How To Shut Off Water To Your House
Every shutoff in a house turns clockwise to close. Start at the fixture if the problem is at a fixture. Go to the main if it is anywhere else, or if you cannot reach the fixture valve.
What to do right now
Do these first. None of them need tools or plumbing knowledge, and they limit what this ends up costing you.
- Try the fixture valve firstToilets and basins usually have a small oval knob on the wall or under the basin. Clockwise until it stops. This isolates one fixture and leaves the rest of the house with water.
- Otherwise find the main, insideIn most Ogden homes it is where the supply line comes through the foundation wall, on the street facing side, usually in the basement or crawlspace and often near the meter or the water heater. Clockwise for a round handle, quarter turn for a lever.
- If it will not turn, do not force itOld gate valves seize with mineral deposits and can snap. A broken main shutoff during an emergency is considerably worse than the emergency.
- As a last resort, the street shutoffIn a box at ground level near the kerb, usually needing a long key rather than a hand. Your water utility can operate it, and in a genuine emergency they will.
Does this need a plumber tonight?
- You cannot stop the water by any means
- The valve has broken while you were turning it
- Water is escaping and no shutoff will close
- You have isolated the fixture and the area is dry
- A stiff valve you have managed to close
Where it is in a typical Ogden home
Almost always on the street facing wall, where the supply enters through the foundation, close to the water meter or the water heater.
In a home with a full basement, look along the front wall at about waist height for the pipe coming through the concrete. The valve is on it, usually within a few feet of the entry point.
In a home on a crawlspace, it may be in the crawlspace itself, or brought up into a utility closet or under a kitchen sink. In some post war Roy and Clearfield homes it sits in the garage.
In the older Ogden and Kaysville housing it can be genuinely obscure, particularly where plumbing was retrofitted into a structure that predates it. If you cannot find yours, that is worth resolving on a calm afternoon rather than during a flood.
Which way, and how far
Clockwise closes. A round handle needs several full turns. A lever valve needs a quarter turn, and when the lever sits across the pipe it is closed.
Turn a round handle until it stops rather than until it feels tight, then check a tap to confirm the water has actually stopped. A partially closed gate valve will reduce flow without stopping it.
After closing the main, open the lowest tap in the house. That drains the remaining pressure out of the system rather than leaving it pushing water through whatever has failed.
Find it before you need it
The single most useful five minutes a homeowner can spend. Locate it, turn it fully closed and fully open, and make sure everyone in the house knows where it is.
Doing this twice a year also keeps the valve from seizing, which is the most common reason a homeowner cannot stop the water when it matters.
Photograph it, and tell whoever else lives in the house. A shutoff that only one person can find is close to useless at three in the morning.
Questions people ask about this
Which way do I turn it?
Clockwise to close, in every case. A round handle takes several turns. A lever takes a quarter turn and is closed when it sits across the pipe rather than along it.
I cannot find the main shutoff.
Look where the supply enters through the foundation on the street side, then near the water heater, then in a utility closet or under the kitchen sink. If it truly is not there, the meter box near the kerb is the fallback and the utility can operate it.
The valve will not turn. What now?
Do not force it. Isolate what you can at the fixtures, and use the street shutoff or call the utility. Then have the valve replaced, because you currently have no way to stop water in your own house.
Should I turn off the water heater too?
If you have shut off the main and expect the water to be off for a while, yes. Switch an electric heater off at its breaker and turn a gas heater to pilot, so it is not trying to heat a tank that cannot refill.
Will turning the water off damage anything?
No. Closing the main is a normal operation. What can cause a problem is a very old valve being forced, which is why gentle is the rule.
If that is not quite what you have
Not sure how urgent this is?
Describe what you can see and hear. We will tell you whether it needs someone tonight, and what to do in the meantime either way.
Emergency line: [PLACEHOLDER: PHONE]
Or send it over
Four things and a photo.