Do you recommend shutting off the main house water shut off valve? We are leaving our southern California home for six months and living in our second home in Ohio. Our house is 30 years old with main water lines in a slab. A few homes in the neighborhood have experienced leaks in the slab. Would shutting off the water affect the water heater which we always turn down to the lowest temperature when we leave?

Thank you for your response and advice... klp

Greetings from a fellow Buckeye!

It sure can't hurt to shut it off. Supply line leaks are rare, but when they happen they're horrible - and if you're not there the damage can be tremendous.

I don't want to scare you, though. I'd put it at half and half at people who shut it off and who don't.

You will have no problem with the water tank by shutting off the water, but truth is, you may as well turn the water tank off. The time difference on heating it to as hot as you like it (when you get back) from cold or from the lowest setting will be of little difference... so you wait an extra hour for hot water when you get back, but save yourself the cost of heating that water to lukewarm for 6 months while you are gone.

If I can add my two cents, being in the trades, I get to see the devastation a water leak that runs a long time can do, and cost. I think Tom would agree.

Mechanical failures can happen every day, but more times than not, the damage is less when people are doing their normal routine. But if nobody is around, leaks can go on for a very long time before being discovered.

Even for a week, I shut down all utilities, or at least as much as possible. I will leaving a lighting circuit, and refigeration, for the week, of course. Anything I can shut down goes down, power, water, gas, fuel, etc. Of course, cold weather needs heat set as low as possilble, de-icing systems, etc.

Leave on smoke detectors and security systems, and be sure all have fresh backup batteries.


With readily available inexpensive technology, sensors and cameras are available to virtually communicate with your home through the interent from anywhere in the world. Post any questions you may have on this in the Computer area, I am faqmilar with how to do this, but not any good at explaining it.

You may already do all that I list, but as a service to others , I thought it could not hurt.

If I am gone for more than a couple weeks, I always shut mine off.
(I shut mine off at the meter so if there is a leak underground it is shut off also ( but here we are allowed to shut off at meter)

If your hot water heater is gas, and you shut the water off, you really need to shut it down also, ( but I would shut the electric also, incause it would leak)

I would always shut down all my utilities, water and electric