On Sep 2, 12:01*pm, Aaron Fude wrote:
Hi,

A plumber told me that it's a good idea to shut off water from the
washer when it's not in use because the flexible lines aren't rated to
continuous pressure.


My mother was visiting us in Arizona 7 or 8 years ago. We were sitting
in the family room talking, and she started obsessing over whether she
should have turned off the water in her house before she left. As I
was telling her not to worry, we heard the sound of running water, and
saw a widening circle of water creeping across the floor from the
laundry room. The hot water hose on the washer had split. Of course,
this did nothing to improve her frame of mind. I replaced those hoses
with the braided metallic armored kind (available in the home
centers), and got in the habit of turning off the water to the washer
when we were going to be away for a while. Probably a good idea to
change to new hoses each time you replace the washing machine. Fancy
armored hoses can be more expensive than the other kind, but they are
a lot cheaper than repairing the water damage from a leak that's been
running all day while you were at work.

So, yes, those hoses can break. On the other hand, who knows what is
worse for those washer supply hoses - constant pressure, or the
pressure surge every time you turn the supply back on?

I can remember seeing an episode of "Ask This Old House" where the
plumber guy installed one of those leak-detector shutoff valves on the
laundry water lines - you might be able to find it on their website.

Another opportunity for leaks is the water supply line to the toilet.
I had one let go at about 2AM, luckily in the bathroom right next to
our bedroom, so I heard the water running right away. It wasn't
actually the metal flex supply line - the plastic nut connecting to
the bottom of the toilet cracked and split at the joint between the
round and hex parts of the nut. Have since had 5 or 6 other people
tell me the same thing happened to them.

Many recent homes here in AZ have the water supply split at the entry
to the house. You can leave the water on to your lawn sprinkler system
so your lawn doesn't turn brown when you're gone for 3 weeks in the
summer - but you can shut off the main feed to the rest of the house.
I have been been tempted to use that shutoff several times on
vacations, but never have. If it's a concern, you might consider a bit
of minor replumbing to install an easily accessible whole-house
shutoff.

Kind of makes you want to go check your homeowners insurance for water
damage coverage doesn't it? ;-

Jerry