With the weather warming up and summer in sight, it’s the time that we begin preparing our vacation. In between reserving hotels and loading your bags, have you considered what your home requirements while you’re away? Nobody wishes to come home to a plumbing emergency situation or flooded home, so should you shut off your supply of water prior to you go on holiday?
The Danger of Water Damage While You’re Away
You may not expect to come house from getaway to a flooded home, but leaving your home ignored for months or weeks can create a possibility of this circumstance unfolding. With water running under pressure through your pipes, and your plumbing system left unchecked for long periods of time, a little vulnerability or leakage can leave your house flooded by the time you return from vacation. With no one in the house, the water damage can be disastrous by the time you even understand there’s a concern.
Shut down Your Water Supply During Vacation
Switching off your main supply of water throughout getaway is a wise way to prevent unanticipated flooding while you’re away. You should shut off the mains water supply when you’re away from your home on vacation, even for brief weekend trips. This keeps your home safe from flooding while you’re not around.
How to Turn Off Your Mains Water Supply
To prevent the threat of a plumbing emergency while you run out town, locate your mains water system valve, and turn it off so that additional water can not stream into your pipes. The mains water system valve for your house might be positioned in a range of places, including in the basement, crawl space, outside your house or at your concrete slab. It is crucial to understand the position of your mains supply of water valve– not only to switch off your water prior to your getaway however to shut off the water system if you experience a pipes emergency while in the house. Your mains supply of water valve should have a wheel control for the lever manage. To shut off your water supply, turn the valve to the ‘closed’ position (for round manages, turn the wheel clockwise, for lever manages, turn the lever perpendicular to the pipe).
If you’re not sure of the location of your mains water supply or if you do not know the best ways to turn your mains provide off, call your plumbing technician as soon as possible to reveal you how to do this.
What Else Can You Do?
In addition to turning off your mains supply of water, there are other actions you can take to safeguard your pipes while on vacation.
If vacationing during winter, consider draining pipes all the water from your plumbing in addition to shutting off the mains supply. This avoids the danger of pipes bursting due to water inside freezing and expanding.
Examine supply lines to your outlets and appliances prior to you go away. If you observe any torn, damaged or dripping supply lines, have these changed before you leave your home.
Test that your sump pump is plugged in and operational before you go away to avoid returning to a sewage flood.
Check your rain gutters for leaf and particles accumulation to optimize drain and avoid flooding to your basement or foundation in case of heavy rain.