Dave Harnish wrote:

If I may add my $.02: in the interest of keeping life simple, I've
always recommended, for some 32 years now, that the washer
supply faucet(s) always be turned off when not using the washer.
Really not a big deal, especially if you have them installed where
they're easily reached.

Thanks to a Mr. Murphy, washer hoses always seem to burst
when you're away on vacation.'Worst one I remember was in
a nice split-level in Lancaster County, PA. Sure enough, the
homeowners were gone for two weeks. Neighbor noticed water
coming out from under the garage door! Water co. came and
turned off the supply at the curb.

snipped

Deja vu all over again....

Our next door neighbors moved to a smaller home in the next state when
their kids grew up (Do your own kids ever really "grow up"?) and were
all out of the nest. They put the house on the market with a realtor and
left it unoccupied.

They demonstrated their ignorance of what could happen by not turning
off the water and/or having a low temperature alarm as part of their
already centrally monitored fire/burglary security system. I was tempted
to use the term stupidity in that sentence, but they were nice neighbors
for 18 years, and after all, the husband is a doctor and everyone knows
doctors (think they) know everything. G

I looked out the window in January of last year and saw three thick
dirty brown ice floes running down one of their garage doors:

http://home.comcast.net/~jwisnia18/jeff/freeze.jpg

The oil heating system had failed and it was my sad job to call my
ex-neighbors and give them the bad news.

There was a huge amount of water damage to the house, and fifteen months
later it's still unoccupied and being worked on every day. To their
credit, they've kept up the property nicely and by maintaining the
landscaping contractors they's been using when they lived there. Rumor
has it that their homeowners insurance company gave them a rough time
because of a clause limiting "abandonment" without proper monitoring,
but I'm afraid to ask about that.

Jeff

--
Jeff Wisnia (W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"My luck is so bad that if I bought a cemetery, people would stop dying."