Every House Has a Story
What Is That Smell?
A vacant home can look perfectly fine. The doors are locked, the air conditioning is running, and there is no visible water on the floor.
Then someone opens the door and immediately asks:
“What is that smell?”
The answer may be hiding inside an unused sink, shower, bathtub, or floor drain.
The Small Water Barrier Protecting Your Home
Every drain has a curved section of pipe called a P-trap. It holds a small pocket of water that creates a barrier between the home and the sewer system.
Think of it as a simple water door. As long as enough water remains inside the trap, sewer gases stay on the other side.
Leaving a fixture unused for a week or two is generally not a problem. However, when a Florida home remains vacant for an extended period, the water inside the trap can gradually evaporate.
Once that water level becomes too low, the door is open.
Sewer gases can begin entering through the drain. The air-conditioning system may then move the odor away from its original source and circulate it throughout the house. A dry drain in one guest bathroom can suddenly make the entire home smell.
The A/C may not be creating the odor. It may simply be helping it travel.
Odor May Not Be the Only Visitor
The water inside a drain trap also creates a physical barrier against unwanted pests.
If the trap dries out completely, drain flies, cockroaches, and other small pests may have another possible pathway into the home through connected plumbing and sewer lines. These creatures are surprisingly good at finding openings, especially inside a quiet and undisturbed house.
Sometimes the most important protection in a vacant home is nothing more than a small pocket of water hidden inside a pipe.
Why Run the Water Longer?
A few seconds may be enough to refill the trap, but that is not the only reason plumbing fixtures should be operated regularly.
Allowing both hot and cold water to flow longer helps refill the drain trap, rinse the fixture's nearby drainpipe, move standing water out of the branch supply line, exercise faucets and valves, and reveal slow drains or plumbing problems.
Water that remains unused for extended periods can lose disinfectant protection and may develop an unpleasant taste or odor. Regular water movement helps prevent the plumbing system from sitting completely undisturbed month after month.
How Much Water Is Inside the Pipes?
Modern faucets often restrict flow to approximately one gallon per minute. That sounds like plenty, but plumbing lines can hold more water than most homeowners realize.
As a simple example, 100 feet of ¾-inch pipe can hold about two gallons, while 50 feet of ½-inch pipe can hold about half a gallon. A residential water heater may hold 40, 50, or even 80 gallons.
At one gallon per minute, running a faucet for three minutes moves approximately three gallons. Depending on the home's layout, that may be enough to replace the standing water inside the branch supplying that fixture.
It will not completely flush a large water heater, and that is not the purpose of a routine Home Watch visit. However, using hot water allows some fresh water to enter the tank instead of leaving the same water completely undisturbed.
Each faucet only refreshes the plumbing connected to that location. That is why unused sinks, showers, bathtubs, and toilets should be operated individually.
A Small Task With an Important Purpose
Running the water in a vacant home is not simply a box to check. It helps maintain the protective drain traps, moves fresh water through the plumbing, exercises components, and gives developing problems an opportunity to reveal themselves.
The goal is not to waste water. It is to run enough water to keep the plumbing system active and protected while the homeowner is away.
At CK Home Watch, faucets are operated, toilets are flushed, and unused plumbing fixtures are checked as part of the Home Watch visit.
Because sometimes protecting an entire home begins with keeping a small pocket of water exactly where it belongs.
Related story: Why Turn Off the Water When Nobody Is Home?