Guides · Season by season
Leaving the Valley for the summer: shutting a house down
Turn the water off at the main and drain the pressure out of the system. Switch the water heater off or to its vacation setting, put the softener in bypass, and have someone check the house. An empty house in a Valley summer is where small leaks become expensive ones.
Water, in order
- 01
Close the main shutoff to the house
- 02
Open the lowest faucet in the house and an outside hose bib to let the pressure down
- 03
Leave a faucet open a crack while everything else drains, then close them
- 04
Flush each toilet once so the tanks are down
- 05
If the irrigation stays on, check that it is on its own supply and that it is not fed through anything you have just isolated
The water heater
- A gas unit goes to its vacation or pilot setting, not just turned down
- An electric unit goes off at the breaker, with the water shut off first so it is never left dry and powered
- Do not drain a tank and leave it empty for months unless you have been told to, because that has its own problems
- Note what you did, so whoever starts the house up again knows
Everything else
- Put a softener into bypass so it is not regenerating for an empty house
- Turn off the water to the fridge and ice maker at its shutoff
- Run the disposal and every drain briefly, so traps are clean rather than full of what was left
- Consider leaving the air conditioning at a high but sensible setting, because an unconditioned Valley house is hard on seals and fittings
The part people skip
Someone has to look at the house. A slow leak with the water off is nothing. A slow leak with the water on and nobody home for four months is the story everyone has heard from a neighbor.
If you cannot turn the water off for some reason, then having somebody walk the house regularly is not optional, and it is worth showing them where the main shutoff is and that it turns.
Dry traps and the smell
Traps hold water to keep sewer gas out. In a Valley summer, a trap in an unused bathroom evaporates dry and the room starts to smell. A little mineral oil poured into a floor drain or a rarely used trap slows the evaporation right down, which is why the smell on return is so common in houses that were closed up without it.
From the job log
Work we’ve done
Answers
Should I drain the water heater?
Usually no. Turning it to vacation or switching it off at the breaker with the water off is the normal approach. An empty tank sitting for months brings its own risks.
What if I leave the water on for the landscaping?
Then find out whether the irrigation runs off a separate line, because plenty do. If it does not, that is the reason to have the house checked rather than left.
Why does the house smell when I come back?
Dry traps. The water that seals them evaporated while nobody was running the fixtures. Running every faucet and flushing every toilet fixes it.
If you need this done
- Valves, hose bibs and water hammerShutoffs that won't turn, washer valves, outdoor hose bibs, and arrestors for pipes that bang when a valve closes.
- Water heater repairNo hot water, water that runs cold early, noises or a leak? We find the real cause and give you an honest call on repair versus replacement.
- Water softenersValley water is some of the hardest in the country. A softener removes the minerals that scale fixtures, spot glass and shorten a water heater's life.
- Where we workEvery town and ZIP across the Valley we cover.
In-home estimate
Rather have someone look at it? Tell us what's going on
We come out, look at the problem and explain what it needs before any work starts. For something urgent, calling is fastest.
Rather talk? Call or text (602) 833-4133.