Calis Beach and Fethiye Turkey Discussion Forum
Calis Beach Forum => Expat & Property Owners Q and A Forum => Topic started by: usedbustickets on December 15, 2014, 16:42:06 PM
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If you are leaving the Turkish house for a period. Do you turn the water off at the mains stopcock or leave it on? Particularly in the winter months or where you have solar water heating? What do you do, and why?
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Turn it off for 2 reasons;
1. In winter temperatures do fall well below freezing at night so if any of the outside taps/pipes to taps freeze and then burst.....
2. Any other time because water pressures can increase significantly in surges. Flexi pipes and connections can burst at high pressures. I have known people come home to water flowing out of bathrooms and kitchen cupboards beneath sinks.
I always put anti freeze in the solar panels in the winter. Remember to drain some of the water out of the panels so that the expansion tank (the little 'tea pot' on the top of the panels) has no water in it, turn off the water supply to it first. Then pour about 2 litres of anti freeze into the 'tea pot'. This ensure that the anti freeze is in the panels and not sitting in the expansion tank/tea pot. Turn the water supply back on when finished to top up the panels and expansion tank.
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Anti-freezing your solar panels is a must.
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Never ever done it in nearly 14 years and never had a problem. Now I'm getting the feeling I should have kept my mouth shut. Watch this space!
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It depends where you live,if its up in Hisumlu, or high up the hills,yes
But wouldn't think so,in Calis area,
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Hisumlu ? Where's that ?
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Very near to Uzuranou on the Ovadeniz Road..... but that is not the question on this post......but nor is this
Whether 'tis Nobler in the mind to suffer
The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune,
Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles,
And by opposing, end them?........
The Bard on hearing that he has to post on CBF again. ;D ;D
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Waffle, waffle....... ;)
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After all that very good advice, my take is turn it off, simply because if you don't and you have a leaky tap somewhere you're gonna come back to a bigger bill.
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Thanks for the comments to date. I think I take Eric (and leeglo) advice and will turn off. I recall a piece of advice here on CBF not so long ago that recommended that after turning off the mains, to drain down the 'highest' tap in the house so that when the water is turned back on, if there has been an increase in water pressure it will reduce the possibility of pipes being blown at turn on.
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I never used to turn off the individual connections under the sinks until I got a message in UK from a neighbour telling me water was pouring out of my garden on to the road. The connection under the kitchen sink had broken and the whole of the ground floor was flooded. I now turn off every tap and connection I can find as well as the mains, including connections to toilets and washing machine. I also had a neighbour who didn't visit there property for several years and found their toilet had been running for all that time and they had a huge water bill. I do have a small problem with air locks when I turn the water back on. I usually turn all the taps on full and after a lot of spluttering and noise it usually clears.
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Whenever the water has been off , either by you turning if off a the mains or when the water has been turned off by the water company for repairs never ever just just whack the water tapes back on again as the sudden rush of either air if its been cut off by the water company or water when its cut off by you can be enough to blow pipes and at worst the solar tanks on the roof .
If you've turned the water off and know there's air in the system because you've drained something down always turn the mains back on very gently at first until you hear the rush of the water then leaving that like that go to to top most tap in the house and gently turn that on at first until the hissing and spurting stop and it has run for at least a minute , then turn it on fully just to check for any trapped air then turn it off.
Then work your way down the house turning each tape on gently at first until any spurting has stopped and then turn them off again.
Once you've done that you can then turn the mains tap back on fully again.
Having said that in some places the water pressure is so high at times it may pay you to leave the mains tap partially off so you don't actually get full water pressure but still enough to get the water to the top of the house and still run the showers without lack of in them.
The place we are living in has had is roof tanks replaced twice before before we moved in in the past and this was only because the water mains were just whacked straight back on by returning owners.
Hope this helps.
Oh and yes I would turn the water main off while you're away.
Alan.
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I always turn off the water if leaving the house for more than 1 week
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We always turn off when the apartment will be empty for more than a few days - no question.
Don't want that call telling me its raining in the apartment downstairs .
Ian
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Sound set of advice and instructions from Alan above. Alan, you want to set up as a consultant in this subject area .... Leak Buster Services ;)
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Just about to say the same UBT, great advice Happy_flyer. ;D
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Why thank you, thank you ha ha
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Thanks Happy Flyer for your advice. I must have just been lucky so far but will definitely follow your instructions in future.
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Anyone would have thought I was a Plumber in a former life, before the plumbing queries start flooding in ................. I wasn't lol
Just passing on what I've picked up since we moved here.
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Haven't posted for some time, but just got an email from our property care company, Rainbow, to say that they've just had a water bill covering the past 5 months for. . . . £500!!!! The villa has 3 bedrooms, with 3 ensuites (2 showers and a jacuzzi bath), with an outdoor pool. This bill is a shock to say the least. I'm wondering if it's a mistake and could be a bill for all 4 villas on the 'estate'. We had to have our electricity split into individual accounts and I assumed our water would be for our villa only. There is a well in the garden from which the pool is filled. Is this a normal water bill for a villa of this size for this period? Help!
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Ouch!! :o :o
Got to be a mistake somewhere.
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Ours is around £160 for the year. similar property type but no Jacuzzi.