Have you ever been faced with a leaky faucet or an overflowing toilet? Maybe you’re going out of town and you want to turn off your home’s water supply to prevent any mishaps? Here’s our How to Guide to help you in cases of emergency or preventative measures. This will also come in handy as we head into our colder months and you’ll want to winterize your outdoor spigots.
There are many situations you would need to turn off the main water supply to your home. If you are leaving for a long trip, have scheduled plumbing repairs, or in the event of an emergency. There are two places to shutoff the water supply, directly at the fixture (i.e. toilet or faucet) and the main water supply to your home. The water valve can be in various places depending on the geographical location and age of the home. In climates where temperatures can drop to below freezing, like northern Virginia the shutoff valves are located inside the home. Typically, they are in the garage, basement, or laundry rooms around the hot water heater or along an exterior wall.
These shut off valves can differ home to home, but it’s important to familiarize yourself with them before the emergency happens. They may have a lever handle, a circular spigot (like the ones outside your home) or a ball valve. With all types of valves, you turn counterclockwise to turn off the water, just remember “righty tighty, lefty loosey”.
When doing this for anything but an emergency, after you turn off the water you want to drain the remainder of the water out of the pipes by running a faucet, both hot and cold. If doing this in an Emergency the next step is to contact a professional for an appointment as soon as possible.
