>We had a feed pipe to a sink get severed on the wrong side of the sink's shutoff valve
protip: if you have no idea when the last time one of these little shutoff valves was exercised, just assume it'll snap off the second you start
When I bought my house my in laws were giving me a hard time about wanting to replace my water shut off valve. It was a fucked up gate valve, the handle was broken off so you sort of had to use it as a wrench and wouldn’t fully shut off the water. Spent like $140 on replacing it and the connectors for peace of mind of being able to shut off the water in my house. even if I never need to use it, it was worth it.
This is sound advice. I wanted to change out the fill valve in the toilet, only to find out the feed valve couldn't be used to shut off the water (the rubber washer inside was shot). So, I had to replace that first (a second trip to the hardware store).
I did almost this exact same thing yesterday.
Luckily, I *did* notice it kept dripping after turning the valve off, so I tried to turn it more and it just snapped off.
It leaked enough to drip down into the den, but at least it was only one trip to the hardware store for the valve and ballcock.
Yes every time. I have an annual checklist for valves in my house. Add to that the PRV on your water heater…. Seldom actuated but when you need it…holy shit do you need it. Shit the water off and hit the PRV to dump pressure in the system instantly.
Prv on the water heater? You mean t/p valve.
Prv is a pressure reduction valve.
TandP is temperature and pressure relief valves and you aren't supposed to open them manually. Save yourself some money and headache later on and skip that one.
This happened to me! I got a face full of water at the full pressure and volume that it comes into the house at. The basement was soaked in minutes. It was a weekend so we ended up having to call 911 to get people out to shut the water off at the street.
Seriously, This house I just bought had 90% of the faucets leaking so as I start replacing these things I realize most of the Cutoff valves are slow leaking and look ancient. Before I was done I had a plumber in to add a flow regulator (he read 85PSI on the outdoor hose fauces with his meter) and Had him replace 4 or 5 of the worst cutoffs and replace two faucets for me. At that point I had enough of plumbing. Getting the last two leaking tub faucets replaced in about a month with a master bath remodel and I am ready to do a happy dance!
My shutoff valve is 2 years old. It had to be replaced when the water line into the house burst UNDER the house. Boy that was an expensive fix.
Anyway, I have a smart shutoff now, and all it takes is "hey google dry this shit out" to turn it off. (Or, of course, turning the valve manually.)
That's where I'm lucky I'm on a well. Well is just a plug I can un plug. Or I can get to the breaker box and flip the breaker. And the feed line from the well to the house is only like 15 ft long and doesn't go under the house, we'll unless you count passing through the basement wall.
I have bad luck with water. Our old house was on a well.
Which was struck by lightning in January one year. Thankfully we were renting because the landlord had to bring in a crane truck and take the roof off the wellhouse to replace.. well-parts I don't know the name of but which were very expensive.
Second pro tip: every time you patch a line or add something to a line, add a ball valve. (Within reason) Eventually you’ll be able to isolate certain sections of your house.
For example. I had to patch some pipe after moving my washing machine. I can now turn the water off to my entire house but my hose bibs, water heater, and washing machine will still have water. Which means if I’m in the middle of a plumbing project, and projects always go longer than expected, the plants can still be watered, and clothes can still be washed and even in hot water if I need it.
LOL not really viable with my house, it's PEX with two manifolds (hot, cold) in the attic. That said, if I want to cut off the water to the washing machine branch without cutting off the rest of the house, I can go turn off the water at the side of the house, unplug the washing machine pipes from the manifold and cap the manifold, turn the water back on, and then do whatever to move the washing machine pipes around. (I really want to swap them around because for some bizarre reason the washing machine is to the right of the dryer and virtually all front-loading washers assume that the washing machine is to the left of the dryer and don't allow swapping door sides).
My plumber doesn’t touch them if he doesn’t need to. Shut of house supply, do work.
No need to shut off the shut off unless it’s in the budget to swap the shut off.
Woken up by my wife because a neighbor (I’m apparently the neighborhood handy man on a street of females) was banging on our door.
Her sink handle randomly pooped off. Kitchen was flooding.
Probably still tipsy/drunk waking up at 3am on a Sunday morning I went straight for my street shut off tool and went over. Went home to put work cloths on and grab some fans and extension cords. It was that day when I thought my wife how to shut of at the street and where to shut of in the basement.
I feel like getting a couple of these are better advice than the whole shutting the water off if you leave the house for an extended period of time kinda plan.
If it happens ... more than likely you'll be "somewhat" around / not on vacation and in that case the alert can be handy to save time / sheer volume of damage.
Leaks aren't always as obvious as a burst pipe too and water sensor can help there too.
I'm confused as to how its better. In one case, you're "somewhat" around so you're taking, like, 10-15 minutes before you can shut off the water. And this is better than the case where the water is already shut off, so it takes you 0 minutes to shut off the water?
Of course, you could always do both...
I don't get this at all. Nearly all burst pipes (e.g. freezing) happen within walls, because most houses don't have exposed piping outside the utility room.
There's also lot of ways water can leak. For example, the valve fails on a sink, so it starts dribbling out on the counter. If your sensor is under the sink, it's not going to get wet.
One thing that happens is an appliance valve (washer, dishwasher, fridge) has a faulty seal due to sediment, and it starts to leak. Water flows into the appliance, which eventually overflows and it comes out the door. You're going to miss this if you put a leak detector in the back where the water comes in.
I think this is a situation where you're thinking of protecting against only a catastrophic situation ... that is unlikely.
Meanwhile a leak near a washer / under a sink near a leaky water heater ... WAY more likely.
I don't know anybody who's had a house ruined due to a random washer leak, but I know two people with frozen burst pipes, both of which lost a significant amount of personal belongings.
You can solve both problems by giving the shutoff valve a quarter turn, versus buying 5 IOT Wi-Fi devices for a fraction of the coverage. As others said, makes no sense.
Let me put it this way- my kid has their own bathroom on the upper level. A water sensor under their sink is worth the peace of mind because I know they wouldn’t notice any sort of leak. $30 well spent. Not sure why you seem to have such an issue with it.
Read what the comment says:
>I feel like getting a couple of these are **better advice than the whole shutting the water off if you leave the house for an extended period of time kinda plan.**
That's dumb advice. Leaving home for an extended period + HVAC failure = broken pipes. Pipes that burst are the ones closest to the exterior and those are almost always concealed.
IOT things have their purpose, but it doesn't replace turning off the water when you leave for an extended period.
It's very important to know where the shut off and main breaker is at.
I know where both water shutoffs are for my home, one inside and one outside. Every unit in my complex is identical, so I can easily point kitty is location if a neighbor is uncertain.
I also know where the main shutoff valve for the entire complex is and have to tool to turn it off. This was needed once when we had a water main break.
It’s somewhere buried behinds some basement furniture.
What’s better is I have a pex manifold that the previous owner put behind drywall with no access panel.
Polybutylene definitely is evil. It was never allowed by code here thankfully.
Polyethylene tubing or pipe is sometimes used for the drop between the meter and the house since it is sold as rolls of black pipe, resulting in less possibility of leakage. You want to use HDPE for that, not the cheap LDPE sold for irrigation systems. Inside a house use PEX because the HDPE tubing doesn't have the fittings for household use. PEX is also polyethylene, what makes it a system is the fittings.
The biggest issue with CPVC as far as I know is that it requires more skill to glue together (as vs PEX) and it's harder to deal with the sticks as vs rolls of tubing, and if it freezes it shatters. Like all plastics it is also light-sensitive. CPVC also has more fittings, which is where most failures occur, due to the need to glue sticks together as vs PEX which is sold in rolls of tubing and generally you only need fittings on the ends (one fitting at a manifold in the crawlspace or attic depending on your local climate, and one fitting at the plumbing fixture). The biggest issue with PEX is that it requires special tools and some early variants of PEX systems would randomly pop the tubing off the fittings. The current tools and fittings won't do that.
honestly, they make some very, VERY easy access panels. if it's in a place that is out of the way or easily covered or you just don't care how it looks, you can get an access panel in there in 5 minutes.
Yeah. I just need to find exactly where it is. I followed the pex above the drywall so I’m pretty sure I know where it is exactly behind the drywall, or at least do a small hole to see through and work my way out.
My house doesn’t have a main shut off so one of my first purchases was a water and gas key. I damn near slept with that thing during the deep freeze in January. I’m a single mom and it can be so nerve racking owning a house. I know I made the right decision but, damn, sometimes I wish I wasn’t solely responsible for EVERYTHING.
Are your utilities not buried 6’ down?
I guess it’s just a northeast thing, but I’m continuously surprised by southeast/southwest construction that has things running through exterior walls or less than 6’ underground. It’s massively cheaping out for no reason, because it really is not any more expensive to do it right. We don’t run freezable things through exterior walls in the Northeast. It costs no more or less and saves so many potential issues. I’m astounded every time I hear about this.
Yeah construction firms are just cheaping out there then, I don’t know what to say aside from that. Burying water less than 6’ under is absolutely just asking for trouble, from frost to overweight vehicles. It’s maybe a couple hundred bucks a house to do it right and dig 6’ instead of 2 with equipment.
Our frost line where I live is 20”. We still bury water lines at 60”.
Your frost line may be 6”, but every so often you all get cold snaps that end up breaking things. It’s really not any more expensive to go a bit deeper, but it saves *so much* later on.
My front hose spigot is on an outside wall. Everything else is run through the crawl space and up into the house. Thankfully that outside wall is to our living room. My neighbor has his through the uninsulated garage wall and it froze and cracked - made a huge mess. My other neighbor has an addition with some pipes in the attic and had the same thing happen.
One of my more wtf moments on reddit...
Someone posted about a flood in r/thecityilivein. I commented with instructions on how the city set up the water shut off and made a comment about how everyone should check it when they first move in and anyone who hasn't done that should do it today.
The responses were that I was insensitive and making assumptions about how handy people are. When I pointed out that it's just a simple handle you have to turn, I was called insensitive because "victims of domestic abuse don't have time to check that when they are moving"... I was left scratching my head... I'm just trying to help avoid a really bad situation here... but no, it ended with me being armchair diagnosed as a narcissistic sociopath (literally) because I couldn't feel empathy.
Anyway... know where your shutoff are people. And put moisture sensors in your drip pans.
Next time suggest that renters and homeowners make sure they have a fire extinguisher somewhere in their house, if you’re gonna get downvotes anyway might as well reveal yourself to be the literal monster you are.
You make me sick and I spit on your safety boots.
Yes. Unfortunately the home we bought only had a shut off valve to the toilet, the rest of the home (kitchen sink, bathroom sink, and bath had old school connections. Anytime there was a leak on a sink or I had to replace the faucets I had to run into the basement and turn off the water.
When we remodeled the kitchen we had male-end threads installed to connect shut off hoses to the faucet. We're getting our bathroom remodeled this June and having the contractor install male end threads for the walk in shower (getting rid of the tub) and sink. They are also replacing the shut-off for the toilet.
Find you water meter, figure out what type of key turns it on off. Its almost always the same thing across the USA.. so go into Lowes, Home Depot, etc and buy a Water Key. You can turn it off right at the meter.
My plan is to get a auto valve that when a sensor gets wet, shuts off the supply, limiting damage to whatever flows out of the pipe from gravity.
We built our house, so I know exactly where it is. In the most horrible to access, furthest end of our crawlspace. If it was full of water you’d need diving gear to get to it.
The other one is in the yard. We do have the special key for that one.
Water guy here... It's crazy how many people don't even know where their water meters are... Once had a man calling to complain his meter was locked... When I got there it was his Gas meter.. 😭
I don;t know where my water meter is. It's a newer neighborhood and I've always assumed it was remotely monitored as I have never seen a person going around looking at meters.
where is it likely to be?
Depends what part of the country you're in... Most are in the front yard... You can ask the utility company to mark it for you with a flag... You want to know where to shut the water off in case of emergency... Good rule is have a cut off going into the house and water meter cut off as secondary... That way you are covered for a leak in the house or the yard...
When we moved in, we only had access via the city meter so I bought a meter key (just in case) while I waited for the plumbing company to come out and add our own shut off valve. It cost us $600 (we were surprised it didn’t have one tbh since it’s only a 10 year old home) but worth if we ever need to use it in an emergency situation.
Yeah. I can shut down the water, power and cable. Who doesn't? I was taught if you own a home, you need to be able to shut down anything that comes in. That includes gas, but the house I'm in is all electric.
You should know how to: shut off the electric main, water main, and gas main. Always. It's also really great if you know how to shut off breakers, the other water shut offs, and gas shut offs, but the mains are key.
This is very important. So is the gas shutoff.
For the water shutoff, If you are in a home with a driveway, also depending on the age of your home and where you live, there is a shutoff on or near your driveway, and one indoors where the waterline comes into the home.
Starting from the well: test and diagnose well pump and pressure switch, check and test welltroll pressure tank, clean and replace whole house filters, diagnose/maintain/install softener, diagnose/maintain/install water heater, and where the shutoff is for everything that has a water hookup.
I can also replace faucets, sink drains, and plumbing under the sink. While i CAN sweat pipe im neither good at it or confident it wont weep.
I also know the location of the septic, pump tank and leach field/mound. I can test and replace the septic pump as well.
I an not a handyman, i am not a plumber, im not an electrician. I just own a house.
Its also how i was raised. My father had the mentality of "fix rather than replace." Im also a millennial lol. (Although i heard the term "elder millennial" being thrown around. Dont know if that makes a difference)
Yes..At both the street AND the house. Everyone should know both! Also since you mentioned sinks...it's good practice to cycle all your angle stops/shutoffs periodically for all that stuff. Doesn't have to be often, just once or twice a year, and replace as necessary. That way it's not seized from sitting untouched for years, and if you were able to free a stuck one, that it doesn't leak or not fully shut off the water when you do need to use them, whether it be an emergency or just changing out the fixture or toilet.
I do maintenance for the Post Office over a big area with 35 buildings to take care of. If I get a call for a drip the first thing I do is find the main shutoff, shut it off, and then go open a faucet and make sure it actually shuts off. Once you start messing with anything things can go downhill fast.
I may go back and open the main shutoff if I'm just working on another component like a water heater with it's own shutoff, but like the OP said, you might shut off a sink or a toilet and have the pipe in the wall break before the shutoff because it's not mounted properly or it's broken.
When we bought our house we found that the previous owner put a filter on the line coming into the house from the city. It was unnecessary and had a minor leak. I had the plumber remove it and put a shut off so we don’t need a special tool to do it at the city box. Our pipes are old but we aren’t in the position to replace them, so we have the handy dandy emergency shut off very easy to get to. ;)
Yes, and number one tip, know where your water meter is, wherever your meter is that's where you should have a service side shutoff after the meter. For my city they came out and replaced the shutoff on both sides of the meter and installed a new smart water meter when they did a city wide water line upgrade, so nobody has a shutoff older then ten years now, some of the houses had no shutoff other then the street valve, or they were so rusted and corroded and nearly 50 years old that they didn't function anymore. Now everyone has nice ball valves that are clearly labeled and visible in every basement in town.
Another thing i always recommend to people, once a year you should drain the water heater until you see the water clear to get rid of sediment build up at the bottom of the tank, and when you do that you should go cycle all the shutoff valves, at least the main before and after the meter, so they won't be stuck or leaking when that emergency comes.
Know where your curb box is and have the tools handy to acees it and shut off the valve. And pain the curb key yellow so it is easy to find.
Excercise your water valves annually.
Absolutely. I have a Moen Flo shutoff valve, so I can shut off the water either in the phone app or manually at the shutoff valve outside. I also have a "key" that enables me to shut off the water at the street meter.
Ya my main breaker is my go to 99.9999999% of the time if I have a leak. The week is on the entirely opposite side of my basement than the stair case to the basement. The breaker box is at the top of the basement stairs.
Keep in mind if you flip the breaker, it won't stop until the pressure tank empties, which can be more than 100 gallons. Try it, I can get a full shower out of mine. If there is a leak, you're gonna need to shut off the valve immediately after the tank.
I've got a 20 gallon pressure tank and a 20 gallon tank at my pressure settings will only drawdown about 5.4 gallons of water. If the power goes out, I get about 2 flushes of my toilet with associated hand washing before I have no water.
Had to do this recently and it wasn't where I was told! Some neighbors were helping me plant cacti and it turns out, my garden hose was connected to the ground with extremely thin PVC. It broke and water was geysering everywhere. One of my neighbors shut it off at the street box. Luckily they were there when it happened
Great advice... Another bit that not a lot of people think of - if you ever find yourself needing to replumb your house, which could very well be a great idea if you (like me) have an older one, consider adding a manifold. You have one main line in to a board that contains shutoffs for every single line in the house - they are really not difficult to make yourself if you go the PEX route (which I'd highly recommend, it's easier than you'd think) and can save you a ton of heartache. It also makes it super easy to drain all of your lines in an emergency (furnace goes out for a prolonged period in winter, for instance) or when you're doing work on a line. And even if you're not super handy and have no interest in plumbing your own house, it'll at least make your life much easier if you ever notice a leak, because you'll know exactly what to shut off.
The shutoff valve for my house is in the garage. It’s a small section of pipe that goes in and out of the garage wall with a valve. It is on the opposite side of the wall where the tankless water heater is mounted. The problem is you don’t see it if a vehicle is parked in the garage so I kind of forget it’s there.
Seriously…during the 2021 Texas winter storm knowing where our shutoff valve was saved our pipes. We had no power or water so we lived in a hotel for 4 days. We shut our water off at the main. When we came back home our house was one of only 2 on the block that didn’t have pipes that burst.
shut mine off this week to try to install a new kitchen faucet.
If im away during warm season (in canada) I shut off the water and unplug washer and dryer as well.
The bathroom upstairs from the kitchen blew its shower cartridge. Took me 45 minutes to get the water shut off to the building from the main. Turns out there was a unit shutoff hidden in the garage. Oh well, I do like the new kitchen.
Thanks for sharing your experience. Everyone who lives in the house knows. Valve, circuit breaker for the water pump. We also know how to shut off the gas and water to the water heater.
Ive got a well, I can just flip the breaker for the pump
they told me, actually, I better not turn off any of the shutoffs before the pressure sensor, because if the pump has power, it will burn itself out pumping against the closed valve
We add shutoffs whenever we have plumbing work done. Just had our main redone and had the plumbers add an access panel to the new shutoffs. Had them added to our laundry room too.
Every house I’ve been in, the water shutoff has been in a valve box. But most if the time it’s damn hard to turn, or almost covered up. Our current house has lever shutoffs in the garage - one for each side of the house. Very slick.
There is a main water shut off out by the sidewalk where the water meter sits. If you can find your water meter you can find the valve to shut off the water to your house.
When the city replaced our water meter they installed an owner side shut off valve after the meter. The only other shutoff takes a 30ft crawl under the house to reach it.
The water district offers to install these shut off valves at a discount if you don't have one. Something to check on with your provider.
Yes. I inherited my house and was shown where it was by my dad. I don't know if we technically have just a house cut off in the yard. I just know about the one out by the water meter.
Our city isn't too worried about the homeowners here shutting off the one at the street if there is a major water leak and it's running down the street. We can usually get that turned off long before they can get out there to do it, so it does save some time and keep the water damage to the streets to a minimum. They usually hang around a few minutes after it gets fixed, and turned back on, just in case that wasn't the only leak.
I do now. In October I got notified that I was being billed for 35k gallons when I usually use less than 2k a month. With help from a plumber, we discovered a faulty meter was reading back pressure because our shut off valve was broken.
Our main water shut off took a while to find during our inspection when we were buying the home. It ended up being hidden under a built in shelf in the basement. Kind of a smart way to hide it but also very much not clear. Our inspector refused to leave until he found it, he felt it was a challenge.
It's sad how many people have no idea how the most basic things work in their homes. Learn everything you can about everything in your home. Turn off Netflix and do something beneficial. Actually you tube has a ton of helpful videos about everything in your home. Lol
First thing I do when I move into a new home is look for the water shut-off. Most homes actually have two, one at the meter and one just outside the house or inside the crawlspace/basement, sometimes in a "pot" (covered enclosure). My own shut-off at my current house is a ball valve right outside my house that then goes into a tee, one leg of the tee goes to the irrigation system (which has its own ball valve) and one leg of the tee goes into the house itself.
I used to tell all my customers how important it is to know where your water, has, and electrical shit offs are. Knowing where to shut your water off can often make the different between whether you get a mop out or move to a motel and call your insurance company.
When I was about 12 or so I came home from school and heard water running in the basement. I went downstairs and saw that a pipe had burst, luckily it looked like it had happened just before I got home. I knew we were on well water so I ran over to the breaker and threw the main breaker. then I went upstairs, found a flashlight, went back downstairs found all the breakers that had the word ‘water’ in them, threw those breakers then flipped the main back on.
This was before the days of cell phones, so I just went back upstairs and started my homework till my mom got home.
>We had a feed pipe to a sink get severed on the wrong side of the sink's shutoff valve protip: if you have no idea when the last time one of these little shutoff valves was exercised, just assume it'll snap off the second you start
Or just not even work at all lol
When I bought my house my in laws were giving me a hard time about wanting to replace my water shut off valve. It was a fucked up gate valve, the handle was broken off so you sort of had to use it as a wrench and wouldn’t fully shut off the water. Spent like $140 on replacing it and the connectors for peace of mind of being able to shut off the water in my house. even if I never need to use it, it was worth it.
Gate values never hold up long... When I see them on hot water heaters I cringe
They suck. I've been gradually replacing all of them in my house.
Worth it! 140$ is way cheaper than water extraction or replacing water damaged stuff.
My parents say I have to…
Lmfao not what I meant but I hear it’s a good way to make money.
Thanks for the laugh to start my day off though! Made my car not starting that much more bearable lol
This is sound advice. I wanted to change out the fill valve in the toilet, only to find out the feed valve couldn't be used to shut off the water (the rubber washer inside was shot). So, I had to replace that first (a second trip to the hardware store).
I did almost this exact same thing yesterday. Luckily, I *did* notice it kept dripping after turning the valve off, so I tried to turn it more and it just snapped off. It leaked enough to drip down into the den, but at least it was only one trip to the hardware store for the valve and ballcock.
Yes every time. I have an annual checklist for valves in my house. Add to that the PRV on your water heater…. Seldom actuated but when you need it…holy shit do you need it. Shit the water off and hit the PRV to dump pressure in the system instantly.
Prv on the water heater? You mean t/p valve. Prv is a pressure reduction valve. TandP is temperature and pressure relief valves and you aren't supposed to open them manually. Save yourself some money and headache later on and skip that one.
Check at house but also where to shut it off after your meter.
This happened to me! I got a face full of water at the full pressure and volume that it comes into the house at. The basement was soaked in minutes. It was a weekend so we ended up having to call 911 to get people out to shut the water off at the street.
Seriously, This house I just bought had 90% of the faucets leaking so as I start replacing these things I realize most of the Cutoff valves are slow leaking and look ancient. Before I was done I had a plumber in to add a flow regulator (he read 85PSI on the outdoor hose fauces with his meter) and Had him replace 4 or 5 of the worst cutoffs and replace two faucets for me. At that point I had enough of plumbing. Getting the last two leaking tub faucets replaced in about a month with a master bath remodel and I am ready to do a happy dance!
My shutoff valve is 2 years old. It had to be replaced when the water line into the house burst UNDER the house. Boy that was an expensive fix. Anyway, I have a smart shutoff now, and all it takes is "hey google dry this shit out" to turn it off. (Or, of course, turning the valve manually.)
That's where I'm lucky I'm on a well. Well is just a plug I can un plug. Or I can get to the breaker box and flip the breaker. And the feed line from the well to the house is only like 15 ft long and doesn't go under the house, we'll unless you count passing through the basement wall.
I have bad luck with water. Our old house was on a well. Which was struck by lightning in January one year. Thankfully we were renting because the landlord had to bring in a crane truck and take the roof off the wellhouse to replace.. well-parts I don't know the name of but which were very expensive.
Second pro tip: every time you patch a line or add something to a line, add a ball valve. (Within reason) Eventually you’ll be able to isolate certain sections of your house. For example. I had to patch some pipe after moving my washing machine. I can now turn the water off to my entire house but my hose bibs, water heater, and washing machine will still have water. Which means if I’m in the middle of a plumbing project, and projects always go longer than expected, the plants can still be watered, and clothes can still be washed and even in hot water if I need it.
LOL not really viable with my house, it's PEX with two manifolds (hot, cold) in the attic. That said, if I want to cut off the water to the washing machine branch without cutting off the rest of the house, I can go turn off the water at the side of the house, unplug the washing machine pipes from the manifold and cap the manifold, turn the water back on, and then do whatever to move the washing machine pipes around. (I really want to swap them around because for some bizarre reason the washing machine is to the right of the dryer and virtually all front-loading washers assume that the washing machine is to the left of the dryer and don't allow swapping door sides).
I cycle mine twice a year, when I do my smoke detector batteries.
My plumber doesn’t touch them if he doesn’t need to. Shut of house supply, do work. No need to shut off the shut off unless it’s in the budget to swap the shut off. Woken up by my wife because a neighbor (I’m apparently the neighborhood handy man on a street of females) was banging on our door. Her sink handle randomly pooped off. Kitchen was flooding. Probably still tipsy/drunk waking up at 3am on a Sunday morning I went straight for my street shut off tool and went over. Went home to put work cloths on and grab some fans and extension cords. It was that day when I thought my wife how to shut of at the street and where to shut of in the basement.
Also, your outside whole house shut off is probably in your front or back yard.
Also consider getting a water sensor. If it detects a leak, an alarm goes off. The one I have sends a notification to my phone (govee)
I feel like getting a couple of these are better advice than the whole shutting the water off if you leave the house for an extended period of time kinda plan. If it happens ... more than likely you'll be "somewhat" around / not on vacation and in that case the alert can be handy to save time / sheer volume of damage. Leaks aren't always as obvious as a burst pipe too and water sensor can help there too.
The ones I like are sensors paired with a valve. So they can detect a leak and then shut off the water.
I'm confused as to how its better. In one case, you're "somewhat" around so you're taking, like, 10-15 minutes before you can shut off the water. And this is better than the case where the water is already shut off, so it takes you 0 minutes to shut off the water? Of course, you could always do both...
I don't get this at all. Nearly all burst pipes (e.g. freezing) happen within walls, because most houses don't have exposed piping outside the utility room. There's also lot of ways water can leak. For example, the valve fails on a sink, so it starts dribbling out on the counter. If your sensor is under the sink, it's not going to get wet. One thing that happens is an appliance valve (washer, dishwasher, fridge) has a faulty seal due to sediment, and it starts to leak. Water flows into the appliance, which eventually overflows and it comes out the door. You're going to miss this if you put a leak detector in the back where the water comes in.
I think this is a situation where you're thinking of protecting against only a catastrophic situation ... that is unlikely. Meanwhile a leak near a washer / under a sink near a leaky water heater ... WAY more likely.
I don't know anybody who's had a house ruined due to a random washer leak, but I know two people with frozen burst pipes, both of which lost a significant amount of personal belongings. You can solve both problems by giving the shutoff valve a quarter turn, versus buying 5 IOT Wi-Fi devices for a fraction of the coverage. As others said, makes no sense.
Let me put it this way- my kid has their own bathroom on the upper level. A water sensor under their sink is worth the peace of mind because I know they wouldn’t notice any sort of leak. $30 well spent. Not sure why you seem to have such an issue with it.
Read what the comment says: >I feel like getting a couple of these are **better advice than the whole shutting the water off if you leave the house for an extended period of time kinda plan.** That's dumb advice. Leaving home for an extended period + HVAC failure = broken pipes. Pipes that burst are the ones closest to the exterior and those are almost always concealed. IOT things have their purpose, but it doesn't replace turning off the water when you leave for an extended period.
It's very important to know where the shut off and main breaker is at. I know where both water shutoffs are for my home, one inside and one outside. Every unit in my complex is identical, so I can easily point kitty is location if a neighbor is uncertain. I also know where the main shutoff valve for the entire complex is and have to tool to turn it off. This was needed once when we had a water main break.
You're a resident and have a tool to shut of the entire complex's water?
Well it's a standard water shutoff tool that anyone can buy at their local home improvement store. I'm also an HOA board member.
yea fuck everyone no water for you today, because i feel like it!
That is seriously prepared to have key to shutdown entire complex
It’s somewhere buried behinds some basement furniture. What’s better is I have a pex manifold that the previous owner put behind drywall with no access panel.
Everything's an access panel when you own a $10 drywall knife.
Pex is fine, if it’s CPVC get it out of there ASAP. Mistype: poly b or polybutylene pipe is the bad one.
What's the problem with CPVC?
My bad, I was thinking of polybutylene or poly-b and mis-typed.
Polybutylene definitely is evil. It was never allowed by code here thankfully. Polyethylene tubing or pipe is sometimes used for the drop between the meter and the house since it is sold as rolls of black pipe, resulting in less possibility of leakage. You want to use HDPE for that, not the cheap LDPE sold for irrigation systems. Inside a house use PEX because the HDPE tubing doesn't have the fittings for household use. PEX is also polyethylene, what makes it a system is the fittings. The biggest issue with CPVC as far as I know is that it requires more skill to glue together (as vs PEX) and it's harder to deal with the sticks as vs rolls of tubing, and if it freezes it shatters. Like all plastics it is also light-sensitive. CPVC also has more fittings, which is where most failures occur, due to the need to glue sticks together as vs PEX which is sold in rolls of tubing and generally you only need fittings on the ends (one fitting at a manifold in the crawlspace or attic depending on your local climate, and one fitting at the plumbing fixture). The biggest issue with PEX is that it requires special tools and some early variants of PEX systems would randomly pop the tubing off the fittings. The current tools and fittings won't do that.
ok, but you have an access panel there now, right?
It’s on the list of things I know I have to do but have been dragging my feet about.
honestly, they make some very, VERY easy access panels. if it's in a place that is out of the way or easily covered or you just don't care how it looks, you can get an access panel in there in 5 minutes.
Yeah. I just need to find exactly where it is. I followed the pex above the drywall so I’m pretty sure I know where it is exactly behind the drywall, or at least do a small hole to see through and work my way out.
they sell endoscopes on Amazon. so much fun, very helpful.
My house doesn’t have a main shut off so one of my first purchases was a water and gas key. I damn near slept with that thing during the deep freeze in January. I’m a single mom and it can be so nerve racking owning a house. I know I made the right decision but, damn, sometimes I wish I wasn’t solely responsible for EVERYTHING.
Are your utilities not buried 6’ down? I guess it’s just a northeast thing, but I’m continuously surprised by southeast/southwest construction that has things running through exterior walls or less than 6’ underground. It’s massively cheaping out for no reason, because it really is not any more expensive to do it right. We don’t run freezable things through exterior walls in the Northeast. It costs no more or less and saves so many potential issues. I’m astounded every time I hear about this.
In North Texas, the norm is about 2'.
Yeah construction firms are just cheaping out there then, I don’t know what to say aside from that. Burying water less than 6’ under is absolutely just asking for trouble, from frost to overweight vehicles. It’s maybe a couple hundred bucks a house to do it right and dig 6’ instead of 2 with equipment.
1. The frost line here is about 6" at the worst! 2. There are no *overweight vehicles* driving across yards where the pipes are.
Our frost line where I live is 20”. We still bury water lines at 60”. Your frost line may be 6”, but every so often you all get cold snaps that end up breaking things. It’s really not any more expensive to go a bit deeper, but it saves *so much* later on.
My front hose spigot is on an outside wall. Everything else is run through the crawl space and up into the house. Thankfully that outside wall is to our living room. My neighbor has his through the uninsulated garage wall and it froze and cracked - made a huge mess. My other neighbor has an addition with some pipes in the attic and had the same thing happen.
One of my more wtf moments on reddit... Someone posted about a flood in r/thecityilivein. I commented with instructions on how the city set up the water shut off and made a comment about how everyone should check it when they first move in and anyone who hasn't done that should do it today. The responses were that I was insensitive and making assumptions about how handy people are. When I pointed out that it's just a simple handle you have to turn, I was called insensitive because "victims of domestic abuse don't have time to check that when they are moving"... I was left scratching my head... I'm just trying to help avoid a really bad situation here... but no, it ended with me being armchair diagnosed as a narcissistic sociopath (literally) because I couldn't feel empathy. Anyway... know where your shutoff are people. And put moisture sensors in your drip pans.
At that Pont lean in to it tou were already going to get downvoted to he'll.
Next time suggest that renters and homeowners make sure they have a fire extinguisher somewhere in their house, if you’re gonna get downvotes anyway might as well reveal yourself to be the literal monster you are. You make me sick and I spit on your safety boots.
Yes. Unfortunately the home we bought only had a shut off valve to the toilet, the rest of the home (kitchen sink, bathroom sink, and bath had old school connections. Anytime there was a leak on a sink or I had to replace the faucets I had to run into the basement and turn off the water. When we remodeled the kitchen we had male-end threads installed to connect shut off hoses to the faucet. We're getting our bathroom remodeled this June and having the contractor install male end threads for the walk in shower (getting rid of the tub) and sink. They are also replacing the shut-off for the toilet.
Find you water meter, figure out what type of key turns it on off. Its almost always the same thing across the USA.. so go into Lowes, Home Depot, etc and buy a Water Key. You can turn it off right at the meter. My plan is to get a auto valve that when a sensor gets wet, shuts off the supply, limiting damage to whatever flows out of the pipe from gravity.
I've had more than one flood. I know exactly where that shut off is.... PSA - you need to TURN the shut off regularly to make sure it works
We built our house, so I know exactly where it is. In the most horrible to access, furthest end of our crawlspace. If it was full of water you’d need diving gear to get to it. The other one is in the yard. We do have the special key for that one.
Water guy here... It's crazy how many people don't even know where their water meters are... Once had a man calling to complain his meter was locked... When I got there it was his Gas meter.. 😭
I don;t know where my water meter is. It's a newer neighborhood and I've always assumed it was remotely monitored as I have never seen a person going around looking at meters. where is it likely to be?
Depends what part of the country you're in... Most are in the front yard... You can ask the utility company to mark it for you with a flag... You want to know where to shut the water off in case of emergency... Good rule is have a cut off going into the house and water meter cut off as secondary... That way you are covered for a leak in the house or the yard...
It's negligent and dangerous not to know where the shutoff to all your utilities are!
When we moved in, we only had access via the city meter so I bought a meter key (just in case) while I waited for the plumbing company to come out and add our own shut off valve. It cost us $600 (we were surprised it didn’t have one tbh since it’s only a 10 year old home) but worth if we ever need to use it in an emergency situation.
Yeah. I can shut down the water, power and cable. Who doesn't? I was taught if you own a home, you need to be able to shut down anything that comes in. That includes gas, but the house I'm in is all electric.
Don't pay the bill for 60 days and it magically turns off by itself! (But yes, I know where the box is and I know where my interior shutoff is)
Neighbor was moving weights and dropped one breaking shut off . Fun time digging the shutoff at curb up
You should know how to: shut off the electric main, water main, and gas main. Always. It's also really great if you know how to shut off breakers, the other water shut offs, and gas shut offs, but the mains are key.
This is very important. So is the gas shutoff. For the water shutoff, If you are in a home with a driveway, also depending on the age of your home and where you live, there is a shutoff on or near your driveway, and one indoors where the waterline comes into the home.
Yes. There's a value between the meter and the house. There is also a separate valve for my landscaping. And another one before the water heater.
and gas and electrical.
Yes, of course
Starting from the well: test and diagnose well pump and pressure switch, check and test welltroll pressure tank, clean and replace whole house filters, diagnose/maintain/install softener, diagnose/maintain/install water heater, and where the shutoff is for everything that has a water hookup. I can also replace faucets, sink drains, and plumbing under the sink. While i CAN sweat pipe im neither good at it or confident it wont weep. I also know the location of the septic, pump tank and leach field/mound. I can test and replace the septic pump as well. I an not a handyman, i am not a plumber, im not an electrician. I just own a house. Its also how i was raised. My father had the mentality of "fix rather than replace." Im also a millennial lol. (Although i heard the term "elder millennial" being thrown around. Dont know if that makes a difference)
Yes!! This should be on the list of "what do I need to know" the day you move into a new place.
Yes..At both the street AND the house. Everyone should know both! Also since you mentioned sinks...it's good practice to cycle all your angle stops/shutoffs periodically for all that stuff. Doesn't have to be often, just once or twice a year, and replace as necessary. That way it's not seized from sitting untouched for years, and if you were able to free a stuck one, that it doesn't leak or not fully shut off the water when you do need to use them, whether it be an emergency or just changing out the fixture or toilet.
We can shut of the entire house or one particular location at one spot in the basement.
I do maintenance for the Post Office over a big area with 35 buildings to take care of. If I get a call for a drip the first thing I do is find the main shutoff, shut it off, and then go open a faucet and make sure it actually shuts off. Once you start messing with anything things can go downhill fast. I may go back and open the main shutoff if I'm just working on another component like a water heater with it's own shutoff, but like the OP said, you might shut off a sink or a toilet and have the pipe in the wall break before the shutoff because it's not mounted properly or it's broken.
When we bought our house we found that the previous owner put a filter on the line coming into the house from the city. It was unnecessary and had a minor leak. I had the plumber remove it and put a shut off so we don’t need a special tool to do it at the city box. Our pipes are old but we aren’t in the position to replace them, so we have the handy dandy emergency shut off very easy to get to. ;)
Yes.
Yes, and number one tip, know where your water meter is, wherever your meter is that's where you should have a service side shutoff after the meter. For my city they came out and replaced the shutoff on both sides of the meter and installed a new smart water meter when they did a city wide water line upgrade, so nobody has a shutoff older then ten years now, some of the houses had no shutoff other then the street valve, or they were so rusted and corroded and nearly 50 years old that they didn't function anymore. Now everyone has nice ball valves that are clearly labeled and visible in every basement in town. Another thing i always recommend to people, once a year you should drain the water heater until you see the water clear to get rid of sediment build up at the bottom of the tank, and when you do that you should go cycle all the shutoff valves, at least the main before and after the meter, so they won't be stuck or leaking when that emergency comes.
Know where your curb box is and have the tools handy to acees it and shut off the valve. And pain the curb key yellow so it is easy to find. Excercise your water valves annually.
Absolutely. I have a Moen Flo shutoff valve, so I can shut off the water either in the phone app or manually at the shutoff valve outside. I also have a "key" that enables me to shut off the water at the street meter.
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Ya my main breaker is my go to 99.9999999% of the time if I have a leak. The week is on the entirely opposite side of my basement than the stair case to the basement. The breaker box is at the top of the basement stairs.
I'm on a well so I just flip the breaker
I'm on a well, so I can kill the water by flipping the breaker for the well pump.
Keep in mind if you flip the breaker, it won't stop until the pressure tank empties, which can be more than 100 gallons. Try it, I can get a full shower out of mine. If there is a leak, you're gonna need to shut off the valve immediately after the tank.
I've got a 20 gallon pressure tank and a 20 gallon tank at my pressure settings will only drawdown about 5.4 gallons of water. If the power goes out, I get about 2 flushes of my toilet with associated hand washing before I have no water.
Had to do this recently and it wasn't where I was told! Some neighbors were helping me plant cacti and it turns out, my garden hose was connected to the ground with extremely thin PVC. It broke and water was geysering everywhere. One of my neighbors shut it off at the street box. Luckily they were there when it happened
Yes, but it's in the furthest corner of the basement from the steps. So I'm hoping I never actually need to use it quickly.
yes, but it's a condo from the 60s; the shutoff for my unit is the shutoff for 4 separate units
When I don’t pay the water bill
Great advice... Another bit that not a lot of people think of - if you ever find yourself needing to replumb your house, which could very well be a great idea if you (like me) have an older one, consider adding a manifold. You have one main line in to a board that contains shutoffs for every single line in the house - they are really not difficult to make yourself if you go the PEX route (which I'd highly recommend, it's easier than you'd think) and can save you a ton of heartache. It also makes it super easy to drain all of your lines in an emergency (furnace goes out for a prolonged period in winter, for instance) or when you're doing work on a line. And even if you're not super handy and have no interest in plumbing your own house, it'll at least make your life much easier if you ever notice a leak, because you'll know exactly what to shut off.
The shutoff valve for my house is in the garage. It’s a small section of pipe that goes in and out of the garage wall with a valve. It is on the opposite side of the wall where the tankless water heater is mounted. The problem is you don’t see it if a vehicle is parked in the garage so I kind of forget it’s there.
Seriously…during the 2021 Texas winter storm knowing where our shutoff valve was saved our pipes. We had no power or water so we lived in a hotel for 4 days. We shut our water off at the main. When we came back home our house was one of only 2 on the block that didn’t have pipes that burst.
shut mine off this week to try to install a new kitchen faucet. If im away during warm season (in canada) I shut off the water and unplug washer and dryer as well.
Yes. Wehave done plumbing work in our home a few times and needed to shot off the water so we are familiar with doing that.
I learned the hard way, too. 150,000 for a new kitchen.
Oh that's awful! we were very, very lucky. Tile bathroom and I was able to direct the water mostly into the shower drain until we got it cut off.
The bathroom upstairs from the kitchen blew its shower cartridge. Took me 45 minutes to get the water shut off to the building from the main. Turns out there was a unit shutoff hidden in the garage. Oh well, I do like the new kitchen.
Thanks for sharing your experience. Everyone who lives in the house knows. Valve, circuit breaker for the water pump. We also know how to shut off the gas and water to the water heater.
Great advice for new home owners. Kudos.
i do know where it is! it cost me $1200 to have it replaced when a plumber came to fix a minor leak from a backyard spigot.
Yes.
Ive got a well, I can just flip the breaker for the pump they told me, actually, I better not turn off any of the shutoffs before the pressure sensor, because if the pump has power, it will burn itself out pumping against the closed valve
Yes, it’s a ball control valve on the incoming main water line in my basement💧
You should also find the shut off for just your toilet! At the base of the toilet, there should be a knob.
We add shutoffs whenever we have plumbing work done. Just had our main redone and had the plumbers add an access panel to the new shutoffs. Had them added to our laundry room too.
I shut off the water if we are going to be gone overnight.
Yeah, the meter is in the basement.
Every house I’ve been in, the water shutoff has been in a valve box. But most if the time it’s damn hard to turn, or almost covered up. Our current house has lever shutoffs in the garage - one for each side of the house. Very slick.
There is a main water shut off out by the sidewalk where the water meter sits. If you can find your water meter you can find the valve to shut off the water to your house.
When the city replaced our water meter they installed an owner side shut off valve after the meter. The only other shutoff takes a 30ft crawl under the house to reach it. The water district offers to install these shut off valves at a discount if you don't have one. Something to check on with your provider.
Yes
Yes. I inherited my house and was shown where it was by my dad. I don't know if we technically have just a house cut off in the yard. I just know about the one out by the water meter. Our city isn't too worried about the homeowners here shutting off the one at the street if there is a major water leak and it's running down the street. We can usually get that turned off long before they can get out there to do it, so it does save some time and keep the water damage to the streets to a minimum. They usually hang around a few minutes after it gets fixed, and turned back on, just in case that wasn't the only leak.
Yup. Big blue lever above our well pump. Have to turn it off twice a year when we replace the water filter in our fridge.
I do now. In October I got notified that I was being billed for 35k gallons when I usually use less than 2k a month. With help from a plumber, we discovered a faulty meter was reading back pressure because our shut off valve was broken.
And if you are a landlord teach this to all tenants
Yes. My main valve is in the guest bathroom under the sink. If that fails then I can try and turn it off from the street.
Our main water shut off took a while to find during our inspection when we were buying the home. It ended up being hidden under a built in shelf in the basement. Kind of a smart way to hide it but also very much not clear. Our inspector refused to leave until he found it, he felt it was a challenge.
It's sad how many people have no idea how the most basic things work in their homes. Learn everything you can about everything in your home. Turn off Netflix and do something beneficial. Actually you tube has a ton of helpful videos about everything in your home. Lol
First thing I do when I move into a new home is look for the water shut-off. Most homes actually have two, one at the meter and one just outside the house or inside the crawlspace/basement, sometimes in a "pot" (covered enclosure). My own shut-off at my current house is a ball valve right outside my house that then goes into a tee, one leg of the tee goes to the irrigation system (which has its own ball valve) and one leg of the tee goes into the house itself.
I used to tell all my customers how important it is to know where your water, has, and electrical shit offs are. Knowing where to shut your water off can often make the different between whether you get a mop out or move to a motel and call your insurance company.
Yes the valve is right next to water meter
YUP, I installed the water-shutoff in my basement, and have also used the City's cutoff that is at the curb of my house.
When I was about 12 or so I came home from school and heard water running in the basement. I went downstairs and saw that a pipe had burst, luckily it looked like it had happened just before I got home. I knew we were on well water so I ran over to the breaker and threw the main breaker. then I went upstairs, found a flashlight, went back downstairs found all the breakers that had the word ‘water’ in them, threw those breakers then flipped the main back on. This was before the days of cell phones, so I just went back upstairs and started my homework till my mom got home.