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Locating Water Shut Off Valve

Posted on 10/22/21 at 8:29 am
Posted by PolarPop5
Baton Rouge, La
Member since Aug 2017
295 posts
Posted on 10/22/21 at 8:29 am
Morning H&GB, we recently moved into a new to us home and I preemptively would like to find the water shut off valve BEFORE needing to find the water shut off valve. During inspecting we ran a sewer camera and located our sewer clean our buried under an adjacent gravel drive. I have found our water meter near the street in a buried box but have had no luck finding the shut off valve. Does anyone have any suggestions for locating this?
This post was edited on 10/22/21 at 8:31 am
Posted by Major Dutch Schaefer
Location: Classified
Member since Nov 2011
38255 posts
Posted on 10/22/21 at 8:32 am to
quote:

I have found our water meter near the street in a buried box but have had no luck finding the shut off valve. Does anyone have any suggestions for locating this?



It should be on the same side of house as meter. Normally the are on a hose bib coming out of the ground, I guess it's possible it is buried in a box. In an emergency, you can shut off at meter.
Posted by BRich
Old Metairie
Member since Aug 2017
2766 posts
Posted on 10/22/21 at 9:30 am to
quote:

It should be on the same side of house as meter. Normally the are on a hose bib coming out of the ground,


Yep. Look for the hose bib closest to the meter.

Sometimes it looks like this, a lever type:
>


Sometimes it's a turnable valve type:

This post was edited on 10/22/21 at 9:31 am
Posted by ItzMe1972
Member since Dec 2013
12209 posts
Posted on 10/22/21 at 9:47 am to
You can probably get a key from HomeDepot for the meter. There is a shutoff inside it. You may need a wrench to turn it off.
Posted by ConfusedHawgInMO
Member since Apr 2014
3578 posts
Posted on 10/22/21 at 9:56 am to
While inside the house, you can sometimes find one near the water heater. I had a home that had it in the crawl space that you could access from the bathroom lavatory... as in a little hidden access panel in the bottom of the cabinet.
Posted by keakar
Member since Jan 2017
30152 posts
Posted on 10/22/21 at 10:09 am to
code says you need one where it comes out of the ground and goes into the house

there is also a shut off on the meter itself but some areas like mine also require a shut off valve buried in a box just after the meter as a backup in case the valve at the house is bad
Posted by TU Rob
Birmingham
Member since Nov 2008
13332 posts
Posted on 10/22/21 at 10:21 am to
quote:

code says you need one where it comes out of the ground and goes into the house


I'll just add if this is an older home with a basement, it may not be up to code. Ours comes into the house through the ground into the basement, and there are two valves there. One for turning off water supply, and one with a hosebib on it. I've actually used it a few times when pressure washing the driveway or washing the cars. I keep s short hose inside, like a little 25 foot one, and hook it up to that when I need it.
Posted by keakar
Member since Jan 2017
30152 posts
Posted on 10/22/21 at 10:37 am to
quote:

Ours comes into the house through the ground into the basement, and there are two valves there


this is also the code if it has a basement, i was only thinking in terms of a house in louisiana

code says just before entering the home or living space and the unfinished basement is considered as storage utility area and not the homes living space

the code basically just requires a way to shut off all water to the home in case the valve at the meter isnt accessible or malfunctions
Posted by lsujunky
Down By The River
Member since Jun 2011
2628 posts
Posted on 10/22/21 at 11:07 am to
quote:

code basically just requires a way to shut off all water to the home in case the valve at the meter isnt accessible or malfunctions


So does it have to be located on the outside of the house?
Posted by idlewatcher
Planet Arium
Member since Jan 2012
92756 posts
Posted on 10/22/21 at 11:55 am to
quote:

you can sometimes find one near the water heater


Those are usually dedicated specifically for the water heater FYI
Posted by LSUtigerME
Walker, LA
Member since Oct 2012
3933 posts
Posted on 10/22/21 at 11:59 am to
quote:

So does it have to be located on the outside of the house?

Mine is located on the inside of the house. The water line comes up through the slab and the shutoff valve is in a wall box in a closet.
Posted by bbvdd
Memphis, TN
Member since Jun 2009
28167 posts
Posted on 10/22/21 at 12:21 pm to
How old is your house?

My house is 12yrs old and on a slab (outside of Memphis, so codes will be different). My shut-off is in the cabinet at the butler's pantry.
Posted by keakar
Member since Jan 2017
30152 posts
Posted on 10/22/21 at 12:32 pm to
quote:

So does it have to be located on the outside of the house?


individual codes may vary but for the most part it has to be easily accessible so if you dont have a basement its mainly going to be outside where it enters the house unless some special provision is made to put it inside the wall with easy access to it
Posted by lsujunky
Down By The River
Member since Jun 2011
2628 posts
Posted on 10/22/21 at 12:54 pm to
quote:

Mine is located on the inside of the house. The water line comes up through the slab and the shutoff valve is in a wall box in a closet.


Same thing I did with mine.
Posted by Mandocello
Beyond The Sun
Member since Mar 2008
195 posts
Posted on 10/22/21 at 12:58 pm to
quote:

Morning H&GB, we recently moved into a new to us home and I preemptively would like to find the water shut off valve BEFORE needing to find the water shut off valve. During inspecting we ran a sewer camera and located our sewer clean our buried under an adjacent gravel drive. I have found our water meter near the street in a buried box but have had no luck finding the shut off valve. Does anyone have any suggestions for locating this?



If you've got an old house, you might not have an outside shut off valve (not talking about the one at the water meter).

I speak from experience, 'cause I had to have a plumber install one - I guess originally not having one was grandfathered in or something like that.
Posted by TDsngumbo
Member since Oct 2011
49221 posts
Posted on 10/22/21 at 1:08 pm to
The only shutoff valve that I know of for my home is inside the box at the meter near the street. Is that normal? My house is 50ish years old.
Posted by Mandocello
Beyond The Sun
Member since Mar 2008
195 posts
Posted on 10/22/21 at 1:27 pm to
quote:

The only shutoff valve that I know of for my home is inside the box at the meter near the street. Is that normal? My house is 50ish years old.


For a house that age, it can definitely be normal.

But you're only talking like $200 to get a shutoff valve installed right outside of your house.

If a pipe bursts at 3am, the last thing you wanna be doing is trying to shut the water off at the meter, so it's a very worthy investment.
Posted by PolarPop5
Baton Rouge, La
Member since Aug 2017
295 posts
Posted on 10/22/21 at 1:37 pm to
After digging around for awhile and tracing my pipes from the house. I surmised the only shutoff is at the meter (which confirmed works) house is 75+ years old.
Posted by keakar
Member since Jan 2017
30152 posts
Posted on 10/22/21 at 2:21 pm to
quote:

The only shutoff valve that I know of for my home is inside the box at the meter near the street. Is that normal? My house is 50ish years old.


thats probably fairly common if the line is original to the house that is that old

when i bought my house in lafourche it had no shut off valve so they required me to add two shut off valves, one within 3ft after the meter and another one within 3ft of where the line enters the house. wasnt a big deal any way since the original line was rusted to hell and leaked any way so it was all getting replaced. they also made me install a gas shut off within 3ft of where it enters the house
This post was edited on 10/22/21 at 2:25 pm
Posted by keakar
Member since Jan 2017
30152 posts
Posted on 10/22/21 at 2:23 pm to
quote:

If a pipe bursts at 3am, the last thing you wanna be doing is trying to shut the water off at the meter, so it's a very worthy investment.


not only that but the valve on the meter requires a special tool to turn it because there is zero clearance to get a wrench in there, if you dont have that fork like tool you aint shutting it off and will need the water company to come out to do it and by then you can imagine the shite that gets flooded
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