Hi all, I have a tiny leak in one of thepipes inside the house, however the plumber that I usually work with was unable to come and fix it before next Monday (it's Wednesday today). so I intend to shutdown the main supply valve each time I leave a house in oredr to prevent from the leak to spread. Is there any way shuting down the main valve is dangerous or undesirable? Can it hurt if I leave the water off for 8 hours?
Thank you
Don't worry. Leave it off.
Make sure you turn off your hot water system as well. A lot of systems use the cold side for their expansion, if the main is closed this could result in excesive pressure in the system causing more damage.
Better safe than sorry!
cold side for their expansion
that makes no sense...if there's no pressure on the cold side because the water is off then it can expand all day long into the cold side.
nah, not sure i agree with this one either
Or the relief valve on the boiler. But you're right in saying that hot water system pressure has to go back to the water main in the street, unless an expansion tank is installed.
Turn off the water heater when shutting the main to the house all day.
Mark
when you turn of the main to the house?
imagine my surprise at having to connect the dots to another plumber....it was my assumption that a faucet would have been opened to blow the pressure, ergo zero pressure on the cold side.
nope, sorry...still say it's more trouble than it's worth
Sorry but once the push is stopped at the main the only pressure in the system would come from trapped compressed air or expanded hoses such as the washing machine. So without the above it IS non existant.
Now since a standard domestic water system uses the cold
Maybe the T&P? Thats what they're for. If its a sweated joint you've got bigger problems.
i was going to respond...i really was, but then i thought.....don't i have some toe jam to clean.
Mark my response was to pressure building in a closed system, the T&P should be the first to go. Your response was: "pressure is going to be released at the weakest point in the system usually an old packing gland or possibly a sweated joint". If your sweated joints pop at 150lbs you've got bigger problems. kenny b
now ponder this...the majority of the people who do shut off their water when leaving for vacation or a prolonged (sp) period do so after finishing up their morning tasks including showering and dishes. The domestic hot most likely hasn't recovered and is still expanding while being heated. Why risk it poping the PT, packing and piss poor joint that has been hanging on by a thread? True, it will most likely blow the PT valve before anything else, now you know as well as I do that unless it's a fairly new valve it does have a very high chance of not re-seating itself. Now the HO comes home and turns on the water, doesn't know that the PT is leaking and finds a small flood hours or even days later.
Bottom line, if your paranoid to the point of shutting of your main while leaving for vacation, why chance it when you can simply throw a breaker or at worse shut off a gas valve and have to relight the pilot upon returning?
In my area almost all the water companies require a dual check valve on the customer side of the meter, so the cold side cannot be used for expansion. But an expansion tank on the water heater is also required so shutting off the water heater is not necessary.
you're overthinking this.....we're not talking about what to do with rapidly expanding gas as we try to launch the space shuttle for christs sake. i'm sure that problems occur as you describe when the planets line up the right way and the pope crosses himself from the left instead of the right. bottom line.....if this was such a hugh problem.....there would be some government agency spending more of my tax money looking for a way to blame the former administration for it. as it stands now, since it is that it happens probably in one out of 52 billion births, i still say ' f*ck it'
"HotH2O4U2"
While I don't agree with your choice of adjectives, I concur with your conclusions.
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