How To Turn Off The Water To Your Home

Ever have a water leak at your home or plan to work on your sprinkler system and need to turn off the water? Do you know how to turn off the water to your house if there is an emergency? The information below guides you on locating and turning off your water by utilizing the “house valve.”

Locating your house valve…

• Your house valve is typically located on the outside of your home. It may be in the front, on the side or in the backyard.
• Look for a hose-bib (outside faucet) next to your home with a pipe coming up from the ground (See Photo 1).
• Located on that pipe between the ground and the hose bib is a valve. This is the house valve.
• Typically, the house valve will have a wheel or a straight handle for turning.

Operating your house valve...

Your house valve can be one of two types: a gate valve (See Photo 2) or a ball valve (See Photo 3).

• Gate valves are operated by turning the wheel clockwise until the water is off.
• Ball valves are operated by turning the handle a quarter turn clockwise until the water is off.
• To verify the water is off, turn on the hose-bib next to the house valve. As you turn the house valve off, the water from the hose-bib should stop.
• To turn the water back on, either turn the gate valve counterclockwise or turn the ball valve a quarter turn counterclockwise.

Everyone in your home should know how to shut off water to your home if there is an emergency. In the event of an emergency, such as an earthquake or an unexpected winter freeze, you will want to turn off the water supply to your home as soon as possible to prevent water damage to your property. You may want to attach a label to your house valve for quick identification (so that you can find it even in the dark). Please take a few minutes during daylight hours to locate and learn how to operate your house valve.