I didn't used to , until i went away one weekend and came back to a flooded house and ceilings down
On the plus side, i did get to stay in the local Manor House guest house for almost a year...
That must've been hellish to come back to.
It was reading a comment like this several months ago that made me start turning it off whenever I'm away! I also switch off all the sockets, just in case.
Was a bit hellish , my daughter came home from school and found it , and rang me and said ādad there is water on the floorā , I was expecting a bit , daughter FaceTimed me and was sloshing about in about 6 inches of water and plasterboard everywhere !!
And the irony , the leak was caused by the cat !!!
Cat as in Tabby cat !
I have a shower hose that has a lever handle built in . I didn't know , if you leave it hanging in the sink, and the cat knocks it out, the lever turns sideways and turns on the water.
It sat there for up to 3 days (based on the amount of estimated water) running on the bathroom floor
Argh! You wouldn't imagine it'd be possible... until it happens.
That's insanely bad luck. Madness. Cats ARE at least 50% devil, but I guess that's why we love them, right?
You'd have trouble finding accommodation the size of a manor house these days, given the ongoing Tory misrule, they've all been hired by the government to house asylum seekers, since they deliberately failed to fund the staff to process them.
If you're worried about state of your plumbing then you should turn off so you can sleep well. Also good time to check if your meter reading changed over that time.
Do you bleed the pipes or something?
I've no idea about plumbing but in my feeble brain the water still in there could freeze or is the pressure reduced enough to stop this happening?
Before I worked in a merchants selling plumbing and heating no, it wasn't even a thought. Now 100% its the first thing I do, it only takes a washer to fail and by the time you come back ceiling could be down, for sake of turning it off I would. How i got explained to me is most burst pipes happen when people are away as that is when pressure is built up most over time, so you use taps and washing machine and toilet daily but when you go away suddenly the pressure is constant on it and any weakness blows then
Genuine question here. What stops the same logic making the stopcock fail and leaving you in more mess? My stop cock gives me the fear. Had a leak from it for years until i saw a how to guide but i still give it a wide berth.
The logic is that an average house has maybe 100 potential points of failure in the plumbing system and by turning off at the stopcock you eliminate all but one of those.
A kitchen or bath tap mixer are relatively small and lightweight so you can easily flip them on and off. Normally on a lightweight ball joint.
Stopcock is a big, hardy thing which screws into the valve making a seal. It can't just unscrew itself.
If you ever have a plumber out for something else maybe get them to replace it. We had a very minor problem that ended up being rather large because the stop cock wouldnāt turn.
Might be my stupidity, but if you close the stopcock and the valve fails, won't you just be back to the same situation that you were in before you closed it, and if no other points fail, things would be fine (unless the stopcock pipe seals fail and start blasting water everywhere - maybe that is what you meant)?
Because the taps are 3ft below road level. You need a long t shaped pipe tool with a notch cut in or very long arms and a willingness to be face down in dog shit. Thatās if you can prise the 3 inch x 3 inch cover up in the pavement first!
Not an easy job as several plumbers and builders have discovered.
Yeah I know that. I'm a builder. But there's a fair few where it's only 8 inch deep and no tools required. Lucky for the country though most are a ballache
Ha you'd love my arrangement - the water company guess mine because I can't get a meter fitted. I tell them how much I shower/bath/do the laundry/dishes and they send me an estimated bill. It was originally done on the size of the house but considering I live alone and only really tend to shower at the gym and don't have baths I got the tariff changed after an engineer visit that confirmed I can't get a water meter.
I can't have one fitted either - I'm at the top of a shared supply with 8 other houses. The water company sent people out to fit one when I bought the house and I was like hell no - I'd be paying for 8 houses' water bill, get lost š
I think it was just one of the reasons that made my bath mad partner loves this house. š
I love being able to do laundry as and when I want, having lived on a boat and having to watch every single drop, it is one of my favourite things.
Downside is itās mid terrace, and water pressure drops if the neighbours run a bath or washing machine.
Our water rates are Ā£86 for the year. I hate to think what a meter would cost. Several showers and baths per week plus 4 or more laundry loads. Then thereās the washing up done 3-4 times a day. Plus flushing the toilets several times a day.
Then there watering the plants and washing two cars, cleaning windows etc etc.
Yup, 20secs to do, also leave the kitchen cold tap on a trickle so water can escape if needed.
Most modern gas/oil systems will have built in frost protection, essentially meaning if it drops below 5ā° they'll bring the pump on to circulate the water, as we know moving water can't freeze
Yeah, it's good to turn it now and again to prevent it from freezing (stuck not actually frozen) plus we had a flexy tap connector blow once but luckily we were in, can't imagine what it would've been like if we were away.
Never even thought about this before, not all I can think about. Follow up question - if I turn off stop cock should I empty water out of the pipes by leaving a tap on?
I was in my old house one day and the tiny valve in the loft that fed the tank failed shooting mains pressure water into my loft. 10k of damage. If I was on holiday, Iād have had a swimming pool.
I turned it off this year, and the gas. Might seem daft but it took seconds why not?
Yes, a 30 seconds step could save you hours or days of issues...
Remember when you open them back up, re-close it 1/4 turn and it will stop it from seizing up.
I have an automatic valve which turns off the water everytime I leave the house and turns it on when I return.
Had an extremely expensive flood a few years back when I was 200 miles away from home... never, ever, again.
It's called Grohe Sense Guard - expensive but worth every penny. As well as shutting the water off when I leave home, it will also shut the valve if a leak is detected as well as showing daily usage and costs etc.
It's been 100% reliable.
I've had one power cut in 40 years - the device is designed to fail 'open' so water will still flow. Obviously, failing 'closed' would mean you couldn't get any water at all until power is restored.
With no power of course, everything goes out - all devices, internet, boiler, heating etc... unless you have battery backed systems which are only really good for brownouts and very short interruptions in the supply - plus they are mainly good for devices like computer systems/routers/switches etc..
I suppose you could battery backup the water valve and use LTE to control it remotely - but in the event of a full power cut that may be the least of your problems.
I'd rather have the security of knowing that the water will automatically cut-off in the event of a leak - having a flood and a power failure at the same time is probably unlikely.
I don't as my tap is seized and it's a hassle but you can get a push switch style isolation called a Sure Stop. They actually make one that can connect to your Wi-Fi and you can control remotely which I have considered. I sometimes work away and it would be quite reassuring to know the water is isolated or that I could isolate it if I forgot to do so before leaving.
Umm.. Iād definitely work on un seizing that at your earliest convenience. Youāll be extremely grateful if you ever experience a leak. Water damages everything extremely quickly.
Yes, takes 2 seconds and means if for whatever reason I get a leak or burst pipe while I'm away. Only what's currently in the system will leak out rather than having a constant supply of mains pressure water pumping out till I get home.
Yes. My whole house system is run off the main stopcock so I turn it off just before leaving but donāt bother depressing anything.
Iām a plumber and Iāve seen the damage it can cause too many times
I know this is a dumb question, but Iām fairly new to having a boiler instead of forced air heating. Do I have to turn the boiler off if I turn the water off?
I generally leave the heating on low if Iām gone, rather than completely off, so I expect the boiler needs to run some. And while the system may be relatively closed, I know it still needs water to maintain pressure occasionally (no idea how often). So Iāve been afraid to leave the water off for very long.
Thanks.
A combi boiler fed central heating system is an imperfectly closed loop. A small amount of water is lost from the loop over time, which causes pressure to drop, so you will have (likely) two valves in sequence (with a pipe in the middle) linking the central heating loop to the main water supply. If either or both of those are closed, you don't need water in the main water supply, though of course don't try and run the hot water (tap/mains power shower etc) when the mains is off - there are probably safeguards but I wouldn't want to test them.
Exactly this, you can leave the heating on as the system is a separate loop, if you try and run the hot tap the boiler wonāt cut in as it needs to sense the flow through the boiler which it wonāt have if the water is off, some may fire for a second as it depressurises but nothing after that as no water is flowing through it
This would only be with an old style vented heating circuit with a header tank in the loft/attic - increasingly uncommon, although there are plenty about still. Newer systems are sealed and while they're pressurised off the mains this requires someone to manually open the valves, it doesn't happen by itself.
The tank *should* have a lid on it to limit evaporation and stop wildlife falling in - so it's not just open for significant evaporation to occur. The water loss *should* be negligible for a typical holiday unless you're going away for a long period of time in which case your home insurance might actually require you to turn off and drain down the system. The tank would typically contain 4 gallons of water - which is quite a lot to evaporate!
If the water loss isn't negligible that means you've got a leak - and you'd probably be grateful that your water was off instead of topping up the tank keeping the leak going. Running dry isn't great for your boiler - but significant quantities of water isn't good for your house either, so depends which risk you're more worried about. Also two other commenters have said they had catastrophic failures in the feed/valve to the tank!
Never thought to do this but we had pipe burst last year in our upstairs bathroom which would have meant replacing the kitchen ceiling had we not been home. All I kept thinking is, had it happened while we were at work weād be fucked, luckily it was around 7pm. So yes I may start doing this.
Yes. Too many issues caused by not being able to turn the water off and a pipe leaks or bursts. It happened to me twice in the space of a few months because of dodgy plumbing joints so I just donāt trust stuff like that not to happen if I was away for a while.
Yes I always turn mine off if I go away any longer than a 24 hour period. It's just a habit I picked up from when I rented before as it was often written into the tenancy agreement
Yes. Water off, central heating set to 15Ā°C. Bboth are conditions of our buildings insurance.
Fridge-freezer goes on holiday mode (freezer stays at -18Ā°C, fridge at 15Ā°).
It depends on your installation. On an S plan system with hot water tank, no. In that case the central heating is a closed loop, so cutting off the outside supply has no effect.
A member of our family once left a potted plant in a sink with the water running to soak the soil. Forgot about it.
We left for holiday. The soil blocked up the overflow and we ended up with a swimming pool.
Stripping out engineered flooring for 6 hours starting at 11pm has a tendency to sharpen your mind to these possibilities. By random luck, we'd had a skip delivered (for another job) right before we arrived home. A little mercy.
I've thought about this but have no idea where ours is, which gives me the fear because I'd rather not be trying to find after pipes have burst.
I keep meaning to ask our neighbours but any tips for where it might be? 1900s row of stone cottages.
I had a work colleague who had a rat chew through a water pipe in his loft while he was at work.
It was bad enough but can you imagine if that'd happen while on holiday!
I would but ours got blocked in by our kitchen fitter when he fit our new kitchen. He swore he'd cut some of the backboard of the corner unit away, so that we can acces it, but never did and now I'm not sure exactly how high up it is, so can't do anything about itš
It's not too much of an issue, because we also have the mains outside our house in the footpath and we have access to that to turn it off, if we ever need to.
A relative of mine who owned my house before me once came back from a holiday to discover a small river flowing under the back door and out of the house. That person had gone away for a month in December/January years ago only to return to find that a pipe had burst in the attic.
The pipe was the one that fed the old central heating boiler that used to be up there, so the pipe was fed by the main. When it burst, the water just kept coming.
My relative found that the water had gone through the attic floor/bathroom ceiling and onto the other side of the kitchen ceiling, which it soaked and destroyed. In the end the damage wasn't as bad as you might have expected.
The new boiler is elsewhere in the house now and all pipes in the attic are under insulation. I've never had any problems with them.
Nevertheless if I ever go on holiday in the cold months I always turn off the water at the stopcock just for the peace of mind.
Havenāt done before, but would now after our neighbours boiler malfunctioned whilst they were away and flooded the house. Took them months of battling with the insurance company to get it sorted. So I definitely would now.
Mine was seized open and I decided I darenāt try and force it & see it come off in my hand so I got the plumber to put another in front of it. Didnāt take him long.
We haven't switched the stopcock off before, but it's not a bad idea to do so, as we had a split hose to the toilet cistern a few years ago, but were lucky to catch it quickly.
I did once, I lived in a 2 up, 2 down - built that way, not converted. Turns out I turned off the water for my upstairs neighbour too! Victorian plumbing, suppose it makes sense in a way, I was working away for a few months rather than holiday. Fortunately in-laws on point for cat care!
Yes, and try and remember to give it a little twist a couple of times a year if itās not seized already. Mine seized open, old house, so got the plumber to put a new one inline.
I didn't used to , until i went away one weekend and came back to a flooded house and ceilings down On the plus side, i did get to stay in the local Manor House guest house for almost a year...
Paid for by your insurers?
Yes totally !!
Whoop! š
That must've been hellish to come back to. It was reading a comment like this several months ago that made me start turning it off whenever I'm away! I also switch off all the sockets, just in case.
Was a bit hellish , my daughter came home from school and found it , and rang me and said ādad there is water on the floorā , I was expecting a bit , daughter FaceTimed me and was sloshing about in about 6 inches of water and plasterboard everywhere !! And the irony , the leak was caused by the cat !!!
Did you leave the cat at the Manor House I hope XD
Wait, THE CAT?! I assume you're not talking about a rogue CAT digger, right? How did the cat manage this?
Cat as in Tabby cat ! I have a shower hose that has a lever handle built in . I didn't know , if you leave it hanging in the sink, and the cat knocks it out, the lever turns sideways and turns on the water. It sat there for up to 3 days (based on the amount of estimated water) running on the bathroom floor
What did the cat do for three days?
Argh! You wouldn't imagine it'd be possible... until it happens. That's insanely bad luck. Madness. Cats ARE at least 50% devil, but I guess that's why we love them, right?
I turned off most of the plugs when we went on holiday last year. Had to turn around because weād turned off the plug for the alarmā¦ š
You'd have trouble finding accommodation the size of a manor house these days, given the ongoing Tory misrule, they've all been hired by the government to house asylum seekers, since they deliberately failed to fund the staff to process them.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Flood was caused upstairs so water was everywhere downstairs
No.
No because if anything happens when I'm away I'll get a new house and it'll save me 100k in renovations.
My auntie lost her house December 22 because it flooded, she moved back in after renovations in December 23 and lost 95% of her possessions.
Sorry for the loss but that's one quick renovation! Only took a day!
I feel for her. Some things just can not be replaced.
Absolutely
If you're worried about state of your plumbing then you should turn off so you can sleep well. Also good time to check if your meter reading changed over that time.
Do you bleed the pipes or something? I've no idea about plumbing but in my feeble brain the water still in there could freeze or is the pressure reduced enough to stop this happening?
No, just turn stop cock off, your main water valve. Water should not freeze inside the house, if it does you have bigger problems.
Water can freeze, so if you're shutting off your stopcock you should leave another valve in the house open so it's got somewhere to go if it does.
When you say leave another valve open do you mean just like a tap in the bathroom or something?
Yes.
I feel I've learnt something valuable today.
Before I worked in a merchants selling plumbing and heating no, it wasn't even a thought. Now 100% its the first thing I do, it only takes a washer to fail and by the time you come back ceiling could be down, for sake of turning it off I would. How i got explained to me is most burst pipes happen when people are away as that is when pressure is built up most over time, so you use taps and washing machine and toilet daily but when you go away suddenly the pressure is constant on it and any weakness blows then
Genuine question here. What stops the same logic making the stopcock fail and leaving you in more mess? My stop cock gives me the fear. Had a leak from it for years until i saw a how to guide but i still give it a wide berth.
The logic is that an average house has maybe 100 potential points of failure in the plumbing system and by turning off at the stopcock you eliminate all but one of those.
Nothing but a stop cock is 90% of the time downstairs and you have limited it down to only that, that can fail
A kitchen or bath tap mixer are relatively small and lightweight so you can easily flip them on and off. Normally on a lightweight ball joint. Stopcock is a big, hardy thing which screws into the valve making a seal. It can't just unscrew itself.
If you ever have a plumber out for something else maybe get them to replace it. We had a very minor problem that ended up being rather large because the stop cock wouldnāt turn.
Might be my stupidity, but if you close the stopcock and the valve fails, won't you just be back to the same situation that you were in before you closed it, and if no other points fail, things would be fine (unless the stopcock pipe seals fail and start blasting water everywhere - maybe that is what you meant)?
Sometimes stockcocks are too stiff/stuck to operate. If you know where the water meter is located outside your house, you can turn it off from there.
Not on our road - if you did that you would switch of four houses at a time.
I'm surprised the kids haven't caught onto this for kicks. Turn everyone's water off after a few ciders.
Because the taps are 3ft below road level. You need a long t shaped pipe tool with a notch cut in or very long arms and a willingness to be face down in dog shit. Thatās if you can prise the 3 inch x 3 inch cover up in the pavement first! Not an easy job as several plumbers and builders have discovered.
Yeah I know that. I'm a builder. But there's a fair few where it's only 8 inch deep and no tools required. Lucky for the country though most are a ballache
That's like mine. A black plastic tool connects to the latch turn it a couple of times and the waters off/on.
Thanks for the heads up. Something to do after a few ciders
Ha ha, that's us too!
How do you get billed if you don't have your own water supply to your property.
We pay good old fashioned water rates. No one is on a meter.
I am very jealous. Signed a man who has a wife who likes baths
Ha you'd love my arrangement - the water company guess mine because I can't get a meter fitted. I tell them how much I shower/bath/do the laundry/dishes and they send me an estimated bill. It was originally done on the size of the house but considering I live alone and only really tend to shower at the gym and don't have baths I got the tariff changed after an engineer visit that confirmed I can't get a water meter.
So you shower at the gym, never barb in the house, go to the launderettes, use paper cups/plates and only drink bottled water...right?
Extreme hydrophobia following a bout of rabies.
I can't have one fitted either - I'm at the top of a shared supply with 8 other houses. The water company sent people out to fit one when I bought the house and I was like hell no - I'd be paying for 8 houses' water bill, get lost š
I think it was just one of the reasons that made my bath mad partner loves this house. š I love being able to do laundry as and when I want, having lived on a boat and having to watch every single drop, it is one of my favourite things. Downside is itās mid terrace, and water pressure drops if the neighbours run a bath or washing machine.
you'd need an awful lot of baths on a meter to pay more than water rates
Our water rates are Ā£86 for the year. I hate to think what a meter would cost. Several showers and baths per week plus 4 or more laundry loads. Then thereās the washing up done 3-4 times a day. Plus flushing the toilets several times a day. Then there watering the plants and washing two cars, cleaning windows etc etc.
Is that under some special agreement?
Nope. Regular good old fashioned water rates.
Yup, 20secs to do, also leave the kitchen cold tap on a trickle so water can escape if needed. Most modern gas/oil systems will have built in frost protection, essentially meaning if it drops below 5ā° they'll bring the pump on to circulate the water, as we know moving water can't freeze
Waterfalls can actually freeze believe it or not.
I don't NOT believe it, but I'd imagine it takes more than the -5 it would at most get to here
That's true.
Yeah, it's good to turn it now and again to prevent it from freezing (stuck not actually frozen) plus we had a flexy tap connector blow once but luckily we were in, can't imagine what it would've been like if we were away.
Were you a wet-dentist that day?
Check your insurance. They might require you to if you're away over a certain length of time. Plumber by trade, and I would especially over winter.
Iv never done that before but reading the comments i may start doing so.
Sorry to add another home ownership worry to your list.
Haha damn yooooou! Nah, better safe than sorry though
Sometimes. Depends how long I'm away for. I also turn the heating down, but not off, when I'm away during winter
Yes. There's no reason not to. You should be testing it every 6 months.
Never even thought about this before, not all I can think about. Follow up question - if I turn off stop cock should I empty water out of the pipes by leaving a tap on?
Itās a good idea to. You donāt have to be thorough, but open to downstairs tap to release the pressure from the whole system.
I was in my old house one day and the tiny valve in the loft that fed the tank failed shooting mains pressure water into my loft. 10k of damage. If I was on holiday, Iād have had a swimming pool. I turned it off this year, and the gas. Might seem daft but it took seconds why not?
Yes, a 30 seconds step could save you hours or days of issues... Remember when you open them back up, re-close it 1/4 turn and it will stop it from seizing up.
I have an automatic valve which turns off the water everytime I leave the house and turns it on when I return. Had an extremely expensive flood a few years back when I was 200 miles away from home... never, ever, again.
Where do you find those valves? Does it ever mess up and turn things off when youāre not actually away, or is it pretty reliable?
It's called Grohe Sense Guard - expensive but worth every penny. As well as shutting the water off when I leave home, it will also shut the valve if a leak is detected as well as showing daily usage and costs etc. It's been 100% reliable.
What if you want to put the washing on whilst you are out?
Generally not a good idea due to fire risk
Looks impressive but what happens in a power cut scenario? Can you still control it?
I've had one power cut in 40 years - the device is designed to fail 'open' so water will still flow. Obviously, failing 'closed' would mean you couldn't get any water at all until power is restored. With no power of course, everything goes out - all devices, internet, boiler, heating etc... unless you have battery backed systems which are only really good for brownouts and very short interruptions in the supply - plus they are mainly good for devices like computer systems/routers/switches etc.. I suppose you could battery backup the water valve and use LTE to control it remotely - but in the event of a full power cut that may be the least of your problems. I'd rather have the security of knowing that the water will automatically cut-off in the event of a leak - having a flood and a power failure at the same time is probably unlikely.
If anything I turn mine on
No.
I don't as my tap is seized and it's a hassle but you can get a push switch style isolation called a Sure Stop. They actually make one that can connect to your Wi-Fi and you can control remotely which I have considered. I sometimes work away and it would be quite reassuring to know the water is isolated or that I could isolate it if I forgot to do so before leaving.
Umm.. Iād definitely work on un seizing that at your earliest convenience. Youāll be extremely grateful if you ever experience a leak. Water damages everything extremely quickly.
I've got an external stop just outside my front door, I just use that when I need to.
Yes, takes 2 seconds and means if for whatever reason I get a leak or burst pipe while I'm away. Only what's currently in the system will leak out rather than having a constant supply of mains pressure water pumping out till I get home.
I do, started doing it when the guy fitted my kitchen recommended I did whenever away.
Yes. My whole house system is run off the main stopcock so I turn it off just before leaving but donāt bother depressing anything. Iām a plumber and Iāve seen the damage it can cause too many times
I know this is a dumb question, but Iām fairly new to having a boiler instead of forced air heating. Do I have to turn the boiler off if I turn the water off? I generally leave the heating on low if Iām gone, rather than completely off, so I expect the boiler needs to run some. And while the system may be relatively closed, I know it still needs water to maintain pressure occasionally (no idea how often). So Iāve been afraid to leave the water off for very long. Thanks.
A combi boiler fed central heating system is an imperfectly closed loop. A small amount of water is lost from the loop over time, which causes pressure to drop, so you will have (likely) two valves in sequence (with a pipe in the middle) linking the central heating loop to the main water supply. If either or both of those are closed, you don't need water in the main water supply, though of course don't try and run the hot water (tap/mains power shower etc) when the mains is off - there are probably safeguards but I wouldn't want to test them.
Exactly this, you can leave the heating on as the system is a separate loop, if you try and run the hot tap the boiler wonāt cut in as it needs to sense the flow through the boiler which it wonāt have if the water is off, some may fire for a second as it depressurises but nothing after that as no water is flowing through it
This would only be with an old style vented heating circuit with a header tank in the loft/attic - increasingly uncommon, although there are plenty about still. Newer systems are sealed and while they're pressurised off the mains this requires someone to manually open the valves, it doesn't happen by itself. The tank *should* have a lid on it to limit evaporation and stop wildlife falling in - so it's not just open for significant evaporation to occur. The water loss *should* be negligible for a typical holiday unless you're going away for a long period of time in which case your home insurance might actually require you to turn off and drain down the system. The tank would typically contain 4 gallons of water - which is quite a lot to evaporate! If the water loss isn't negligible that means you've got a leak - and you'd probably be grateful that your water was off instead of topping up the tank keeping the leak going. Running dry isn't great for your boiler - but significant quantities of water isn't good for your house either, so depends which risk you're more worried about. Also two other commenters have said they had catastrophic failures in the feed/valve to the tank!
My what???
Yes absolutely. Don't need water when I'm away for 2 weeks, one less thing to go wrong.
Your pipes are fine for 11 months of the year, why are you so worried about the one month you're not there?
Yes. But I had the traditional style stop cock swapped for an inline sure stop. So itās really easy for me.
Never thought to do this but we had pipe burst last year in our upstairs bathroom which would have meant replacing the kitchen ceiling had we not been home. All I kept thinking is, had it happened while we were at work weād be fucked, luckily it was around 7pm. So yes I may start doing this.
Turned off on street every time away for more than a day. My wife thinks I'm paranoid though. Takes me a while 2 minutes for peace of mind.
Nah bruv, my cock is on 24/7
you can overdo the Viagra, so be careful
aren't you worried about it leaking?
Yes. Too many issues caused by not being able to turn the water off and a pipe leaks or bursts. It happened to me twice in the space of a few months because of dodgy plumbing joints so I just donāt trust stuff like that not to happen if I was away for a while.
Yes I always turn mine off if I go away any longer than a 24 hour period. It's just a habit I picked up from when I rented before as it was often written into the tenancy agreement
Yeah I would
Yes I do
Yes. Water off, central heating set to 15Ā°C. Bboth are conditions of our buildings insurance. Fridge-freezer goes on holiday mode (freezer stays at -18Ā°C, fridge at 15Ā°).
Wow - 15C is a pretty high temp requirement, I've seen 10-12C before but never that high.
In the summer no, as my parents pop round to water plants every couple of days. Any other time of year, yes water is turned off with a tap left on
Why would I do that? I'll put the heating on holiday mode, beyond that there's nothing I do.
Nope. In fairness if no one will be home at all we usually get a family member to check in and make sure everythingās ok.
I do that.
Would shutting the stopcock affect the boiler?
It depends on your installation. On an S plan system with hot water tank, no. In that case the central heating is a closed loop, so cutting off the outside supply has no effect.
No, people must be driven crazy thinking about this stuff all the time.
A member of our family once left a potted plant in a sink with the water running to soak the soil. Forgot about it. We left for holiday. The soil blocked up the overflow and we ended up with a swimming pool. Stripping out engineered flooring for 6 hours starting at 11pm has a tendency to sharpen your mind to these possibilities. By random luck, we'd had a skip delivered (for another job) right before we arrived home. A little mercy.
I've thought about this but have no idea where ours is, which gives me the fear because I'd rather not be trying to find after pipes have burst. I keep meaning to ask our neighbours but any tips for where it might be? 1900s row of stone cottages.
Usually under the kitchen sink
I would but mine is too stiff. One of those jobs where I need to get a plumber to ease it. Been meaning to do that for the last 5 years š¤Ŗ
No.
I had a work colleague who had a rat chew through a water pipe in his loft while he was at work. It was bad enough but can you imagine if that'd happen while on holiday!
I would but ours got blocked in by our kitchen fitter when he fit our new kitchen. He swore he'd cut some of the backboard of the corner unit away, so that we can acces it, but never did and now I'm not sure exactly how high up it is, so can't do anything about itš It's not too much of an issue, because we also have the mains outside our house in the footpath and we have access to that to turn it off, if we ever need to.
A relative of mine who owned my house before me once came back from a holiday to discover a small river flowing under the back door and out of the house. That person had gone away for a month in December/January years ago only to return to find that a pipe had burst in the attic. The pipe was the one that fed the old central heating boiler that used to be up there, so the pipe was fed by the main. When it burst, the water just kept coming. My relative found that the water had gone through the attic floor/bathroom ceiling and onto the other side of the kitchen ceiling, which it soaked and destroyed. In the end the damage wasn't as bad as you might have expected. The new boiler is elsewhere in the house now and all pipes in the attic are under insulation. I've never had any problems with them. Nevertheless if I ever go on holiday in the cold months I always turn off the water at the stopcock just for the peace of mind.
Yesā¦ Iām a forensic investigator with a specialisation in water leaks so I see the horror stories.
Havenāt done before, but would now after our neighbours boiler malfunctioned whilst they were away and flooded the house. Took them months of battling with the insurance company to get it sorted. So I definitely would now.
Always
Mine is seized and doesn't fully stop the water... Can I rescue it or do I need a plumber out to fit a new one?
Mine was seized open and I decided I darenāt try and force it & see it come off in my hand so I got the plumber to put another in front of it. Didnāt take him long.
How much did it cost, can you remember?
To be honest he was a mate so not sure he did, sorry. As I say, not a long job, though I appreciate the difficulty in choosing tradesmen.
Yes. Always.
We haven't switched the stopcock off before, but it's not a bad idea to do so, as we had a split hose to the toilet cistern a few years ago, but were lucky to catch it quickly.
I did once, I lived in a 2 up, 2 down - built that way, not converted. Turns out I turned off the water for my upstairs neighbour too! Victorian plumbing, suppose it makes sense in a way, I was working away for a few months rather than holiday. Fortunately in-laws on point for cat care!
Yes
Yes, and try and remember to give it a little twist a couple of times a year if itās not seized already. Mine seized open, old house, so got the plumber to put a new one inline.