Your Homes’ Water Shut Off Valve…Do You Know Where it is?
We’ve been in the plumbing business over 30 years. During that time we have heard numerous water leak stories from people. Many of them involve catastrophic water leaks and major water damage. One thing is clear in many of these instances; if the homeowner knew where his/her main water shut off was they could have limited the damage.
I want to make sure that if you do experience a leak that you will know immediately what to do to minimize the damage. Please follow these simple instructions:
- Locate where the water line enters the house. Near where the water enters the house, you should find a large valve. This valve is either a gate valve or a ball type valve. The gate valve looks like a small wheel. Turning it clockwise should shut the water off.
The other type of valve you may encounter is a ball type valve. This type of valve will have a handle…much like a lever that you can pull to shut off the water.
Use a brightly colored tag and wire it to the valve. Write “Whole House Shut Off” on the tag. Last but not least make sure you show everyone who lives in the home where the shut-off is and what they need to do to shut it off.
If after following these instructions, you fail to find your water shut-off valve please give us a call. We will be happy to locate it and tag it for you.