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.

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.

On Dec 15, 2:54�pm, 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 water off good idea, and if you have a friendly neighbor put a
lamp activated by a thermostat if the temperature gets too low.
ideally a flashing lamp

"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.

On Dec 15, 3:25*pm, James Sweet wrote:
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.

turn the heat to the water heater off (turn the breaker off if
electric; turn the gas control to "pilot" if gas) and open the lowest
faucet if you shut the water off. I would recommend doing this if you
are going to be gone for more than a day or two. I second the advice
to lower the thermostat, no need to heat the house to more than 50-55
degrees if nobody's going to be in it.

nate

termtests wrote in message
...
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.

I would turn the water to the house off if there was any chance a power
failure could result in your furnace stoppong to work.

On Dec 15, 2:54*pm, termtests wrote:
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.

If your thermostat is functional and accurate, and your furnace is
properly sized and maintained, they will maintain an interior
temperature of 60F whether its -20F or +50F outside. They already take
the colder outside temperature into account by running more often.

Turning off your main water is probably a good idea. If the furnace
fails while it's that cold, the pipes will freeze and burst.

Turning off your main water is probably a good idea. If the furnace
fails while it's that cold, the pipes will freeze and burst.

I would like to add that if the furnace did fail, even if the water
shut off, the water main can still freeze at the point it comes into
the house ( at the meter). This happened to a friend of mine. So I
would make sure the main pipe is well insulated.

Freckles wrote:
termtests wrote in message
...
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.

I would turn the water to the house off if there was any chance a power
failure could result in your furnace stoppong to work.





One of the (very) few advantages of well over city water- no power, no
pressure, so leaks are little or no problem.

--
aem sends...

aemeijers wrote:
Freckles wrote:
termtests wrote in message
...
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.

I would turn the water to the house off if there was any chance a
power failure could result in your furnace stoppong to work.





One of the (very) few advantages of well over city water- no power, no
pressure, so leaks are little or no problem.

--
aem sends...

you forgot "water doesn't taste like a swimming pool."

nate

(but when you have a long, dry summer, it can taste like the underside
of a car...)

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

On Mon, 15 Dec 2008 12:54:06 -0700, 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.

If you're going to turn off the water, and open a basement faucet for
the water to drain, you shoould open an upper floor faucet for air to
enter the pipe. Both cold and hot water. (Someone here once
explained how hot water pipes burst before cold water pipes do. No
kidding. It made sesnse.)

This seems to imply draining the water heater, and i guess that
doesn't cost any money becuase the water would be cold in a few days
anyhow. When I went away for two months, not nearly as cold as your
weather, i had no water heater so it wasn't an issue. You should have
a pan and drain pipe for your water heater anyhow, so maybe don't
worry about that. If it's in the basement, how cold will it get
without heat. And if it freezes and cracks, it's about 600 dollars
maybe but the odds of this happening are 1 in 2000?, so that's only 33
cents worth of risk.

And if you're going to do all this, you might as well pour anti-freeze
in your traps. I think for me it took a half-gallon to do 3 toilets,
5 sinks, a shower and a bathtub. That's almost a cup in each, which
might be more than i needed. I was trying for a 50/50 mix with the
water. It was almost the last thing I did before I left, maybe saving
a cup of anti-freeze to use in the last toilet. Flush the toilets
before pouring in the antifreeze.

I hustled and this all took maybe 20 minutes (no time spent on water
heater), and when I got home I only had to close two faucets and turn
on the main valve. Oh, and I would have had to close turn on the
water heater, if it was full of water.

On Dec 15, 8:48*pm, mm wrote:
On Mon, 15 Dec 2008 12:54:06 -0700, 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.

If you're going to turn off the water, and open a basement faucet for
the water to drain, you shoould open an upper floor faucet for air to
enter the pipe. *Both cold and hot water. *(Someone here once
explained how hot water pipes burst before cold water pipes do. *No
kidding. It made sesnse.)

This seems to imply draining the water heater, and i guess that
doesn't cost any money becuase the water would be cold in a few days
anyhow. *When I went away for two months, not nearly as cold as your
weather, i had no water heater so it wasn't an issue. *You should have
a pan and drain pipe for your water heater anyhow, so maybe don't
worry about that. *If it's in the basement, how cold will it get
without heat. * And if it freezes and cracks, it's about 600 dollars
maybe but the odds of this happening are 1 in 2000?, so that's only 33
cents worth of risk.

And if you're going to do all this, you might as well pour anti-freeze
in your traps. * I think for me it took a half-gallon to do 3 toilets,
5 sinks, a shower and a bathtub. * That's almost a cup in each, which
might be more than i needed. *I was trying for a 50/50 mix with the
water. *It was almost the last thing I did before I left, maybe saving
a cup of anti-freeze to use in the last toilet. *Flush the toilets
before pouring in the antifreeze.

I hustled and this all took maybe 20 minutes (no time spent on water
heater), and when I got home I only had to close two faucets and turn
on the main valve. *Oh, and I would have had to close turn on the
water heater, if it was full of water.

If you have a close neighbor, a once a day check is more than enough,
as even without any furnace heat, at temps close to zero, a well-
insultaed house will not drop below 32F in just one day. Definitely
can drop in two days, so get a reliable neighbor.

A remote reading thermometer with the remote in your empty house and
the base unit in the neighbors house would permit them to monitor your
house very easily. The remote units are good for up to at least 50
feet with fresh batteries, so unless you are in a rural area, that is
a good cheap way to remotely monitor the temperature.

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.

On Mon, 15 Dec 2008 17:01:07 -0600, "Freckles"
wrote:

termtests wrote in message
.. .
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.

I would turn the water to the house off if there was any chance a power
failure could result in your furnace stoppong to work.

Come to think of it, we have had a three power outages in my area last
month or so, the latest two happening just last night within hours of
each other. The power was restored within about an hour after the
power went out, but who knows what can happen.

One thing I forgot to mention was, sorry for not having mentioned this
in my original question, that I have in-floor or radiant heating
system that has plastic pipes running under the basement cement floor
with hot water running through them.

Would that change whether I should the water to the house off or not?
Thanks.

On Mon, 15 Dec 2008 21:48:29 -0500, mm
wrote:

On Mon, 15 Dec 2008 12:54:06 -0700, 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.

If you're going to turn off the water, and open a basement faucet for
the water to drain, you shoould open an upper floor faucet for air to
enter the pipe. Both cold and hot water. (Someone here once
explained how hot water pipes burst before cold water pipes do. No
kidding. It made sesnse.)

This seems to imply draining the water heater, and i guess that
doesn't cost any money becuase the water would be cold in a few days
anyhow. When I went away for two months, not nearly as cold as your
weather, i had no water heater so it wasn't an issue. You should have
a pan and drain pipe for your water heater anyhow, so maybe don't
worry about that. If it's in the basement, how cold will it get
without heat. And if it freezes and cracks, it's about 600 dollars
maybe but the odds of this happening are 1 in 2000?, so that's only 33
cents worth of risk.

And if you're going to do all this, you might as well pour anti-freeze
in your traps. I think for me it took a half-gallon to do 3 toilets,
5 sinks, a shower and a bathtub. That's almost a cup in each, which
might be more than i needed. I was trying for a 50/50 mix with the
water. It was almost the last thing I did before I left, maybe saving
a cup of anti-freeze to use in the last toilet. Flush the toilets
before pouring in the antifreeze.

I hustled and this all took maybe 20 minutes (no time spent on water
heater), and when I got home I only had to close two faucets and turn
on the main valve. Oh, and I would have had to close turn on the
water heater, if it was full of water.

Thanks so much for your quick and very detailed reply. Truly
appreciate it. I'll print it out and follow the instructions
accordingly.

But I aplogize for this, but I'm afraid I left out one bit of
information about my house which might have some bearing on what
should be done before I leave for my holidays.

I forgot to mention that I have in-floor/radiant floor heating system
in my basement concrete floor that has plastic pipes with hot water
running through them.

Can you think of anything I should be mindful of or do because of it?
My water heater tank supplies the water for the radiant flooring
system. Thanks agian.

On Mon, 15 Dec 2008 13:06:52 -0800 (PST), "
wrote:

On Dec 15, 2:54?pm, 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 water off good idea, and if you have a friendly neighbor put a
lamp activated by a thermostat if the temperature gets too low.
ideally a flashing lamp

If you have a boiler, you need to maintain water to it. It usually
doesn't need much, but if it needs any...

on 12/15/2008 6:43 PM Mikepier said the following:
Turning off your main water is probably a good idea. If the furnace
fails while it's that cold, the pipes will freeze and burst.


I would like to add that if the furnace did fail, even if the water
shut off, the water main can still freeze at the point it comes into
the house ( at the meter). This happened to a friend of mine. So I
would make sure the main pipe is well insulated.



That's assuming that the OP has city water. He may have a well which
pipe would be buried below frost level until it enters the house .

--

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
In the original Orange County. Est. 1683
To email, remove the double zeroes after @

on 12/16/2008 12:09 AM termtests said the following:
On Mon, 15 Dec 2008 21:48:29 -0500, mm
wrote:


On Mon, 15 Dec 2008 12:54:06 -0700, 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.

If you're going to turn off the water, and open a basement faucet for
the water to drain, you shoould open an upper floor faucet for air to
enter the pipe. Both cold and hot water. (Someone here once
explained how hot water pipes burst before cold water pipes do. No
kidding. It made sesnse.)

This seems to imply draining the water heater, and i guess that
doesn't cost any money becuase the water would be cold in a few days
anyhow. When I went away for two months, not nearly as cold as your
weather, i had no water heater so it wasn't an issue. You should have
a pan and drain pipe for your water heater anyhow, so maybe don't
worry about that. If it's in the basement, how cold will it get
without heat. And if it freezes and cracks, it's about 600 dollars
maybe but the odds of this happening are 1 in 2000?, so that's only 33
cents worth of risk.

And if you're going to do all this, you might as well pour anti-freeze
in your traps. I think for me it took a half-gallon to do 3 toilets,
5 sinks, a shower and a bathtub. That's almost a cup in each, which
might be more than i needed. I was trying for a 50/50 mix with the
water. It was almost the last thing I did before I left, maybe saving
a cup of anti-freeze to use in the last toilet. Flush the toilets
before pouring in the antifreeze.

I hustled and this all took maybe 20 minutes (no time spent on water
heater), and when I got home I only had to close two faucets and turn
on the main valve. Oh, and I would have had to close turn on the
water heater, if it was full of water.


Thanks so much for your quick and very detailed reply. Truly
appreciate it. I'll print it out and follow the instructions
accordingly.

But I aplogize for this, but I'm afraid I left out one bit of
information about my house which might have some bearing on what
should be done before I leave for my holidays.

I forgot to mention that I have in-floor/radiant floor heating system
in my basement concrete floor that has plastic pipes with hot water
running through them.


Is your basement below ground and the floor below frost level? If so,
the floor will not get below freezing temps so it should be OK, even if
it shut off.
Can you think of anything I should be mindful of or do because of it?
My water heater tank supplies the water for the radiant flooring
system. Thanks agian.



--

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
In the original Orange County. Est. 1683
To email, remove the double zeroes after @

On Tue, 16 Dec 2008 10:56:36 -0500, willshak
wrote:

on 12/16/2008 12:09 AM termtests said the following:
Thanks so much for your quick and very detailed reply. Truly
appreciate it. I'll print it out and follow the instructions
accordingly.

But I aplogize for this, but I'm afraid I left out one bit of
information about my house which might have some bearing on what
should be done before I leave for my holidays.

I forgot to mention that I have in-floor/radiant floor heating system
in my basement concrete floor that has plastic pipes with hot water
running through them.


Is your basement below ground and the floor below frost level? If so,
the floor will not get below freezing temps so it should be OK, even if
it shut off.

OK, that's good to know. Thanks.

termtests wrote in message
...
On Tue, 16 Dec 2008 10:56:36 -0500, willshak
wrote:

on 12/16/2008 12:09 AM termtests said the following:
Thanks so much for your quick and very detailed reply. Truly
appreciate it. I'll print it out and follow the instructions
accordingly.

But I aplogize for this, but I'm afraid I left out one bit of
information about my house which might have some bearing on what
should be done before I leave for my holidays.

I forgot to mention that I have in-floor/radiant floor heating system
in my basement concrete floor that has plastic pipes with hot water
running through them.


Is your basement below ground and the floor below frost level? If so,
the floor will not get below freezing temps so it should be OK, even if
it shut off.

OK, that's good to know. Thanks.

If you are going to be away from home during "the normal heating season",
you really should check with your insurance agent/broker to see what, if
anything, you need to do to ensure that your insurance remains valid. Often
there are requirements that a competent adult check the house once a day or
once every few days during the normal heating season. If this is not done
and there is a loss, it may not be covered.

On Dec 16, 8:35�pm, "Doug Brown" wrote:
termtests wrote in message

...





On Tue, 16 Dec 2008 10:56:36 -0500, willshak
wrote:

on 12/16/2008 12:09 AM termtests said the following:
Thanks so much for your quick and very detailed reply. �Truly
appreciate it. �I'll print it out and follow the instructions
accordingly.

But I aplogize for this, but I'm afraid I left out one bit of
information about my house which might have some bearing on what
should be done before I leave for my holidays.

I forgot to mention that I have in-floor/radiant floor heating system
in my basement concrete floor that has plastic pipes with hot water
running through them.

Is your basement below ground and the floor below frost level? If so,
the floor will not get below freezing temps so it should be OK, even if
it shut off.

OK, that's good to know. �Thanks.

If you are going �to be away from home during "the normal heating season",
you really should check with your insurance agent/broker to see what, if
anything, you need to do to ensure that your insurance remains valid. �Often
there are requirements that a competent adult check the house once a day or
once every few days during the normal heating season. �If this is not done
and there is a loss, it may not be covered.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

amy best friend had a neighbor who would go away for the winter. my
nbuddy would check the house regurALLY AND MAKE A PHONE CALL TO PROVE
THE HOME WAS OCCUPIED.

stupid cap lock

termtests wrote in :

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.

Simple. Lower the pressure in your pipes to 611 Pa. At 0°C the water will
freeze but...it will also boil. Oh, and steam can also exist. All three at
the same time...no **** - the triple point of water.

611 Pa, simple, yeah right. :-)

On Mon, 15 Dec 2008 22:09:38 -0700, termtests wrote:

On Mon, 15 Dec 2008 21:48:29 -0500, mm
wrote:

On Mon, 15 Dec 2008 12:54:06 -0700, 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.

If you're going to turn off the water, and open a basement faucet for
the water to drain, you shoould open an upper floor faucet for air to
enter the pipe. Both cold and hot water. (Someone here once
explained how hot water pipes burst before cold water pipes do. No
kidding. It made sesnse.)

This seems to imply draining the water heater, and i guess that
doesn't cost any money becuase the water would be cold in a few days
anyhow. When I went away for two months, not nearly as cold as your
weather, i had no water heater so it wasn't an issue. You should have
a pan and drain pipe for your water heater anyhow, so maybe don't
worry about that. If it's in the basement, how cold will it get
without heat. And if it freezes and cracks, it's about 600 dollars
maybe but the odds of this happening are 1 in 2000?, so that's only 33
cents worth of risk.

And if you're going to do all this, you might as well pour anti-freeze
in your traps. I think for me it took a half-gallon to do 3 toilets,
5 sinks, a shower and a bathtub. That's almost a cup in each, which
might be more than i needed. I was trying for a 50/50 mix with the
water. It was almost the last thing I did before I left, maybe saving
a cup of anti-freeze to use in the last toilet. Flush the toilets
before pouring in the antifreeze.

I hustled and this all took maybe 20 minutes (no time spent on water
heater), and when I got home I only had to close two faucets and turn
on the main valve. Oh, and I would have had to close turn on the
water heater, if it was full of water.

Thanks so much for your quick and very detailed reply. Truly
appreciate it. I'll print it out and follow the instructions
accordingly.

But I aplogize for this, but I'm afraid I left out one bit of
information about my house which might have some bearing on what
should be done before I leave for my holidays.

I forgot to mention that I have in-floor/radiant floor heating system
in my basement concrete floor that has plastic pipes with hot water
running through them.

Can you think of anything I should be mindful of or do because of it?
My water heater tank supplies the water for the radiant flooring
system. Thanks agian.

Bob reminds me of my plan, never implemented but a good plan, when I
went away last november and december. That was to connect to the
burglar alarm a thermostat that would close a circuit when the temp
got below a certain level, and would dial my alarm company and let
them now the house is too cold. If you have a burglar alarm already,
this is easy. Any old thermostat from I think any furnace will work.
I was going to use th eround Honeywell that my house came with, before
I replaced it. Most alarm zones can be coded to say if they are
reporting a break-in, a fire, or cold, and probably some other things.


I have an oil furnace that is quite old, and I was also going to wire
the control panel so that when the ignition tripped off, it would tell
the burglar alarm, and the service would notify a friend who would
come and reset or fix the furnace.

But I took my trip without even fixing the burglar alarm and there
were no burglars and it never got cold enough to freeze anything, even
if the furnace were off, and I don't think I'll ever take a long trip
in the winter again. If I plan one, maybe I'll install that
thermostat.

On Dec 15, 1:54*pm, 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.

OK so far everyone seems to be saying to do so, I am going to offer a
contrary opinion. Don't touch a thing.

There are many ways things can go wrong with this. The main water
valve leaks or breaks when you turn it off, or when you turn it back
on. The water heater or radiant heat is damaged when it runs while
dry. You turn the water back on when you get home forgetting that
something is open somewhere, causing a flood. Shutoff valves under a
sink or toilet start to leak when you turn them back on. What is the
chance that something like that will happen, versus the house freezing
while you are away. Yes, most of my dire scenarios can be avoided
through care and competence. On the other hand, how long will you be
away? Is there someone who could check on the house every day or so
while you're away? Is the house old with old cranky plumbing? I think
if I were going to be away for, say, a week or so, or a couple weeks
with someone checking, I would just turn the thermostat down a
little. -- H