On Mon, 15 Dec 2008 13:15:23 -0800, "Bob F"
wrote:

"James Sweet" wrote in message
...
termtests wrote:
We're going through a nasty cold spell right now (-13F/-25C to
-22F/-30C) and it's expected to last for quite a while yet. And my
coworker suggested that I turn the main water valve off in the house
before I leave in a couple of days for a vacation.

I will still have my furnace running when we leave for vacation, but I
plan on having it maintain a temperature of 60F/15C while we're away.

Is turning the main off still a good idea? Also, should the furnace
be set at a little higher temperature while we're away when taking the
outside temperature into account? Thanks for your time and courtesy.


Turning the water off won't hurt. Open a tap to drain the water out as well.

I would turn the furnace down to 45-50 if the thermostat will go that low.
Unless you have pets staying in the house, there's no reason to keep it warmer
than that, you just don't want pipes freezing.

Unless you have pipes that freeze quickly at low house temps.

Well, my luck, I probably do. I'll take that into consideration and
thanks for such quick replies, guys.

And I'm really sorry about this, but one thing I forgot to mention
though was that I have in-floor/radiant floor heating in my basement,
which has some kind of plastic pipes with hot water running through
them.

Would that affect or change whether I should turn off the water or
not? Or, as long as my water heater tank has sufficient amount of
water to recirculate through the in-floor heating system, I should be
OK? Thanks again.