Earlier this week I drove past a neighbor's house with water running out of their garage. Obliviously a plumbing failure of some sort. I contacted my neighbor to let him know. He was in Florida on vacation (who goes to Florida this time of year?) Anyhow, he said he would call a plumber. Because I have a water key I offered to at least stop the bleeding. After that, it took two days to make entry into the house as the plumber declined to kick down the front door to make entry.

Me neighbor called back yesterday to thank me and to let me know it was a washing machine water line that failed. Most likely they had somewhere between 2,000 to 3,500 gallons of water in the house before running outside. I suggested that they install a water detector and automatic water shutoff valve. He had never heard of an automatic shutoff valve.

This is the second neighbor who had experienced a plumbing failure and lots of very expensive water damage. Apparently, not too many folks have bothered to install them.

I have installed the StreamLabs device on two homes and wouldn't live without it. I can remotely monitor water use and set alarms to automatically cut off the water supply and notify me should something go wrong.

Is anyone else using one?

Ya got 72 hours to remove the water and get it dried out by a professional cleaner. If one waits to long before doing this, the next step is mold abatement, which some insurance companies will not pay for because, 1) waited for a plumber and did not contact agent first, 2) didn’t take reasonable steps, precautions to protect the house before you left, 3) being a dumb ass and waiting for a plumber to shut off a live water line.

Why people leave their water on when they go on vacation is a mystery to me. As a plumber, I've seen major devastation due to water damage. The only thing that rivals water damage is fire, IMO.

Might one suggest shutting the water off to the home prior to leaving for extended periods?

Heard similar stores way too many times.

If it's gonna fail, it'll always wait until you're away.

My step mom had a washer supply line pop while she was at work for 12 hours.....same story. Insurance time.

Depending on how a pipe fails, a water line can generate up to 6-12 gallons per minute. In just four hours that's 1,400 to 2,800 gallons of water.

Install a water cutoff valve and save yourself some headaches down the road.

Yep. I’m religious about turning the water off at the cabin, EVERY time I’m there. About the worst that can happen is the water heater can leak, and cut 40 gallons loose. Don’t need to be hours away and find out I lost thousands of gallons to a leak/rupture, and have to deal with that kind of cost and damage.

Went to work one bright and early morning at 6am. Everything was ok when I left. Came home at 3pm with water coming out of my door from the house into the garage. Instantly thought water heater had failed, but that’s in the garage. As soon as I opened the door into my house, it sounded and looked like Niagara Falls with the the mist inside.

After slipping twice trying to go to the source, discovered the toilet supply line had burst in the guest bathroom!! Holy moly what a mess! Water freaking everywhere. Ran outside and turned main supply off. Too late really. Started the phone calls to get this fixed.

Imagine, a $3 part creating $1000’s of damages!

I turn off the supply when on vacation or extended leave, but never thought about a day at work would Murphy pay a visit!

I turn mine off when I leave overnight

Back when it had it's own independent fresh water treatment system, burst inside water lines used to be a relatively common occurrence here in the little town where I live.

Apparently whenever they'd shut down the mains to do repairs air would get trapped in the lines and when they turned the water back on the sudden increase in pressure would blow off or burst residential / business water lines at weakest points.

I've never turned off the water when I go away, but it's a good idea obviously.

I had a valve put in the main just as it comes through the wall. It's been been damn handy just for repairs & such. But the biggie is that if I remember, I turn off the hot water heater & shut off the water whenever I leave on a trip.

Wished I had some sort of an alarm on the meter down in the yard though. Was in the house for 2 weeks straight with covid a couple years ago & didn't notice a leak out there. $1500.

Had a friend that went to visit kin folks during Christmas. Water heater in the attic and one of the water lines froze and burst. Not sure which day it happened, but the next door neighbor saw water running down the driveway and into a drain. Neighbor cut the water off and called my friend. Not only did it ruin the carpet thru out the house, it got the ceiling and walls in 2 or 3 rooms.

With the price of water in many cities, a blowout will cost a whole lot more than just water damage.

Years ago we had some friends whose house was built on a slab with the pipes in the attic. They were gone for a week in the winter. We had a terrific wind storm that went through the attic vents and blew the insulation batts off the pipes. They froze and broke. They had to strip the walls and ceiling down the the studs, replace all the insulation, and replace a whole house worth of carpet.

In cold weather, I can just flip a switch to turn off the pump. In the summer, though, we have to keep it going. My wife has a commercial flower farm that's watered by timers from the house well. There's no way to isolate it from the rest of the house. Of course freezing isn't an issue then, but things can still break.

I turn mine off when we go on vacation as well

Wife and I hearing a hissing noise at our vacation place that we traced to under a bathroom sink. Pfister faucets come with a braided stainless steel outer core covering over the inner plastic liner. The plumber said that it was the first time that he ever saw one of those water lines blow out through that braided covering. Never again another Pfister faucet. Water is turned off when we leave. The mess that would have made if we'd have been gone is hard to imagine.

Our water heater thermostat was sticking hot.

Daughter was showering and the water stopped, she told my wife
who went t o the basement to see what happened. When she opened the
basement door she was met with steam. She ran down, found the valve by the heater and turned it off, getting mildly burned in the process.

Clean up wasn't too bad, just a bunch of crap sitting on the floor that
made it harder. Lucky it was caught immediately.

Not water, hitting a cement floor and turning to steam has a
distinct and surprisingly bad smell.

A month later I had to work on the clothes washer.
When I went to unhook the lines from the wall, the hot water line
was swollen to a bigger circumference than the brass coupler!
I guess from the water being too hot, or age.

That was 2 potential catastrophes avoided.


PS. Our insurance company sends a quarterly magazine out. One consistent tip us to replace washer hoses every few years(5 I think).
Ours were 20 years old, their projected life is 10.
Ponied up the $$ and got braided with leak detecting fittings.