Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

City water off/ok to leave water heater on while away for holiday?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • City water off/ok to leave water heater on while away for holiday?

    I’m leaving for the holiday and work for two weeks and temps will remain below freezing while I’m gone. I want to turn off city water as I have some small drip leaks in storage bay housing plumbing systems which I’ve been unable to stop, and they only drip with pressure of city water when on. I assume my hot h2o tank and other water lines stay full even with city water off? And, If so, I can safely leave propane and electric heater on? The storage bay with plumbing is insulated and I’ll leave furnace on set at 50 so warm air will still cycle through the bay preventing any freezing. I’d rather not winterize for two weeks away when I’ll be coming back to continue living in rig. Thanks in advance for any feedback.

  • #2
    Originally posted by Thr33devil View Post
    I’m leaving for the holiday and work for two weeks and temps will remain below freezing while I’m gone. I want to turn off city water as I have some small drip leaks in storage bay housing plumbing systems which I’ve been unable to stop, and they only drip with pressure of city water when on. I assume my hot h2o tank and other water lines stay full even with city water off? And, If so, I can safely leave propane and electric heater on? The storage bay with plumbing is insulated and I’ll leave furnace on set at 50 so warm air will still cycle through the bay preventing any freezing. I’d rather not winterize for two weeks away when I’ll be coming back to continue living in rig. Thanks in advance for any feedback.
    I would not do this. Although unlikely, there are many places in the system where a failure could occur and you'd lose water. If the tank goes dry, then it could be seriously damaged. If you leave the propane on and developed a leak in the coach, a fire could result. The risk is small, but the resultant damage could be severe.

    Even if there were no water or propane leaks, we frequently see water heater and furnace failures. And if you're not there to intervene, you could experience significant freeze damage.

    Antifreeze is very inexpensive at Walmart, and it takes a very short time to winterize the system, and flushing is very quick too.

    Jim
    Jim and Ginnie
    2024 Solitude 310GK
    GDRV Technical Forum Moderator
    GDRV Rally Support Coordinator

    Comment


    • #3
      Thr33devil I would definitely winterize with antifreeze in this case. There's too many things that could go wrong. The park could lose power and your battery could die leaving you no furnace. It could get colder than forecast and your furnace could run you out of propane. That's off the top of my head.
      Forum moderators are not GD employees--we are volunteers and owners presumably just like yourself. Unless specifically mentioned otherwise, we have nothing to gain should you choose to purchase a product or engage a service we discuss on this forum.

      Neil Citro
      2018 Reflection 28BH Pepwave
      2019 F350 6.7L Long Bed Crew Cab

      Comment


      • #4
        Don’t take the chance! I’ve had a water heater control board fail while away for dinner and returned to find steam and water spewing from the heater. Water was off! Not a GD trailer, but any brand can fail.
        2022 3100RD
        2019 F-150 V6 Twin Turbo 10 speed
        Over 55 years TT towing

        Comment


        • #5
          Thanks everyone!

          Comment

          Working...
          X