Any time we are away for more than one night, we turn off the entire household water supply. We personally know many people who have had horrible damage and expensive repairs.,,,,not to mention having to camp out in a motel while getting the damage fixed. Why become a statistic?

"An ounce of prevention . . ."

I always turn off the water to the whole house when gone over night. An alarm is only good if you are in the house. If you leave during winter and it gets cold where you live it only takes one glitch in the heat for a disaster. If the water source is off, the worse is broken pipes and toilet but no big floods. Happened to me twice in one winter. Grateful the water was off. One important thing is to make sure your water main valve is in good shape. If you have never used it and it is many years old check it way before you have to leave. Nothing worse than some disaster to happen and you have to leave in an hour.

We turn our water off anytime we leave, but we have a well & wouldn't want the well to run dry.

Hit the breaker on your hot water tank, you don't need to be heating the water while you're gone, but don't drain it.

The ice maker can be turned off.

great question, I'm glad I popped this thread open.

Nearly 18 years ago, while in Maine for the winter, a pipe burst in the 2nd floor bath in our KY house. My DD was watching it for us and had checked the house on Tues, and when she returned on Sun (it was Super Bowl Sunday, no less - just try getting anyone in to help!), much of the first floor and basement were flooded and the ceiling in the entrance haps had collapsed.

After all the clean-up and remodeling, I had ballcock valves for both hot and cold water on the 2nd floor installed in the basement. If I leave town for a night, they are turned off and the upstairs faucets opened to drain the pipes up there. I cannot ever live through that again.

When I leave town for more than a weekend, I not only turn off the ice maker, but also the valve in the basement for the water supply. Yes, the ice maker broke once while I was away- pet sitter opened the freezer to get ice and a tsunami of water came out - valve had broken on the ice maker.

When we used to go to Maine for several months in the winter, we always left the furnace on at 55° and turned the hot water heater to the lowest temp - no point in paying for it to heat up.

I have ballcock valves for my washing machine and I turn them off each time I finish running a load - no worry about a hose breaking.

Oh what a nightmare. I'm on one floor but still realize the damage water could cause. Its been very helpful to think through all of the issues and if you have more ideas, please chime in. I'm putting together a checklist so I won't forget any of these issues!! THANK YOU.

When we had a second home, my BIL installed a lever shut-off for the whole house for us. We had a round spigot style, but he said that what we had was an emergency shut-off, and not durable enough for frequent use. When we had the kitchen redone in this house, the plumber came to turn off the water for reno, and groaned when he saw the round shut-off. I said, yeah, it's the cheap kind. Why don't you just replace that, too, while you are here. And he said THANK YOU -- that about 25% of the time when he shuts the cheap kind off, they won't come back on again. Which is what my BIL had said years ago. So I mention that, FWIW. See if you have the lever shut-off valve of you'll be traveling much.

Another thing we learned had to do with, yep, the ice maker. I am trying to recall. It kept failing when we would return to the house for weekends. I believe the repairman said you need to always shut it off when the water goes off, or the line would freeze up and sometimes damage a valve or inlet some blasted thing inside the fridge. So we had to always do both. We don't shut the water off here when gone because the cat sitter is in and out 2-3 times a day, and she needs water. Otherwise, YES, we'd shut it off. My grandmother was such a Luddite she shut off not just the water but the whole electrical system -- just to go to the grocery store. And as she liked to point out, she never had a flood, nor did her house ever burn down.

Yes, the valves with levers are called "ball-cocks" and they are the ONLY kind to have. If one has never had a round, screw turn-off crumble in ones hand with water gushing, one will not appreciate such. But they are by far the best kind to have, under sinks, at washers, behind toilets, for the main turn-off valve for the entire house. Over the years, we've replace these one at a time when we had a plumber already here for something else. I would not have any other kind!

I'd also recommend unplugging unused items like tv's. I also unplug the router and all computers. A friend found the "ring doorbell" great for checking on her house.

Great idea on replacing the old round, screw off valves.

This thread hits home. Definitely shut it off for extended periods and open a faucet in winter. I had my furnace fail while cruising the Caribbean during the coldest week of the year. The water in the toilet tank was frozen solid. After getting the furance back up and running, I discovered the 10+ busted pipes. I got the water shut off, but it was one of the old round dial valves and couldn't get it back open..Plumber did get it replaced with a ballcock. So shutting it off and venting would have saved over $10K in damage. I can only imagine what would have happened if it warmed up and the pipes started leaking while being away for several days

Horrifying. You were so fortunate that it wasn't so much worse. Thank for all the information and stories. Very helpful.

No. I turned off the water to the house and over the next three days water in the pipes upstairs drained into the dishwasher and washing machine. The kitchen floor had water all over it when the water came out of the dishwasher. I believe the pressure that is normally present keeps valves in these appliances closed. When I relieved the pressure the water drained.

When you turn off the water you should open the lowest faucet to drain the water & pressure off. Just like you would do when working on plumbing or if you have a plumber and the water needs to be off.

Still, water shouldn't be able to leak into these things. Sounds like the DW had a bad water inlet solenoid. Dunno about the washer.

ITA, MizLizzie. We have been gone for as long as two and a half weeks and nothing leaked down from the two bathrooms upstairs. No pipes were drained before leaving.

If you leave the house in freezing weather and the heat fails the pressure of the water (as it freezes & expands) in the pipes without draining will rupture copper piping. It's more of an issue in harsh climates and if piping runs through exterior walls.

Pipes burst and water heaters fail when you're in Aruba, not at work.

LOL

We have two homes and always shut the main water off when we leave either one. We go back and forth at least once a month so do not drain anything completely. If we lost heat for some reason our pipes would freeze in the winter. We have low temp warning devices though and would get someone in to look at the furnace or turn on the gas fireplace to try to keep pipes from freezing.

A frozen pipe does not leak until it defrosts. Then you have a geyser.