“Umm, honey, we have a problem!”
These were the words my wife yelled across the house that triggered me into action. As I entered the kitchen, I saw water pooling out from under the fridge. “Well, that’s no good.”
Thankfully for us, the leak was in the service line to the fridge’s ice maker and there was a shutoff at the wall. Also, thankfully, we caught it in time, before it became a big mess.
Because the house was a rental, we called the property manager and they sent out a plumber to fix it. This relatively minor incident spurred me to think about what I would do if a leak occurred in one of the pipes under the sink or somewhere else without a readily accessible shutoff.
Being a renter, I had no idea where the house water shutoff was.
So I asked the plumber to help locate the water shutoff. In this instance, we never actually did find one other than the meter, but that’s extremely unusual.
How to find your water shutoff
Waiting until water is running across your kitchen floor is not the ideal time to go looking for your water shutoff. Luckily, there are a few tips that homeowners (or renters) can use to find the house water shutoff.
Start at the street
For those on public water (from a city, utility or water district), nearly all water mains run under the street in front of your house and branch off to a meter. Typically, near the edge of your property along the street, you’ll find a meter box. While they vary slightly based on your area, they usually look something like this.
Note: In an emergency, you can turn the water off to your house from the meter. But most utilities do not want homeowners to use this shutoff if it can be avoided. If you do need to, turn the shutoff slowly to avoid damaging the meter. Utilities have been known to make the homeowner pay for a new meter (about $1,000) if it breaks while turning the water on or off.
Look toward your house
From the meter box, draw an imaginary line to the nearest point of your house, or possibly your garage. Your shutoff will usually be on the wall that is nearest to where the meter is. This is where the water comes into the house.
If you live in a warmer climate, or in a mobile or manufactured home, there is a slight possibility that your house shutoff will be outside. But for most, the water shutoff will be inside the garage, at the nearest point on a straight line to the water meter. If your house has a basement, there is also a possibility that your water shutoff is in the basement, on the wall closest to the meter.
Gotta crawl before you walk
If you haven’t found it in your garage, basement or outside, it may be in your crawl space. Here, the most obvious places to look are:
- On the wall that is nearest to the street or meter
- Near where your main appliances are (the hot water heater)
- Near the entrance to your crawl space
Read the report
Still no luck? There is one other place to look for insight. If you purchased your home, an inspector typically would have come out to compile a report. The report should have a plumbing section, and in many cases it will say where the shutoff is. If you can’t find it in an obvious place, it might be time to dig up that report.
What to do after you find the shutoff
Test it
After you find the shutoff, you should test it. Shutoff valves have a tendency to corrode over time, making them hard to open and close. You wouldn’t want to find out the hard way, in an emergency, that your shutoff doesn’t work. Turn it off and then go open a faucet inside the house. If the flow of water eventually stops, you’re good. If not, you’ll need to replace the shutoff valve.
Document it
Dwell Secure is a free app for documenting and sharing the critical information about your home. Snap a photo of the shutoff, pin it on a map of your property, and share it, so your spouse, your tenants and anyone else in the house can react quickly in an emergency.
Watch our water shutoff video to see what a typical shutoff looks like.
