Leaving Town? The Pre-Vacation Plumbing Checklist Every St. George Homeowner Should Run Through
There’s a particular kind of dread that hits somewhere around Barstow. You’ve been driving for three hours, the kids are finally asleep, and out of nowhere your brain starts bugging you about whether or not you turned off the water. The more you think about it, the more you realize you’re not even sure if you know where the valve is.
Thankfully, most of the time, nothing happens. You come home to a house exactly as you left it. But plumbing failures are one of the few home problems that get exponentially worse with time, and an empty house is where they do their best work. A supply line that lets go while you’re standing in the kitchen is a mess and a phone call. The same line letting go on day two of a 10 day trip is a very different afternoon.
The good news is that preventing this takes about 20 minutes, and most of it you can do yourself! Any Hour Services has been helping homeowners for over 60 years, and we’ve compiled a vacation checklist worth running before you lock the door. Whether you’re gone for a long weekend or headed north for the season, run through this vacation preparation checklist before you head out.
Why Does Pre-Vacation Plumbing Prep Matter So Much in St. George?
Two things work against you here. St. George’s water supply is hard enough to wear down supply lines and corrode valves from the inside out, and the summer heat stresses the whole system. Add in how many of our homes here are second homes or snowbird properties, and you’ve got a lot of houses sitting empty for months at a time rather than days.
A few things make this market different:
- Hard water is quietly working on everything. The mineral content in our water builds up inside pipes, water heaters, and fixtures, and it degrades the rubber hoses behind your washing machine and under your sinks. Those hoses are the single most common cause of catastrophic water damage in an empty home.
- Heat adds stress. Summer temperatures push your water heater, supply lines, and any exposed outdoor plumbing harder than a milder climate would. Heat also accelerates the breakdown of rubber and plastic components.
- St. George area homes sit empty for long stretches. Between snowbirds, seasonal residents, and vacation properties near Zion, a lot of houses in Washington and Iron County spend months unoccupied. A slow drip that would typically be caught in a day becomes a genuine problem over a season.
- Nobody is there to notice. This is the real issue at hand. Every plumbing problem is small at some point. Whether it stays small depends entirely on whether someone is around to address it.
Take a deep breath because thankfully, none of this is cause for alarm. It just means taking 20 minutes before you leave to work through your vacation plumbing checklist is a genuinely good investment.
What Should You Do Before a Short Trip?
- Locate & Test Your Main Water Shutoff: This is the highest-value item on the list, and it’s the one most homeowners never actually do. Your main shutoff is usually near where the water line enters the house, in the garage, or at the meter near the street. In homes with hard water, shutoff valves that have not been turned in years can seize up from mineral buildup, or start weeping once you finally move them. Discovering that the morning your flight leaves is not exactly the best time. So, locate yours now and turn it. If it moves smoothly and seals, you’re set. If it’s stiff, stuck, or starts dripping after you move it, that’s a small repair worth handling before you go. No reason to panic!
- Deal With Your Appliance Hoses: Those braided or rubber hoses behind your washing machine are under constant pressure. When one fails, it doesn’t drip. It sprays, continuously, until someone shuts the water off. Pull your washer out and look at the hoses. If you see bulging, cracking, rust at the connections, or you simply have no idea how old they are, it’s a good idea to replace them. At minimum, close the valves behind the washer before you leave. Do the same for your dishwasher and refrigerator ice maker line.
- Set Your Water Heater to Vacation Mode: Most water heaters have a vacation or VAC setting, and most homeowners have never used it. It keeps the tank warm enough to prevent problems without heating water for a house nobody is in. If you’re gone for a week or more, this saves energy and gives the tank a break. If yours doesn’t have that setting, turning the thermostat down works fine. Further, if your water heater has been making noise, running rusty, or is simply past the decade mark, get it looked at before you leave rather than gambling on it.
- Run Every Drain Before You Go: Every drain in your home has a P-trap, a curved section of pipe holding a small amount of water that blocks sewer gas from coming up into the house. In our extremely dry desert air, that water evaporates faster than it would almost anywhere else. Leave a guest bathroom unused for a few weeks in a St. George summer and the trap can dry out completely, which is exactly why people come home to a house that smells faintly like a sewer. Run water down every drain in the home before you leave, including the ones you never use.
- Do a Slow Walk & Look for Drips: Take five minutes to look under every sink with a flashlight. Be on the lookout for active drips, water stains, warped cabinet bottoms, or that faint musty smell that means something has been damp for a while. Check around toilet bases and your water heater too. A small leak that you’re able to spot today is a simple repair. The same leak found after three weeks away can involve flooring, drywall, and cabinetry.
What If You’re Gone for Months, Not Days?
If you’re a snowbird, a seasonal resident, or you own a second home here, the vacation prep plumbing checklist changes meaningfully. A house sitting empty from May to September is a very different situation than a nine day trip.
- Shut the water off at the main, without exception. For an extended absence there’s no reason to leave the system pressurized. This single step eliminates the large majority of catastrophic risk.
- Consider draining the system. After shutting off the water main, open the lowest faucet in the house and let the lines drain. Less standing water in the pipes means less opportunity for problems.
- Have your water heater properly addressed. For a months-long absence, this is worth a conversation with a plumber at Any Hour rather than a guess. Depending on your unit and how long you’ll be gone, the right approach varies.
- Arrange for someone to check the house. A neighbor, a property manager, or a service that walks through everything monthly. Someone physically opening the door and looking around can help to catch things that no amount of prep ever could.
- Get an inspection before you go. This is the real recommendation for anyone leaving for a season. An Any Hour plumbing inspection puts eyes on your supply lines, valves, water heater, and fixtures while you’re still in town to do something about what turns up. Any Hour’s plumbers can identify potential issues before they become costly problems, which is exactly the goal when you won’t be home to catch them.
Leave Town With One Less Thing on Your Mind
Vacation should start when you close the door, not somewhere outside Mesquite. 20 minutes of prep, or one inspection before a long absence, is what will turn unnecessary anxiety and issues into a real vacation where you don’t have to think about potential plumbing problems.
Whether you’re going to be gone for a week or headed out for the season, Any Hour Services is here for homeowners across St. George, Washington, Hurricane, Ivins, Santa Clara, La Verkin, Leeds, Toquerville, Cedar City, and surrounding communities. Call (435) 534-7436 or book online any time, seven days a week.