different opinion.

Thanks for the info!

I am actually leaving for 15 months but will be coming back periodically to check up on it and have some other people that will be checking on it while i'm away.

I have read that leaving the freezer off for a while will cause the condenser to rust and cause a very expensive repair. How true is that?

What about my suggestion to have someone come over every few weeks just to run the water all over the house for a couple minutes? Would that be the least risky? Or is that just a bad idea? If I did this could I just do what I was saying with the water heater (switch the breaker off only)?

My house is new construction too, about 1 year old, if that helps...

There shouldn't be a problem with unplugging the a freezer or refridgerator for a year of so. Those systems have oil in them and it coats everything.

That said, with newer appliances and if your electric company has a minimum monthly charge just fill the freezer/refridgerator with water bottles (leave room for freezing) and leave it plugged in. It won't use enough electricity to matter.

I'd also suggest leaving the heat on at a low setting though the winter months. Since the house is fairly new I'm assuming good insulation/windows/doors so heating costs shouldn't be sky high. The interior of the house will appreciate being in the climate controlled enviorment that the materials were designed for. Just turn the water off at the meter/shut-off valve.

I've done this a couple times and haven't regretted it. On the flip side, I've seen houses that had the heat turned off in climates that got down to -40. Some didn't do so well. I can't say that the cold caused all the problems but I also can't say that it didn't.

Thanks CHH. I like the water bottle idea and probably do that.

As far as turning the water off at the meter, will i need to drain all my lines and water heater?

Can someone tell me if it is risky/stupid to leave the water on and have someone run it every few weeks while I'm gone???

With fairly new plumbing, leaving the water on shouldn't be a problem. In many cases it is so easy to turn off that there is absolutely no reason not to do so. With all the plastic parts and compression fittings that are used these days shutting the stop just seems like an easy thing to do compared to drying/replacing carpet, drywall, etc.

saver99 said:

.... have someone come over every few weeks just to run the water all over the house for a couple minutes? Would that be the least risky? .....

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washer hoses leak. HW heaters can leak. It all makes big messes within minutes. Costs thousands to repair the visible damage. Puts mold everywhere.

Do you have valves all over the house? Since it's a new building, maybe it was well done. AT least you must have valves for the washing machine and the water heater.

Fridges and freezers need mass inside them to work as designed. Leaving them on might cost $50 over a year.

What you do next depends on your level of comfort with the uncertainties.

David

Ok so far this is what I think I'm going to do:

1) Set thermostat to 50F

2) Either a) unplug the fridge/freezer and do a complete clean and leave doors open or b) put water bottles / open box of baking soda in there and leave it plugged

3) Turn off water at the meter

4) Turn off valves to clothes washer

5) Turn off both the breaker and valve to water heater -- Do I need to drain it??? What happens if I don't? It's in my garage so it won't cause too much damage if it leaks... but will it be ok in the cold weather? The garage isn't heated...

6) Necessary to turn off valves to toilets / dishwasher / anything else?


Thanks again....

saver99 said:

Ok so far .... in my garage so it won't cause too much damage if it leaks... but will it be ok in the cold weather? The garage isn't heated.....

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it'll freeze. Bad, bad. The hot water in it acts as a heater right now, keeping the garage temperature far far higher than it would be without that energy.

Cut the heater circuit, and your garage's ambient temperature will go down, and can go below freezing, for a long enough time to let that colder and colder water in the tank to start freezing. Depends on a few factors, like how much wall the garage shares with the house, and how much sun energy the garage picks up during the day, but these are not to be relied upon when you are absent for the first time.

My prescription to you sir, is to drain it.

David

p,s, sorry, it also depends on your climate. Where Are You?

I am in the south... it can get pretty cold here though - mid teens -

The water heater is in a closet in the garage, but I guess it's best turn off the valve and breaker and drain it.

Is it necessary to drain the lines in my house if I'm going to shut off the main and leave the temp at 50F?

I live in a relatively mild climate where freezing temperatures are uncommon. I would never consider leaving my house unoccupied for 15 months even with someone checking it every week or two.

There is also the problem of burglary or homeless squatters in an unoccupied house.

What I would do is have a house sitter.

There are companies (sorry, I don't have a link) that pre-screen people who will live in your house, keep up the yard and call for any necessary repairs for the privilege of vastly below-market rental rates.

I knew a woman that did this for the first couple of years after moving here from the Boston area. She got to live in a nice house, on a large (I think it was about an acre) lot in a rural setting for (I think) about $100 to $200 a month rental. Rental rates at that time for a similar property would have probably been about $1,000 to $1,500. This woman was a bank vice-president and you couldn't have asked for a better tenant.

FWIW, if I were in your situation I would seriously give Furd's suggestion a lot of thought. Having a person house-sit and be able to monitor whatever might happen would really ease my mind. If you had a break-in, wind damage, a leaking roof, problems due to widespread power outage, etc. you would be apprised of the problem in realtime and not surprised when you make your return visits. BTW, now that I think about it, does anyone know if a homeowners insurance policy remain in full force if the home is not occupied at the time of the insurable occurrence?

I'm with grumpy. All it takes is one broken window, or a power outage...

House-sitter, or winterize.

Winterizing's not a huge deal, either, it only takes a couple of hours.