A common theme among renter’s is that they don’t know where the emergency shut-off valves for the home they’re renting are. In case of an emergency, it is crucial to know where the home’s four main shut-off valves are.
The emergency shut-off valves for homes, duplexes, and townhomes include: Culinary or municipal city water, gray water (for sprinklers, etc.), gas, and electricity.
Culinary Water Shut-Off Valve
Culinary water is usually pumped in from the city through the street, so this shut-off valve will often be located on an outside wall near the front of your home just inside your basement.
If you don’t see an obvious pipe there, or don’t have a basement, check the pipes coming from your water heater or under the kitchen sink for an obvious round, spigot, or quarter turn valve.
Some older homes in warmer places may also have the water shut-off valve along the outside wall of the home.
With all pipes (gas, water, air, etc.), the water and other substances are flowing when the pipe and the valve are parallel. To shut it off, turn it to the perpendicular position.
For more help finding your culinary water shut-off valve, call your local city.
Gray Water Shut-Off Valve
Some homes use gray water, or water that hasn’t been treated for drinking, washing, and bathing. Gray water is often used for outside purposes, such as lawn care and irrigation.
You can usually find your gray water shut-off valve inside your sprinkler box. If you locate this in advance and your sprinkler system ever goes haywire, you’ll be able to quickly shut off this water so that you can address the problem without your sprinklers running all day and night.
Gas Shut-Off Valve
Your house gas valve is usually located down the gas line coming in from the street side gas valve on the outside of your home. Gas companies do not want you shutting this main valve off, so it is best to locate the gas valve located inside your home.
The gas shut-off valve is often on a black pipe and again, when you turn it 90 degrees perpendicular to the gas pipe, it is off.
Electricity/Power Shut-Off
If you should ever need to shut off all of the power to your home at once, you can do so by locating your home’s main breaker box. (You may have a smaller sub-box in another area of your home, so make sure you have located the big or main one).
Next, make sure there is no water anywhere around you and that you are not standing in water. Also, make sure to have a working flashlight handy when turning off all the power to your home.
Finally, locate and shut off the main breaker switch to your home. This is usually a large switch at the bottom or top of your main breaker box often labeled 100 amps or more.
If you need further assistance locating any of the important shut-offs in your home, please call your local city, gas company, or a qualified home professional in your area.