How to Turn off the Water for Plumbing Repairs

Shutting off the water issue in your home is normally necessary when you are making plumbing repairs to any of the fixtures or pipes in your home ‘s plumbing system. There are at least three different places you can shut off the water system, and your choice of locations will depend on where the leak or the ​ plumb repair needs to occur. Generally, no tools are required to shut off the water system .

here are several locations where your home ‘s water system supply can be shut off, and how to choose the right one .

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Watch Now: How to Turn Off Water for Plumbing Repairs

Turning the Water off at the Fixture or Appliance

If a faucet is dripping or a toilet is running —or if a leak grow in a refrigerator ice maker, dishwasher, washing car, or any appliance supplied by water—your first and best option is to shut off the water right at that repair or appliance. By shutting the water off locally in this way, other fixtures connected to your home ‘s plumb system can continue to operate while you take your clock to make the rectify .

The fastness shut-off valves will differ in appearance and location, but broadly, they will be very close up to the repair or appliance .

• For sink faucets, look for the shutoff valves located below the sink, near where the water supply tubes run up to the tailpieces on the faucet. Any faucet that supplies both hot and cold water will have two valves—one for the hot water supply and one for the cold.
• For toilets, there will be a single shut-off valve (a toilet uses only cold water), usually located near the floor below the water supply valve on the bottom of the toilet tank. This supply valve is usually near the bottom left side of the toilet tank.
• For showers/tubs, look around the tub or shower for an access panel. It may be on the other side of the wall from the tub or shower. If it is not found behind an access panel, then it may be located under the floor in the basement or a ceiling access panel in the floor below. Shower bodies are manufactured with built in stops (valves). They are accessible when you remove the escutcheon plate. It depends on if the contractor purchased & installed a valve with stops. This is required in all high rise buildings.
• For dishwashers, the water supply tube running to the dishwasher often has a fixture shutoff valve controlling it. In many cases, this is also located under the kitchen sink base cabinet, and it may be near the sink faucet shut-off valves.
• For refrigerator ice makers/water dispensers, the small copper or mesh supply tube running to the refrigerator usually has a small saddle valve or fixture shutoff valve that can be shut off to close down the water supply. In some cases, the supply tube running to the refrigerator may tap into a water supply line beneath the sink, near where the sink faucet supply tubes are attached.
• For clothes washers, there is most often a water supply valve controlling the hot water inlet hose and another controlling the cold water. These may be located on a utility sink if your laundry has one, or in a recessed water supply valve box set into the wall near the washing machine.

You get the idea. any regular or appliance should be equipped with some local shut-off valves .

But if you do n’t find the shut-off valves, do n’t worry. You can shut off the water system by turning off the chief water add valve near the water system meter .

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Turning the Water off at the Main Shutoff Valve

If your leak is somewhere in the chief branch pipeline, or if there is no fixture shut-off valve near the regular you need to repair or replace, find the main shut-off valve for the dwelling. This is normally found in a utility space near where the main water pipeline enters the house, or on an outside wall near the water meter. This valve will always be located on the same side of the house as the water meter and it is normally a rather large valve.

This valve rarely gets close, so it may be a little stiff to operate .

After shutting off the main shut-off valve, if you open the lowest faucet in your home ( such as in a basement or a foundation-level outdoor faucet ) and besides the highest faucet in the family, it will allow water system standing in the plumbing system to drain away. This means the water provide pipes will be empty of water, which can prevent water from spilling out when you begin your work on them .

Tip

Some homes are equipped with branch valves that can be used to shut off the water provide to selected branch lines in the home. These valves will be located along the main arm pipes and are located in accessible utility areas. For case, water pipes feeding outdoor hosiery faucets are very often controlled by in-line valves that control only the pipes running to the outdoor faucets.

Turning the Water off at the Water Heater

When a hot water pipe is leaking, or if you need to repair or replace a water heater, there are shut-off valves located near your water fastball .

A water fastball has two shut-off valves. A cold urine inlet valve ( frequently identified by a blue handle ) feeds cold water from the independent add into the water fastball. This is the valve to shut off if you need to repair or replace the water heater .

The hot water system release organ pipe besides has a valve that will shut down all hot water leaving the water fastball. You can shut off this valve if you have a leak in a hot water pipe somewhere in the house since this valve efficaciously controls all hot body of water in the home. Often, this valve is coded with a red treat to indicate it controls hot water. This convenient color cryptography is crucial, because often the cold water intake pipe and the hot body of water release pipe are very close to one another, and they would be hard to tell apart differently. Both valves will shut off the hot water system to your stallion firm. Most contractors do not install a valve on both the hot & cold water system inlet and wall socket to the heater because shutting the cold water feed to the heater is what shuts the hot water off to the system .

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Turning the Water off at the Water Meter

last, you may besides be able to shut off the water at the water meter itself. Water meter boxes sometimes have two shutoff valves, one on the customer side and one on the city side of the meter. This should be a final recourse, because in many communities there are ordinances that frown on homeowners touching any character of the bathymetry system positioned on the street english of the water meter. The bathymetry lines beyond the meter technically belong to the city, so you should not touch this valve unless there is no other option—such as if the main shut-off valve on the house side is non-existent or does n’t work .

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source : https://meopari.com
Category : How To