About 6 years ago my Wife and I bought our retirement home in a different state. (South). The house has a crawl space under half and a walk out basement under the other half. We packed up the house after labor day the following year and headed home. We came back down over Christmas and the first thing I did is turn on the kitchen faucet to get some water. Nothing. Dag... I headed for the basement and from under the garage door came a steady flow of water into the back yard and down the hill. From the water bill we estimated the main line in from the street let loose under the house about 3 weeks before we got down there. The crawl space filled up and overflowed into the basement which directed the water under the garage door and out; luckily, I guess. Again, Luckily, since we had only recently bought the house there was very little in it since we were doing major renovations. I turned the water off at the street and called a plumber. He discovered the coupling between the main water and the house plumbing system blew off. Further investigation showed the limiter valve at the street which is supposed to bring the water pressure down to a useable 42 psi was set at its max of 150psi. The plumber couldn't believe it didn't rupture our entire system. All fixed and no inside water damage. Just a heart stopping water bill for those three months. Obvious moral. Turn the water off whenever you're gone for more than a day.
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