Knowing how to shut off water to your home is critical to minimize damage to your home in case of an emergency. In this article we’ll discuss how to identify your various water shut offs throughout your home as well as identify some proactive measures you can take to protect your home in case of an emergency.
Starting At The Street
For any home that does not get its water supply from a well but from the city, this water supply starts at the City to Home connection. This connection is referred to as the “City Tap” and is generally located between the sidewalk and the home. To locate this connection look for either a box with a green lid or a circular metal cap that says “Water” on the top of the box or the cap. The City Tap will have a built-in water shut off valve which can shut off water to the entire home in case of an emergency. To shut off this valve you’ll need a specialized tool called a Water Meter Valve Key. These meter keys are generally 3-4 feet long. While it’s not necessary for a home owner to own this tool, it is critical to know where this shut off is located in case of an emergency. We’ll touch on this a bit more later in the article.
The Water Supply In Your Home
The second line of defense is the water shut off valve inside the home. This shut off valve is typically referred to as the “Main Shut Off Valve”. In Colorado Springs the water shut off for most homes is generally found in the mechanical room where your water heater and heating system are located. In other warmer states the Main Shut Off Valve can be located in the mechanical room, garage, or crawlspace. To find the Main Shut Off Valve look for a pipe that is coming directly out of a concrete wall or slab. Within just a few feet of the pipe coming out of the concrete wall or slab you will see a water shut off valve, this is the Main Shut Off for all water lines in the home.
A few other helpful tips…If you’re in Colorado Springs and locate what you believe to be the Main Shut Off valve but aren’t sure, another clue is directly downstream from that valve is the water meter. In other states the meter may be located at the city tap connection outside of the home so this is mostly relevant to Colorado. Alternatively, one approach you could take to find the Main Shut Off Valve is to locate your water heater and back trace the pipe from the water heater’s cold water inlet and trace that pipe back until you see the main shut off valve. The Main Shut Off Valve will always come before the water heater.
This Main Shut Off will either be a “Gate Valve” or a “Ball Valve”. A Gate Valve looks similar to a water spigot that you would attach a hose to. A Ball Valve has a 3 inch skinny handle that will have a colorful rubber handle
The Main Water Shut Off will be the most commonly used shut off option in both emergency and non-emergency situations.
The Shut Offs At The Fixtures
The last type of water shut off valve are valves which shut off water to the fixtures in the home. Fixtures are things like: toilets, faucets, ice makers and dishwashers. These valves are called “Angle Stops”. Since most folks are familiar with these shuts offs I’ll simply add a few notes to consider:
These water shut off valves are meant to be replaced every 12-15 years along with the water supply lines attached to them. If these valves have not been in use for a long period of time they have a tendency to freeze up making them difficult to operate. Also, the rubber O-Rings inside the valves fail and they don’t fully shut off water to the fixture. It is important to change these valves periodically.
When Do You Need To Shut Off The Water?
To determine which shut off valve you should use and when depends on what’s leaking. Angle Stops are only relevant when shutting off water to a faucet, toilet, or other fixture. If a leak is occurring from one of these fixtures, locate the angle stop and turn the valve clockwise till the valve stops turning. If these shut offs are not functioning properly or if you’re dealing with a burst pipe which is not connected to these shut offs you need to locate the Main Shut Off Valve. Once this valve is found…if the valve is a Gate Valve, you’ll need to turn the valve clockwise till it stops to cut the flow of water inside the home. If the Main Shut Off is a Ball Valve, simply rotate the handle 90 degrees so that the handle is perpendicular to the direction the body of the valve it is facing.
If these options fail to stop the flow of water or the leak is happening in a section of pipe that is in between the city tap and the main shut off valve in the home, you’ll need to shut off water at the city tap to stop the flow of water coming onto the property. To do this you will either need a Water Meter Valve Key to reach the shut off, or quickly contact the Fire Department to come out and shut off the water for you. If you have the Valve Key Tool, use the tool to turn the handle perpendicular to the direction the body of the valve is facing.
Preventative Steps Before An Emergency
Time is of the essence with any emergency. The more proactive steps you take, while not in an emergency situation, the better you can respond to an actual emergency. Starting from the beginning here are some proactive measures:
- Circling back to finding the City to House connection, if this is something that you cannot locate on your own, you can reach out to the utility company to locate the tap for you. In many older homes throughout Colorado Springs these city taps are buried and are not easily traced. If you reach out to the utility company and request help to find the tap, they will come out for free, locate the tap, make it accessible, and test the shut off to ensure it’s in good working order. Having this tap located will allow you or the fire department to respond faster in an emergency.
- Consider Tagging your Main Water Shut Off once located. Simply add a tag stating which valve is the Main Water Shut Off to eliminate any confusion in an emergency.
- Replace angle stops and water supply lines every 12-15 years as recommended.
- Take advantage of technology. Consider installing sensors designed to detect water leaks as they are happening. Companies like Moen make a water shut off valve that is WI-FI connected to an app which monitors for any leaks in the home. It also has the ability to shut off the water to your home via the app should you request it to do so.
For winterizing tips check out this helpful video from Nick – who is the head of Southern Mesa’s Landscape division. Nick will walk through a bit of the information covered here, but will take it one step further with tips on winterizing your system for the winter or while away from home during the cold season.
