Holiday Turn Off All Utilities

[Harvestmoonsobig]

Should I turn off water and gas for a 10 day trip?

No I wouldn't

We don't. We did once, many years ago when we were living in a little terraced house, and got the shock of our lives when the PA system at Manchester airport asked us to go to the information desk. Our next door neighbour was on the phone and told us that her water was off as well. Luckily I happened to have a stamp on me, so we bought some envelopes and I posted our front door key to her.

The only people I know who do this are my parents, who live in an ancient stone cottage with no insulation in the wilds of Scotland and have concerns about pipes freezing if they go away in midwinter.

I would not be turning anything off for a holiday. We never do, even if we're away for 3 weeks.

Thanks

No. If it's winter we leave the heating on low on timer just in case the pipes could freeze but that's it.

My mum used to. Everything off - gas, electricity, water - precluded last minute wees though.

Wait. You posted your front door key to someone who's water you'd cut off?
Surely a courier would have been the wsy to go.

No we never do. We also leave the heating on a timer/thermostat in case it gets cold while we're away.

No never do. I don't even unplug anything either, but everything is switched off though.

I get the cases in the car, do one turn around the house checking windows and doors, put the house alarm on, and get the hell out of dodge.

Depends on the time of year.

Summer, heating and, all non essential electrical items off.

Winter, wood stove is out, heating on low. If it's really cold we have been advised to leave a tap slightly running.

In the winter the wood stove is burning 24/7 unless we are out for more than a day

The heating in our new house has a 'holiday' setting and dp is desperate to turn it on.

No , i never do this. I leave my tv and sky box plugged in so it records my TVs programmes too.

My parents used to. Then we had the time we arrived back after Christmas and couldn't get the gas back on. And no engineers free to come until a week into the new year. No heating nor hot water at that time of year is not fun.

You are not covered by your insurance if you have a water leak and you have been away over 24 hours. My parents turn their water off but not gas and electric. We never do though.

When the kids were little and we went on holiday we always turned the water off, nothing else though.

A friend of mine had a huge leak in her bathroom which did major damage to her downstairs, while she was at work and had to go to some lengths to prove she had been home in the preceding 24 hours.

If you ask your water company to disconnect your water whilst on holiday the water company will charge you (sometimes over £50) to have it turned back on.

I wouldn't.

Why on earth would you ask your water supplier to turn it off??

That's what the stop cock is for.

We just turned off the stopcock too.

"Surely a courier would have been the wsy to go."

It was 1983. I wouldn't have known where to start to find a courier in Manchester airport a couple of hours before our flight. This was way before mobile phones existed.

Are you my granny??
She turned everything of even if only away for a night, and unplugged the tv ariel and all plugs 'incase of lightening'.

Don't do it. If you have a holiday setting, maybe trial it before you leave and perhaps use it. In this part of the year, your utilities should not be doing much anyways so why disrupt things by turning them off. Surely any savings is negligible.

Family legend retells the saga of my grandmother's husband who 'flipped the main breaker' after they were all loaded in the car for a summer holiday in the southern US. They returned to no electrics and a putrid chest freezer full of my grandmother's canny purchases gone down the pan. There was no joy in Mudville for quite a while.

unplugged the tv ariel and all plugs 'incase of lightening'.

My parents house did once get struck by lightening and it did blow all the televisions and several other electrical items in the house. Sadly not the ancient PC they would like to have replaced! They still don't unplug everything all the time though.

Flower
Why on earth would you have the water turned off by the water board just for a couple of weeks holiday ? BIt OTT!😀

Don't you know where your stop cock is?

I just switch off all non essentials and leg it😁

In winter I'd want to leave the heating ticking over at 15 degrees for the sake of the cats and the cleaner.

It would never occur to me to switch off the water and gas unless I was going away for a month.