Turning water off when on holiday

LandyAndy

Gloomendoom wrote: »

What about the heating? Are they going to freeze to death while you are away?

Only joking!

They're cats. They come with fur coats as standard.

Anyway most cats are quite resourceful enough to find somewhere else to stay.;)

LandyAndy

SandC wrote: »

You have a combi boiler like me which means that you have no tank and the water is coming from the mains so if you do turn the water off, turn the heating off also.

If it were me I would leave the water on and set the heating to come on twice a day. I have a thermostat which has a min heat where the heating will kick in anyway so I don't have to set anything. Do consider investing in a new thermostat as they are quite wonderful.

Don't forget to change the heating timer so that the heating is on through the night when temperatures are coldest.

jennifernil

SandC wrote: »

You have a combi boiler like me which means that you have no tank and the water is coming from the mains so if you do turn the water off, turn the heating off also.

This is VERY BAD ADVICE.

The mains water supplies only the hot and cold taps. Other than the filling loop, there is absolutely no connection between the water in a CH system and the water in the taps.

The boiler would only try to heat water if there was a tap open calling for hot water.

So....imagine the scenario where the water is left on, a pipe bursts on the HW system......

Not only will there be floods of water everywhere, it will be hot water, and the boiler would have been running constantly trying to heat it.

Aquatronixjenny

SandC wrote: »

You have a combi boiler like me which means that you have no tank and the water is coming from the mains so if you do turn the water off, turn the heating off also.

Wrong...

The heating provided by a combi boiler is a sealed and pressurised system which is filled via a filling loop. It is not continuously filled by the mains, if it was then it would explode!

The radiators are on a completely separate loop from the mains and hot water, it has inhibitor in it and is filled to a pressure of around 2 bar and then disconnected completely from the mains. You only ever need to top it up if the pressure drops due to a leak.

The water in the radiators will not be affected at all by you turning off the mains water, and there will be no problem with leaving the boiler switched on.

SandC

jennifernil wrote: »

This is VERY BAD ADVICE.

The mains water supplies only the hot and cold taps. Other than the filling loop, there is absolutely no connection between the water in a CH system and the water in the taps.

The boiler would only try to heat water if there was a tap open calling for hot water.

So....imagine the scenario where the water is left on, a pipe bursts on the HW system......

Not only will there be floods of water everywhere, it will be hot water, and the boiler would have been running constantly trying to heat it.

Okay, sorry folks.

hansi

Isn't it dangerous to turn off the water and leave the CH on? Doesn't it use re-circulating water for the CH?

Biggles

hansi wrote: »

Isn't it dangerous to turn off the water and leave the CH on? Doesn't it use re-circulating water for the CH?

But it has its own reservoir; you would have to have a really bad leak for that to be exhausted.

It was my own CH engineer that recommended turning the mains water off and leaving the heating on when I was away for a prolonged period a couple of winters ago.