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I went for vacation for a month in winter and shut off main

 
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  • Answered by:Bud
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Customer Question

I went for vacation for a month in winter and shut off main water supply to house. When I came back from vacation I opened main supply water valve. Then I tried to use wash basin faucet. As soon as i opened the faucet plumbing pipes started shaking vigrously. I immediately shut off the faucet. As soon as i would open the faucet the whole plumbing pipes would start shaking vigrously. This persisted for 15 to 20 minutes. My question is whether i ignored to do something while shutting the main water valve that i created these pressures in plumbing lines. Is there a certain way to shut off main water valve to house. Should i have done something before opening water valve when I came back from vacation. I need advice.

Submitted: 1599 days and 18 hours ago.
Category: Plumbing
Value: $30
Status: CLOSED
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Expert:  Bud replied 1599 days and 18 hours ago.

HiCustomer

 

Thanks for asking here at JustAnswer

 

You probably have alot of air in the lines. You need to turn off the main valve. Open all faucets in the house and open the main valve about half open till water is coming out of all faucets. Then turn off faucets, open main valve full open and go to each faucet and open to expel any remaining air bubbles. You may need to open more than one to remove all air.

 

Hope this helps, please reply with any other questions about this.

 

Bud

Customer replied 1599 days and 18 hours ago.

Please tell me step by step what to do. Do i need to do the above procedure before going for vacation or after coming from vacation or do do i need to do it one time. Please read my question fully and tell me exactly what to do and when to do step by step.

Thank you

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Expert:  Bud replied 1599 days and 17 hours ago.

  1. Turn main valve 1/2 open.
  2. Open faucets till all air is purged.
  3. As air does not come out of faucet turn it off.
  4. When all air is purged from all faucets turn main valve full open.

This is to be done when returning from vacation. Make sure no air is in the water heater before restoring electric/gas.

 

Bud

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Expert:  Bud replied 1599 days and 17 hours ago.

Are you on a private well?

 

Bud

Customer replied 1599 days and 17 hours ago.

No, I have water supply from city coming into the house.

 

Please tell me when to use your procedure in the context of my going on vacation.

 

Please tell me exactly what to do and when to do.

 

I do not want to turn off main water supply and find vigrous plumbing lines shaking when i turn main water supply back upon coming back from vacation.

 

 

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Expert:  Bud replied 1599 days and 17 hours ago.

Ok, first tell me what your procedure was for dealing with the water when you left for vacation. Did you just shut off the water and leave or did you relieve pressure from a faucet or did you drain the water from the lines?

 

Bud

Customer replied 1599 days and 8 hours ago.

I just shut off the main water valve at the time of leaving for vacation. Thank you

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Expert:  Bud replied 1599 days and 8 hours ago.

Ok, so no draining of the piping. That's ok if you leave heat on in the home. Turn off the electric/gas to the water heater(s). Do you have a pressure reducing valve? Was the pressure coming out of the faucet abnormal?

 

Bud

Customer replied 1599 days and 6 hours ago.

I have baseboard heat i.e hot water pipes in closed loop system running around the house. The hot water is heated by the gas furnace which is always left on in winter.

I do not have a pressure reducing valve. I cannot recollect amount of pressure of water coming out of faucet but as soon as i would turn the faucet on all the plumbing lines would start making tremondous amount of noise as if house was going to come down. So i would turn faucet off and I did this number of times in a span of 15-20 minutes after which it was ok. Thank you.

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Expert:  Bud replied 1599 days and 6 hours ago.

Ok, you cannot turn off your water at all. The boiler has to have water to work and with the boiler on and no water it could damage your heating.

 

Bud

Accepted Answer

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Expert:  Bud replied 1599 days and 6 hours ago.

If you want to turn off the water to your house and not the boiler you will have to have the main line run to the boiler and the house run off that main line with a valve to control the water to the house and not the boiler.

 

Bud

Expert TypePlumber
Category: Plumbing
Pos. Feedback: 98.3 %
Accepts: 538
Answered: 12/24/2008

Experience: 22 Years Field Experience - 17 Years Business Ownership - Residential or Light Commercial

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