Kip Powick Posted March 19, 2022 Share Posted March 19, 2022 (edited) Finally the house has dried out........$65-70,000.00 damage and finally I have a house that is completely dry and a computer system that is up and running as of today !! In September of last year I had a flood in the house. The fellow that checks my house called me and asked when I had a swimming pool installed in the "basement"....which is really has a guest bedroom , laundry room., storage room , workshop, and bathroom and the nerve centre for TV computers, and every electronics gadget/gizmo I own. Not going to bore you with the details but would like to pass on something you might want to look at in your residence..... This is the nut that attaches to the fill hose that runs from your bathroom wall to the bottom of the toilet tank and connects at the fill pipe inlet. As you can see the nut blew apart in the top floor bathroom and city water poured out for ??? hours and flooded the entire bottom floor including walls ceilings etc. Sooooooo just a suggestion....check your bathrooms and spend $16-20 on Amazon and get the "fill" hose that has stainless steel nuts on both ends....(normally the end coming out of the wall is stainless) . The Insurance company took that part as they have a class action lawsuit against Chinese companies that produce the item but apparently they don't hold much hope of seeing a cent. Please note...apparently there are new plastic nuts out there are more on the square size and are improved. No matter what you do, never over torque that nut, stainless or plastic, as you are tightening that nut on a thicker plastic fill connection coming out of toilet fill tank Now......to get the boat ready !!!! Have a nice weekend nice to see many of the "old-timers" still contributing to my favourite forum... The biggest problem with the Internet is that not everything on it is true.... Abraham Lincoln......1896 Edited March 19, 2022 by Kip Powick speling 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moon The Loon Posted March 19, 2022 Share Posted March 19, 2022 Missed you Kip!. Sorry to hear of your woes. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Specs Posted March 19, 2022 Share Posted March 19, 2022 Two friends had the same issue. Both were away on vacation at the time. One of them was declined any compensation from the Insurance as he left the house unattended for more than 7 days - apparently that invalidated his claim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Pulman Posted March 19, 2022 Share Posted March 19, 2022 Welcome back Kip. Hadn’t seen you floating around here lately and was getting concerned. Sorry to hear about the damage to your home, but glad to hear it has been fixed. I’ll be checking my water connections today. Good advice. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seeker Posted March 19, 2022 Share Posted March 19, 2022 After hearing many years ago about a similar incident involving a washing machine fill hose fitting I've always made it policy to shutoff the main water supply line right were it comes in the house if I'll be away for an extended period. If you really think about it there are lots of places where something like this could happen; sinks, toilets, tubs, dishwasher, washing machine. Best to prevent them all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest1 Posted March 19, 2022 Share Posted March 19, 2022 I reommend folks also read the their home insurance policies carefully as most have a clause in them that says that the house must be inspected ever xxxnumber of days if unoccupied. One of mine said ever 3 days but I am sure that varies. For the past several years we have had someone enter and look around to keep within the terms of the policy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kip Powick Posted March 19, 2022 Author Share Posted March 19, 2022 I've always made it policy to shutoff the main water supply line right were it comes in the house if I'll be away for an extended period. Which is a good policy ....however....I needed the water ON for underground sprinklers and the yard maintenance person needed an "open" tap for other maintenance items outside. I covered my a$$ as far as Insurance was concerned as I had a trusted neighbor check my house everyday...my policy says the requirement is every 3 days. Fixed the problem now by having two lines after the water goes through the meter. Each line has an independent on/off valve. So in the summer, the "inside" water can be OFF and the "outside" water can be ON.. I also have 5 WIFI water detectors in the house that alert my cell phone if there is even the smallest leak.....The changes seem like an "Over-Kill" fix but losing my casa and electronic toys for 6 months was a "no-joy" adventure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seeker Posted March 19, 2022 Share Posted March 19, 2022 9 minutes ago, Kip Powick said: Fixed the problem now by having two lines after the water goes through the meter. Each line has an independent on/off valve. So in the summer, the "inside" water can be OFF and the "outside" water can be ON.. That's the perfect solution and well worth the financial investment. I have no need for outside water when I'm away but for those that do I recommend Kip's plan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest1 Posted March 19, 2022 Share Posted March 19, 2022 19 minutes ago, Seeker said: That's the perfect solution and well worth the financial investment. I have no need for outside water when I'm away but for those that do I recommend Kip's plan. Just remember if you turn off your water, to shut down your hot water heater as well ....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seeker Posted March 20, 2022 Share Posted March 20, 2022 14 minutes ago, Kargokings said: Just remember if you turn off your water, to shut down your hot water heater as well ....... Well, that goes without saying. Who would leave their house for an extended period and leave the hot water heater on? What are you - made of money? That's like leaving a window open and the furnace on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest1 Posted March 20, 2022 Share Posted March 20, 2022 26 minutes ago, Seeker said: Well, that goes without saying. Who would leave their house for an extended period and leave the hot water heater on? What are you - made of money? That's like leaving a window open and the furnace on. Stupid is as stupid do. Some folks even have an electric hot water heater and pay no attention to how it operates..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kip Powick Posted March 20, 2022 Author Share Posted March 20, 2022 Just remember if you turn off your water, to shut down your hot water heater as well ....... Four years ago I had "ON DEMAND" hot water installed....no hot water heater, no hot water tank...unlimited hot water when you want it...love it.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Innuendo Posted March 20, 2022 Share Posted March 20, 2022 Friends from Montreal went off on a skiing holiday and when they returned and opened ther door they were met by a blast of hot air. Something like opening an oven door. Their heating system had been going non stop during their absence. The house was mainly of stone construction and had absorbed a lot of heat. The wall paper was on the floor, candles had melted and so on. It took quite a while to cool down enough, (they could not stay that night), so that that they could stay in it. They were pretty lucky that there was not more damage. I think the WiFi water detectors are a great idea, got mineat Costco, and if you could get temperature warning system Hi/Lo with the same tech it could be useful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JL Posted March 20, 2022 Share Posted March 20, 2022 Digital/wifi thermostat sent me an email when the board on my furnace went. It was early fall and we were home...thankfully furnace was still under warranty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UpperDeck Posted March 21, 2022 Share Posted March 21, 2022 On 3/19/2022 at 8:12 PM, Seeker said: Well, that goes without saying. Who would leave their house for an extended period and leave the hot water heater on? What are you - made of money? That's like leaving a window open and the furnace on. Damn!! You had to ask that question, didn't you? My hand is raised. We confirmed with our insurer....turn off the water and home inspections not required. So we turn off the water....but turning off the circuit breaker for the heater wasn't on the checklist. BUT....it IS on the list for the boat. Not made of money so therefore accept characterization of "dumb". 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seeker Posted March 21, 2022 Share Posted March 21, 2022 29 minutes ago, UpperDeck said: Damn!! You had to ask that question, didn't you? My hand is raised. We confirmed with our insurer....turn off the water and home inspections not required. So we turn off the water....but turning off the circuit breaker for the heater wasn't on the checklist. BUT....it IS on the list for the boat. Not made of money so therefore accept characterization of "dumb". Sorry. I credit my very frugal father for that one. These days I go even further and unplug all the various powerbars around the house - save a few dollars (maybe) from not having all the TVs and electronics in standby mode and also prevents the, admittedly small, threat of damage from a power surge or lightning strike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Pulman Posted March 21, 2022 Share Posted March 21, 2022 4 hours ago, Seeker said: Sorry. I credit my very frugal father for that one. These days I go even further and unplug all the various powerbars around the house - save a few dollars (maybe) from not having all the TVs and electronics in standby mode and also prevents the, admittedly small, threat of damage from a power surge or lightning strike. Never understood why new houses weren't designed with a non-essential CB panel that could be "switched" off at the normal exit to the house. BTW, installing a whole-home surge protector on your main panel is very cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kip Powick Posted March 21, 2022 Author Share Posted March 21, 2022 6 hours ago, Seeker said: Sorry. I credit my very frugal father for that one. These days I go even further and unplug all the various powerbars around the house - save a few dollars (maybe) from not having all the TVs and electronics in standby mode and also prevents the, admittedly small, threat of damage from a power surge or lightning strike. Then you get into the discussion of turning ON or OFF your computer every day. In the days of spinning hard drives it was recommended to leave the computer ON but now I understand that Solid State drives mean no more spinning so you can turn the computer off every nite. Depends on who you talk to on which side of the fence they stand . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mo32a Posted March 22, 2022 Share Posted March 22, 2022 On 3/19/2022 at 5:12 PM, Seeker said: Well, that goes without saying. Who would leave their house for an extended period and leave the hot water heater on? What are you - made of money? That's like leaving a window open and the furnace on. I do, I do. We have a boiler that heats the hot water and heats the water for the hydronic in floor heating. There is not much of a cost to do this as no hot water is being used. Our insurance doesn't require anyone to check the house and the only thing they won't cover is damage from pipes breaking because of freezing, so we leave the heat on, at a reduced temperature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.O. Posted March 24, 2022 Share Posted March 24, 2022 For those who live in newer townhomes, one side note on turning off the water supply while away. These buildings are usually equipped with sprinkler systems. Our neighbours have been away for a month and my wife has been keeping an eye on their place. The other day she wanted to water some plants but found the water was off. She asked me to come turn it on. I assumed they would have turned off the valve that is downstream from the sprinkler feed line, but I arrived to find the main valve (the one with the big red tag saying "DO NOT CLOSE THIS VALVE") was closed. I corrected it and sent them an email to let them know why. They were embarrassed and said they didn't notice the shutoff valve they should have used, which still doesn't explain why they thought it was no problem to deactivate their sprinklers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Innuendo Posted March 24, 2022 Share Posted March 24, 2022 I can just imagine how fast their insurance company would have jumped on that to avoid any payout. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Cronin Posted March 25, 2022 Share Posted March 25, 2022 Glad to hear you're alive and kicking Mr. Powick... I'd wondered for a time... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now