Need plumbing advice

[kmacafee]

Greetings

My wife and I are semi-retired and live in Minnesota. During the winter, we typically get away from the cold for a few weeks at a time. We had a family member who left for three weeks, had a pipe burst, and water ran for the entire three weeks causing catastrophic damage to their home. So before we go, we typically shut off the water in the house and lower the thermostat. So far, we have had no problems when we return.

We suggested to a neighbor they do the same thing and when they returned, had a frozen pipe. The plumbers they spoke to told them to never shut the water off and leave the thermostat in the upper 60's.

Has the thinking on this changed? Personally, I would rather have a pipe burst when I am home and can deal with it than have one burst when I'm gone and destroy part of the house. And, assuming the house is well insulated, I can't see where turning the water main off and on causes any problems.

Any plumbers out there willing to share their wisdom?

Thanks in advance.

Kevin

 

[EOC_Jason]

If I was leaving and it was supposed to be that cold, I would turn the water main off too! Why would you want water gushing for days doing thousands of dollars worth of damage to your home? I would also drain the water out of the lines the best I could. But I don't live up north and I know some places have electric heaters on the lines and such.

I know a resort place where some friends go in Colorado, they drain the water and put some sort of anti-freeze in the lines when they close the place down for the winter.

 

[38 Dodge Coupe]

Kevin,
My Dad was a plumber and he would always turn off the main water valve if he was going to be gone for an extended period of time during the winter months. He would also drain the pipes and winterize the system ( traps, toilet, water heater etc) . That is probably more extreme than needed, but on the other hand he never had a pipe freeze in his house.
I agree, if a pipe is going to burst I would rather be there than have the water destroy everything around it.

 

[jkwilson]

Shut off your water heater, shut off the water at the meter and drain the pipes. It shouldn't take 15 minutes.

I turn my water off inside the house whenever I'm going to be gone whether it is cold or not. Pipes fail even when it is warm.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

All good advice. I would add NOT to turn off the feed to your steam boiler, if that's what your heat source is. If you have a hot water system, valving off the feed isn't quite so critical unless you already know it "uses" water...

Tommy

 

[Higgins]

Here in N IL, the management companies winterize homes by shutting the water main / well off, draining all pipes, turning off ice makers, put anti-freeze in toilets, drain HW heaters, and leave all valves open. They also set the furnace at 58 degrees. Don't know why 58, but that's what they seam to do!

AL

 

[kmacafee]

Thanks all for the responses.

 

[gsxrken]

It's a good idea to turn off water main in any season when you leave for a trip. Rubber washing machine hoses are the weakest link and many are OEM from when the house was built. They are a maintenance item.
Also, blue automotive windshield fluid is a great antifreeze for traps and toilets in the winter. Cheaper, and easier on the environment than radiator coolant.

 

[Gary S]

In Minnesota you might get cold enough so that the main line can freeze underground outside the house. I had it happen once when I left for a few days in March. It never froze when we were home because we ran water regularly to keep it moving in the underground pipes.
Here, the water pipes are buried 6 feet down, but if you have bare ground above it with no snow or ice to insulate it, it can freeze that far down.

Either way, you take a risk. If you leave the water on, and a faucet dripping to keep water moving, you risk a pipe blowout and a flooded house. If you shut off the main, you risk a frozen pipe underground where you can't reach it.

My suggestion is to either stay home in the winter, or sell the house and get an apartment or condo where someone takes care of things while you are gone.

 

[HoosierMark]

When I winterize my cabin, I use RV antifreeze in the toilet and sink drains. I also use a shop vac to **** out the water in the lines and a portable air tank to blow them out. I thought about doing the tub and sink lines but then it dawned on me about the odors escaping. I guess I could put a rag in the lines but the rv antifreeze is simple and easy. I also put some in the tank of the toilet just to be safe. Probably a little overkill but the vac and air tank are both handy so it is not a hassle.

 

[nicksnothereman]

Greetings

My wife and I are semi-retired and live in Minnesota. During the winter, we typically get away from the cold for a few weeks at a time. We had a family member who left for three weeks, had a pipe burst, and water ran for the entire three weeks causing catastrophic damage to their home. So before we go, we typically shut off the water in the house and lower the thermostat. So far, we have had no problems when we return.

We suggested to a neighbor they do the same thing and when they returned, had a frozen pipe. The plumbers they spoke to told them to never shut the water off and leave the thermostat in the upper 60's.

Has the thinking on this changed? Personally, I would rather have a pipe burst when I am home and can deal with it than have one burst when I'm gone and destroy part of the house. And, assuming the house is well insulated, I can't see where turning the water main off and on causes any problems.

Any plumbers out there willing to share their wisdom?

Thanks in advance.

Kevin

I'm not a plumber but...when it comes to pipes and water there are two things to notice. Water can't really freeze (quickly at least) if it's moving. In both of your scenarios the water is not moving. The reason for the thermostat setting is to increase the temperature in the home to counteract freezing temperatures outside essentially heating the pipes to prevent freezing.

If the water is shutoff in the home that means it's more likely that an outside pipe will burst than one in the home. But I suppose leaving water in the pipes and heating would potentially prevent that because the temperature of the water in your home pipes will raise the temperature of the water outside your home.

I say...yeah on that. But again I'm not a plumber. I'm sure they have some type of probe heaters that would work even better...at least I would hope they do.

 

[EOC_Jason]

I know everyone says "Moving water won't freeze"... But I've seen plenty of pictures where water that was moving did freeze. Heck, rivers freeze over every year and they are constantly moving. Here's a picture here in Houston where one of many fountains froze over when it got to about 20F...

Is there some sort of amendment that I don't know about?

 

[rburke65]

I vote for turning off the water. My buddy is going through this very thing. Plastic fitting at the bottom of the toilet tank cracked .... Second floor ..... and the water ran for 6 hours until the cascading water set off the motion detector at the bottom of the stairway triggering the alarm. So far, $14,000 in clean up, and dry out. He was just at work, not vacation.ya.... Turn it off.

 

[jhelrey]

This is the back of my neighbors house...