3 Ways to Turn Off Your Water Supply Quick and Easy
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This knowledge will make regular maintenance easier, and it could save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars in repair costs in a worst-case scenario. If you can’t spot the valve after circling the home a couple of times, it may be in a utility box in the yard. If you cannot locate the valve in the yard, there is a chance that the house doesn’t have a main shut-off valve, so you need to use the emergency curb stop valve to turn off the water to the house. Otherwise, you need to contact the utility directly to have them operate the valve.
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This valve may be installed on the exterior of your home in the front or back or indoors in the basement, for example. Water can also be shut off by the municipality at the home's water meter, which could be on or off your property. But it helps to know where the main valve is located so you can turn off the water yourself. Read on for more information about where and how to shut off your home's water supply.
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For this reason, it’s recommended to locate and test your main shut-off valve now, instead of scrambling to try to find it when water is pouring into your home from a broken water line. The valve should work properly without you needing to rely on any emergency plumbing tools. If you find that it is seized or that the valve doesn’t completely shut off the water to the home, then you should contact a plumber to replace the valve. But if you don't find the shutoff valve near the affected fixture or appliance, don't worry. You can shut off the water by turning off the main water supply valve near the water meter. Ideally, both the cold and hot water will stop flowing, although sometimes tank-style water heaters may continue to empty indefinitely.
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To turn the water supply off, give a gate valve a few turns clockwise until you can’t turn it any further. In most cases, you won’t need any additional tools to turn off the main water shut-off valve. These valves are designed for simple manual hand turning, but if you are having trouble turning it or if the valve is completely seized, you may need to use a channel lock wrench or pipe wrench. The water main shut-off valve could be in a number of places, depending on the age of your home and the climate of your location.
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If you run into this problem, turn off the isolation valve at the top of the water heater to stop the flow of hot water. For a ball valve, turn the lever 90 degrees so it sits perpendicular to the water line. This rotates the ball inside the body of the valve, blocking the flow of water and shutting off the water to the house.
If the valve is in poor shape, have a professional plumber replace it instead of relying on rusted, worn, or potentially leaking fixtures. If the plumbing looks to be in good condition, proceed with operating the valve. The main water shut-off valve is usually located on the main water line, where it enters the home. In most cases, this will be in a basement, cellar, or crawl space because the water line extends from the neighborhood water main and enters the home from under the ground. In warmer areas where freezing pipes aren’t a concern, the main water shutoff might also be found outdoors on an exterior wall, or buried near the street. Water can be shut off to the home at the main valve where the municipal water supply comes into the house.
Should your plumbing freeze in winter or it spring a leak, you'll have to stop your water supply to make repairs. You'll also need to cut off your water when replacing fixtures, changing pipes, and performing maintenance. For most jobs in-the-home jobs, all you'll need to do is switch off an indoor supply valve. The main shut-off valve to the home stops the flow of water into the home, effectively turning off water completely in the house. Relieve the pressure in the pipes by draining the water that’s already in them.
If the valve is difficult to move, use adjustable pliers to get a better grip, but work slowly and gently to avoid damaging it. With a ball valve, turn the lever 90 degrees so it sits perpendicular to the water line. Before there’s any urgency (or water all over the floor) at your place, consider familiarizing yourself now with how to turn off the water supply. Show family members, too, where the valves are and how to cut them off quickly.
After closing off the main shutoff valve, turn on a faucet in your home located on a lower floor, such as in a basement or even outdoors. Doing this allows any standing water to drain out of the plumbing system before you begin working on the pipes. This valve will always be located on the same side of the house as the water meter and it is usually a rather large valve that may need some elbow grease to operate. Rotate the circular handle on a gate valve clockwise until the valve cannot turn any further to turn off the water to your house. Use adjustable pliers or a pipe wrench to gently encourage the valve to rotate, but don’t apply so much pressure that you break the handle or the valve stem. Rotate the circular handle on a gate valve clockwise until it cannot turn any further to turn off the water to the house.
When you turn the water back on, keep the faucet open to give air trapped in the pipes a place to escape. Aaron Stickley is a licensed plumber with 15 years of experience in commercial, new residential plumbing, and residential service and repair. At this point, you can work on any plumbing project that requires a water shutdown, or you can turn the water back on if you were testing the valve. Make sure to keep the sink tap fully open until after the water has been turned back on.
Use these tips to locate the main water shut-off valve and stop the flow of water to your home. Turning off the water to the home is essential for many plumbing repairs and renovation tasks. Find out more about how to operate this valve with the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions below. In warm climates, it may be mounted on the exterior wall of the home or buried in the yard. After turning off the water to the house, you should open a faucet on the lowest level of the home to allow the water left in the pipes to drain.
If your valve is in one of these tight locations, you may need a professional plumber to relocate the valve or to install an easy-to-access secondary valve further down the line. The shutoff will either be a gate valve, which looks like a circular spigot, or a ball valve, which has a lever-style handle. This valve is located deep in the ground and can only be operated with a specific tool known as a curb key. If you have a curb key and are authorized to use the curb stop valve, lower the curb key into the curb stop shaft until it hits the valve at the bottom. Rotate the key until you feel it settle down onto the pin at the bottom of the curb stop shaft. In some cases, you need to rotate the curb key several times to shut off the flow of water, similar to closing a gate valve.
Grip the handle of the valve firmly and apply pressure in the correct direction to turn the valve. Go slow and do your best to avoid squeezing too tightly, applying too much force to the stem, or otherwise damaging the valve. If it remains seized, then you will need to speak to a plumber to have the main valve repaired before proceeding. Some homes are equipped with branch valves that shut off the water supply to selected lines in the home. These valves are located along the main branch pipes and located in accessible utility areas.
Turn on a sink located in the lowest level of your home, so water in the pipes from the floors above drain all the way down. Make sure to open both the hot and cold taps and run them until they empty completely. At this point, you can start working on any plumbing projects that require the water to be shut down. Turning off the water shut-off valve or closing the emergency curb stop valve should shut off the water to the house.
This allows any air in the plumbing lines to exit through the faucet instead of becoming trapped where it can cause water hammer issues. So, if you flush the toilet when the water is off, the water from the tank will empty into the toilet bowl, leaving the tank empty until the water is turned back on. This means that the toilet can be flushed one time, even with the water off, but will not be able to be flushed again until the tank is refilled. After tracking down the valve, do a quick inspection to determine its condition. If the valve is significantly damaged, rusted, or worn, replace it immediately. However, if the valve seems like it’s in good shape, go ahead and test its functionality.
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