The individual ones are often under the sink and almost always on the water supply to the toilet. Knowing how to shut your water off can prevent huge and costly disasters, especially if a pipe has burst or you cannot shut off the faucet in your kitchen or bathroom.

Newer water meters will have a lever style shut off; give it a ¼ turn so it is horizontal to the pipe and it will cut the flow of water. Older homes will have a round one that will need to be turned clockwise until it is closed. The water meter pictured has 2 shutoffs – one before the meter and one after. In the event that your meter needs to be replaced by the city, they can isolate the meter without having to drain the entire house of water and risk water damage should the meter be removed.

We are often called in to change a leaking main shutoff valve, and though the job is relatively simple, it can be time consuming as we always have to wait for the city to come and shut off the main water supply at the city/house property line before we commence. To avoid additional charges, we work to replace the valve and have the city immediately turn the water back on so we can test for any potential leaks.