Teach A Man To Fix

(Post 47 in a series for DIY beginners)

The absolutely wrong time to be looking for your main water shutoff, is, of course, when a water pipe or connection has failed. It might have frozen, or it might be a connection that was poor from day one and just couldn’t hang on any longer. But we don’t care about the “why’s” when the basement is filling with water, do we?

So let’s be prepared ahead of time, and find that shutoff right now.

Unfortunately, there’s no standard location, so we have to use our powers of deduction to find it. It’s usually close to an outside wall, because that’s where the main water supply line comes in. That water line runs underground through the yard and is usually attached to a “Main” line that runs either under the front street or the back alley, so that narrows it down a bit more – it’s not likely to be coming through a side wall.

What you are looking for is a valve of some type, which is a fancy way of saying “tap.” They often look like your average outside garden hose tap, but not always. It might be a ‘ball valve”, which has a straight handle on it that only turns ninety degrees. When you position the handle in line with the valve body, it’s “On,” and at a right angle to the valve is “Off.” Be careful not to get this mixed up with your gas line, because they can use a similar looking valve. If it’s attached to a rigid black pipe that you can trace to the control valve on your hot water tank, or to the furnace, then it’s a gas line.

2 kinds of ball valves in the corner of a basement - one larger main valve, and a shutoff for a smaller feed line

Example of a gas valve - notice that it's installed in a black metal pipe, not a copper or plastic line. That isn't to say that water lines can't be made of metal - they can be, but the pipe will be galvanized - it will have more of a dull grey-ish silver color.

Another clue is condensation. The water coming into the house is usually pretty cool, so the pipe should have some moisture on it if it is a water line. If the valve is attached to a grey plastic pipe, as is the case with newer installations, you know for sure that it’s water.

I’ve seen water shutoffs in corners, above removable ceiling tile, and behind square pieces of plywood that have been painted and screwed on to a wall. In general, if it’s a valve of some type on a water line that is off by itself somewhere, that might be it. Now you gotta test it, because it might just be an outside water shutoff, not the main shutoff.

You do that by turning it off. That’s clockwise, because you are threading the movable part into the valve to shut off water flow. If it’s a ball valve, turn the handle so that it’s at a 90 degree angle to the main part of the valve. Now go to a sink and turn on the tap. If the water drizzles out and then quits, you’ve got it! Try hot and cold just to be sure.

One thing that is a bit frustrating about main water shutoff valves is that they almost always leak a bit. Any water has some minerals in it, and if a shutoff doesn’t get operated for years on end, the finely machined seating surfaces and/or rubber seating washers inside of the valve get built up with mineral deposits and corroded. As a result the valve mating surfaces no longer match up perfectly. This will not prevent you from shutting off the main water flow, but doing repairs on copper pipes may require soldering, and when there is a little trickle of water running through them, that gets a bit tricky. (Details on those kinds of repairs are a subject for a future post.)

If you live in an area where winter temperatures fall below freezing, you also need to shut off the supply to your outside water faucets. The process of locating the outside water shutoffs is about the same as finding your main – try to figure out where a logical location would be, based on where the taps are installed on the outside of the house. Once you find them, (there might be one for each line), shut them off, and then turn the outside tap “On.” That will drain out any water that might freeze, expand, and split the body of the tap itself, or the line that goes to it. Don’t forget this step!

There is a “frost free” water valve that does not need to be shutoff in the winter. So, no worries, right? Wrong! Here’s why: these faucets have a long pipe that goes back into the insulated part of the house. Even though the tap handle is outside, the actual valve seat, and any water, is inside. Cool idea! You shut it off, and all the water that is in the freezing zone drains out. But this won’t work if the water can’t drain out. Why would that happen? Well, let’s say that you left a hose attached to the tap, and the hose is still full of water. That will keeping the tap from draining out properly. So, if you forget to remove any valves, splitters, timers, or hoses from the frost free faucet, it can become very un frost free. Frozen and burst water lines are a very messy business!

So now you know how to get ready for winter, and you’re ready for any water leak emergency. Over the next few posts, we’ll address two very common household water leaks that are easy to prevent, fairly easy to trace the source of, and might even be easy to repair!

(Note for new visitors: This post is part of a series designed to give DIY newbies a confidence boost. My goal is to provide the basic basics of home and auto repair and maintenance, give you a heads up about some of the pitfalls that you might come across, and generally demystify the mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems in our lives. For best results, please take in the whole “mini course” that started with this post)