Going on vacation in winter

[vacationtime]

We're going out for a 10 day vacation in this cold weather in NY. Should we turn off the water connection to the house? We're worried that the pipes could burst if we do not do so....We haven't done it before. Also, should we drain out water from the faucets after that? Also, we will be turning the heat to a low temperature of 55-60.

 

[Gary Swart]

You provide no data on your house construction and/or plumbing layout, but if it was my house, I'd leave the temperature at 70 and open any interior access doors leading to a basement or crawl space. The only thing that might present a problem is any pipes that are on an exterior wall could freeze in extremely cold weather. In my opinion, the actual $$$ savings in turning the thermostat down would be minor. The house will be closed up and without doors opening and allowing heat to escape, heat loss will be relatively small, and the peace of mind will be worth the few dollars difference between lowering the temperature and leaving it alone. You could close bedroom and other doors where there is no plumbing.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Redwood]

You could turn off the main valve.

More important do you have a neighbor who will check on the house daily?
My wife babysits for a young rich kid and in the winter when they do the southern vacation she goes to the house daily to feed the cat. One day we stopped and noticed the house was unusually cold checking the boiler found it out on reset. Resetting it and it fired right away the house was on its way back to safe temperatures. We called them and told them of the problem and her father was on his way down to meet the burner service tech.

Another thing to consider is at a reduced setting some areas of the house may be heated unevenly and freezing can occur.

Have you considered a Freeze Alarm? Take a look at this link... http://www.advancedalert.com/I don't advocate this company it was simply the first of many in a google search for freeze alarm. This site shows a system that will call several phone numbers if the temperature goes below a certain level.

 

[Frenchie]

Turn off the main valve into the house, anyways, it's cheap insurance.

If worse comes to worst, say there's an ice storm and half the state loses power for a week, it'll limit the damage to just the water that's in the pipes, not a continuous supply of water all week...

If you want to drain every pipe in the house & antifreeze all the traps, that's a whole other story, and probably not worth the hassle for 10 days.

I'd leave the heat at 55, it's what I do with the house I caretake, because that's what everybody does around here, and it's what we used to do back home (Canada), and it's what most folk did in Vermont when i lived there. Never had a problem.

Also - turn off your water heater. No reason to keep a supply of hot water when nobody's there to use it. And if ever there was a leak from burst pipes freezing, it might save the heater.

 

[Lakee911]

I'd turn off the water and drain the pressure, not necessarily the whole house. Turn off the water heater for a little savings too. I turn my heat down to 55 when gone extended times.

Jason