Does the water hose need to be pressurized?

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Rene T

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May 20, 2011
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Farmington NH
My neighbor 2 sites down just had to leave to go back to Canada for 90 days. He had a possible stroke while here and that's one of his insurances requirements if he wants to be covered. I walked over to his shore power pedestal and found that he forgot to shut off the water to his rig. Would there be anything in the RV, not necessarily RV related, which would need to have the water to remain on? I can't think of anything.  I want to shut it off but not too sure if I should .  They gave us their E-Mail address before they left and we've tried to touch bases with them but they haven't responded back and it's been 4 days.  It may be the wrong address were trying. Any thoughts on whether I should shut it off? Thanks.
 
Go ahead and shut it off. There's nothing in an RV that needs constant pressure applied. It wouldn't hurt to stick a note on their door though, to let them know it's off in case you're not around when they return.
 
NY_Dutch said:
Go ahead and shut it off. There's nothing in an RV that needs constant pressure applied. It wouldn't hurt to stick a note on their door though, to let them know it's off in case you're not around when they return.

Thanks Dutch. Any idea if there would be anything NON RV related which may need the water?
 
Rene T said:
Thanks Dutch. Any idea if there would be anything NON RV related which may need the water?

About the only situation I can think of that requires a constant water source, is a hot water or steam heating system that has an automatic water replenishment setup. And you're not likely to ever see one of those in an RV. Maybe some sort of plant or pet watering system, but those usually have their own reservoir.
 
NY_Dutch said:
About the only situation I can think of that requires a constant water source, is a hot water or steam heating system that has an automatic water replenishment setup. And you're not likely to ever see one of those in an RV. Maybe some sort of plant or pet watering system, but those usually have their own reservoir.

Never thought of the plant angle. They don't have pets and besides, it would be for 3 months.
 
Rene T said:
Never thought of the plant angle. They don't have pets and besides, it would be for 3 months.

It's not likely they'd have enough plants on board to call for an automatic drip watering system, so I'd say you're pretty safe in shutting the water off. I suspect it's just something they didn't think of while dealing with the health issue and the need to return to Canada for treatment.
 
Thanks guys. I actually did shut it off already but then it got me thinking. That's scary. I will leave a note someplace on their door in a baggy so it won't get wet.
 
You may want to shut off the propane too. As far as the water heater, I also agree to turn it off. Assuming you don't have access to the inside to turn off the switch(s), open the outside door and lift off the 12 volt leads, and cap them with a wire nuts. I also agree with a note indicating what you have done.
 
The distinction between "Good Samaritan" and "meddler" can be mighty slim in some people's eyes.  :-\

In my opinion, disconnecting wires on somebody else's RV, without their explicit permission, is going a bit too far. The risk of the water heater evaporating too much water is extremely slim anyway. In theory at least, it can't happen unless something else in the hot water system has a fault of some sort.

If you really think there may be a problem with loss of water pressure, go turn on his city water faucet for a coupe minutes, once a week. That will re-pressurize the lines if pressure has been lost and also refill any reservoir that may have emptied in the interim.


 
Gary RV_Wizard said:
In my opinion, disconnecting wires on somebody else's RV, without their explicit permission, is going a bit too far. The risk of the water heater evaporating too much water is extremely slim anyway. In theory at least, it can't happen unless something else in the hot water system has a fault of some sort.

The distinction between "Good Samaritan" and "meddler" can be mighty slim in some people's eyes.

No I'm not going that far. I'm just shutting off the water.
 
The only thing that could be damaged without the water on would be the possibility if they have a residential refrigerator with an ice maker. At worse, the ice maker pump could continue to cycle trying to get water and burn out or freeze up. We had that happen on ours and had to replace it. Not sure if that is a common occurrence on all ice makers, but it?s definitely now on our checklist to make sure it is turned off when the water is off for any reason.

Vicki
 
Rene, you could try going to WWW.canada411.ca and search for their name to get a phone number to ask if there is anything else that may need to be addressed.

Ed
 
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