by Richard Serra

Created on: December 08, 2009

At one time or another, anyone who owns a home or lives in a apartment is faced with a water problem whereas they need to shut of the water supply in order to prevent a flood, or to just do a simple repair. Not knowing where the shut off valve is might be just as inconvenient as not knowing where your flashlight is when you need it in an emergency.

Most of us go through normal life unprepared for any event that may prove undesirable, and unless we prepare for it, we get caught with our pants down. Not a comforting feeling to say the least, but it's the truth. I don't know how many times I wished I had prepared for emergencies that have cropped up. So knowing where the shut off valve, or valves, can save you a big headache if you needed to know if it were for an emergency such as a pipe that may have burst behind a wall.

By the time you would locate the shut off valve, you might have a need to call your insurance company for water damage, and it all could have been prevented if you were able to act quickly and shut the water supply off before it got to the point that it would cause water damage.

Even though you decide to call a plumber because the repair is beyond what you could normally handle, you still need to know where the shut off valve is located within the house as he might not be familiar with your particular set up. He can always shut the main supply from the outside, but this is less convenient than using the main shut off valve located in the house itself.

As far as how to shut off the supply, there is no real need for a lengthy technical answer here. There are two main shut off valves to do so. One is inside the home, the other below ground that has a heavy metal cover that the meter reader removes to check usage.

If one is to work on the "main" valve in the house because it's leaking, then you have to go outside, remove the metal cover, and then turn it off so you can do the work inside.

If leaks are a problem with the faucets or in the plumbing for your heating system, you can turn the main supply valve off thats located somewhere in your home.

What to look for is a valve handle that is slightly larger than the rest of the valves that might be present. Those smaller handles are for shutting off specific lines, whereas the larger handle is usually for shutting of the supply to rest of them.

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