How To Turn Off Your Home Water System
When there is a sudden water-related emergency in your home, such as a pipe that has just burst and is threatening to flood the home, it is absolutely important to quickly respond to minimize the amount of damage that your home will face. Because of that, everyone in your home should know how to turn off the water to your house. The key is to know where the valve for the water main is located. This is handy to know, not just for emergencies, but if you need to change a faucet or work on an appliance that uses water, such as the washing machine or the dishwasher.
To help find your water main supply, you will need to look for the water meter. While the exact location will vary, you will usually find this outside on the ground level, more or less where the pipe for the water enters the home. Alternatively, you might find the water meter to be downstairs in your basement.
When you’ve reached this point, you can look for the main shutoff valve. Either side of the meter should display such a valve. One of these is the primary valve that is designed to isolate the water meter for measuring purposes, and the other one will be located between the house and the meter itself.
Turn the appropriate shutoff valve in a clockwise direction if it is a wheel, or in a perpendicular direction if it is a lever. Keep doing this until the knob or lever is unable to keep turning in that direction. This will safely and completely shut off the supply of water to the house.
If you have a private well that supplies the water to your household, you will need to turn off the pump for the pressure tank, which can be found by the head of the well.
For more information on how to turn off your home water system, watch the full video.
