"willshak" wrote in message
...
On 1/14/2005 11:48 AM US(ET), Doug Kanter took fingers to keys, and typed
the following:

"Bob S." wrote in message
oups.com...

Karen wrote:

We are leaving town for a month and want to turn off the water to the
hot-water heater. It is natural gas with a pilot light that stays lit
all the time. Can the water be turned off without turning off the

gas?

My husband says this is dangerous because the gas will come on when

the

water cools down and evaporate it all out and burn the bottom out of

the

heater or blow up. Could this happen? Any suggestions?
Neither one of us can re-light the pilot light

It's ironic that we are so concerned about the water heater when we
leave the house when there are so many more things that can go wrong.

Two years ago we left for a 4 day minivacation. When we got back we
found the house flooded from a broken fill valve in a commode. Over
10,000 gallons of water had run through the house. The sheetrock was
wet 3' up the walls. The ground was soggy for 20' around the house. The
cleanup & repair bill was $14,000 (thank God for insurance!). So now we
turn the water off at the curb (valve on our side of the meter) if we
are leaving for more than a day or two.

Bob S.



Holy ****. :-( I take it you were not pleased.

And then the water bill came!

Enough. I'm cleaning out all my basement floor drains tomorrow with a
magnifying glass and tweezers.