Do I turn off water & boiler when away

stevoh

Hi,

My mother lives in an upper level flat and will be spending time away this winter. I'm wondering if we should turn off her boiler and the water at the stop !!!!!! to avoid any risk of pipes bursting.

I've heard that you should leave your boiler on, however with these gas prices thats really going to add up, plus I'd like to turn off the water supply if possible.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

chris_n

Turn the water off, see what the insurance says about leaving the house empty as far as temperature goes. If it doesn't say anything set the thermostat to 10-12 degrees. I worked away for many winters, this is what I always did.

stevoh

Thanks. There's no thermostat. just a dial to turn heat up. So the combi boiler will operate fine with water off?

chris_n

The heating part of a combi will work fine with the water turned off. I can't believe how many systems I see on here with no thermostat. It is the most basic form of heat control imaginable, get one fitted ASAP she must be wasting a lot of heat or overly worrying about heating costs. 

macman

Pipes can still burst if the stopc*ck is turned off. The only absolute guarantee is to drain down. Still water freezes more readily than flowing water.
However unless the flat has exposed pipework or a loft then it's not likely to freeze, and most boilers will have a frost stat that will kick in at about 5C: check the manual.
Pointless worrying about wasting gas if she's running a CH system without a room stat.

FreeBear

Being a flat, there will be some heat coming up through from the flats below. I'd turn the water & power off - If a pipe does burst, it will limit the amount of damage a leak can do.

casper_gutman

Are you SURE the "dial to turn the heat up" isn't actually a thermostat? I know my in-laws have a perfectly good if somewhat old fashioned thermostat which they misuse as an on-off switch (i.e., set to 30°C when they want the heating on and 10°C when they don't).