Locate Main Water Shut Off Valve
Let’s get the water off before it does any more damage. Our guide on how to turn off your homes water is useful to anyone in our service area.
Be Prepared for a Water Emergency
Shut Off Valve: How to Turn Off The Water in an Emergency
Picture this, you come home from work and your hallway is filling up with water rapidly. It’s time to turn the water off – and fast – to prevent severe water damage.
Of course you want to call your local plumber as soon as possible, but first let’s get the water off before it does any more damage. Our guide on how to turn off your homes water is useful to anyone in our service area, from Austin, to Dallas, to San Antonio.
How to Locate and Shut Off Your Main Water Shut Off Valve
According to Austin Water the property owners cut-off valve is located just outside of the meter box, approximately one foot towards your home. For Texans, this means you will find your meter box in the ground. It should have a square or round cover that you can pop open. The lid can possibly be covered by dirt or lost. It is important to check your front yard for any signs of a meter box or homeowners shut off opening, such as open pipes, plastic boxes, and/or a metal box close to the road in your yard.
Sometimes these can only be opened with a water meter key. These will look oddly T-shaped and can open the meter box by placing the key into the hole shown on the lid. You can simply lift up the lid from there using the key.
What is Inside My Water Meter Box?
The 4 components of a meter box’s interior is:
- City Water Shut Off Valve
- Consumer’s Water Shut Off
- Consumer’s water line to the house
- Utility water line to the street
As far as getting the home’s water shut off, you’ll need to turn off the water at the Consumer private hand valve.
How Do I Shut Off My Water At The Meter?
For homeowners, lean down and find your meter box. Inside the meter box is the valve closer to the house with a handle on top either circular or bar shaped. Using your hand, turn the lever all the way to the right until you feel a stop. This will feel tight but be careful not to over tighten or you can risk breaking parts.
If you are having trouble finding your meter after this, please give us a call! Our plumbers have decades of experience under our belts, and can tackle even the most stressful plumbing emergencies.
Find the Shut Off Valve on Your Property Inspection Report
Make sure you don’t buy a lemon! Check the property inspection before closing, or you may have plumbing problems later down the road.
If you still cannot find the water shut off valve after physically searching for it, one alternative is to check the property inspection report that was completed for you when you were in the final phases of purchasing your home.
Look in the plumbing section of the report. This section should locate the shut-off valve and have a photo of the valve. Even if the water system was not defective at the time of the property inspection report, the report should still note the location of the shut-off valve as a matter of course.
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