Need to locate my main water shut off valve at home

I need to replace a shower controller. To do so, I need to shut off the water (so I learned - luckily not the hard way). In order to shut off the water, I need to find my main shut off valve. I thought it was in the underground location in our front yard (first shot below), but there isn't anything there other than one stub, and no valves. The lid says "water meter" but I don't see anything that would be a readable meter. We have city/county utilities.

Closer to the house, there is this thing. I'm not sure what it is. Could it be the main shut off valve? Complicating the matter a little bit is we have a separate water system (again city/county) that is strictly for our irrigation system. It has a separate water meter, thought I don't know where that is either.

Any suggestions? Is the valve I found most likely the main water supply shut off?

It's the first thing. The round thing is a plastic lid lift that up and you'll see the meter. The shutoff will be down in there as well you'll have to clean out some of that debris but it's next to the meter.

We have one in the basement. Also one in the yard where the city can turn off the water (B box or buffalo box).

My meter is in the basement with a valve on each side. Where does your water enter your house?

nicksta43 wrote: It's the first thing. The round thing is a plastic lid lift that up and you'll see the meter. The shutoff will be down in there as well you'll have to clean out some of that debris but it's next to the meter.

I assumed it was in there too, but it's not. The piece in the picture is metal and is a cap to some sort of stand pipe(?). I dug down on every side of it for ~12" and there is nothing!

Datsun310Guy wrote: We have one in the basement. Also one in the yard where the city can turn off the water (B box or buffalo box). My meter is in the basement with a valve on each side. Where does your water enter your house?

No basement here. We live in FL. I'm, sadly, not sure where the water enters the house.

When I had my main valve in the house repaired, the plumber (free from the country) called into the township, waited 5 minutes and removed the old valve.

No water. Hooked in the new one, made another call and water was restored.

Yeah, down in that box on the house side of the meter there should be a valve. It has a big flat bar on top to turn it with. Sometimes there are two.

It's easiest to turn with a 'water key' but it can be turned with a pair of Channellocks etc also. Caution: if you find a bell shaped thing with a square bolt on top of it down in that hole, leave it alone. That's the water pressure regulator.

EDIT: Saw that you have already dug in the hole with no joy. It's possible the shutoff is outside the box. Sight from the meter to the house in a straight line, the underground pipe should be along that line, then dig around a foot or two past the meter box.

Also, you WILL find Black Widows in there, so proceed with caution.

One of your meters is your first picture. Under the muck, it looks like Curmudgeon's picture.

I'm betting your other meter is in the first box where you found nothing. It's probably buried under the silt and muck.

There's a readable meter there too, but nobody has to open it. They can read it electronically without opening the lid (which is why the muck has accumulated).

Turn one off and see if you've got water in the house. If so, that's the irrigation meter. Try the other.

Do you have a shut-off for the shower itself? Look for an access panel on the other side of the wall the shower is on. Ours is inside a bedroom closet!

if you have a crawlspace.. there should be a visible line in.. there is probably a valve there.

And yes, most bathrooms have an access panel to the back of the tub/shower. I think some areas it is mandatory

Call the water dept.

mad_machine wrote: if you have a crawlspace.. there should be a visible line in.. there is probably a valve there. And yes, most bathrooms have an access panel to the back of the tub/shower. I think some areas it is mandatory

Nope. Not mandatory, and not most places.

But it IS reasonably common in the Northeast.

Most modern valves are serviced through the FRONT, so there is no reason or purpose in having access panels in the rear of a shower valve.

He lives in FLORIDA. There are no crawlspaces or basements in FL. Just slabs. And alligators.

iceracer wrote: Call the water dept.

^Yep^

I dug and dug out by the meter. No valve whatsoever. I'll call the water dept on Monday. Unfortunately that means no repair tomorrow though.

dyintorace wrote: I dug and dug out by the meter. No valve whatsoever. I'll call the water dept on Monday. Unfortunately that means no repair tomorrow though.

Might try looking along the curb of your frontage.

The meter will have a valve for meter servicing on the (main) side of the meter. It will be inside your meter box. I doubt you have a curb valve (typically a gas line thing) it was habit in some cases to install a valve outside of the box (accessible only with a valve wrench not a crescent) take a shovel and stab it in the ground every 4 inches straight out from meter toward main (a metal detector is nice too)

I wish I was there to help you out... That is my job. Call your water supplier Monday and they should be glad to turn off the valve for you... It's their job. They will turn it on for you. If they don't in a reasonable time, call 811 for a water locate They will show.

SVreX wrote:

mad_machine wrote: if you have a crawlspace.. there should be a visible line in.. there is probably a valve there. And yes, most bathrooms have an access panel to the back of the tub/shower. I think some areas it is mandatory

Nope. Not mandatory, and not most places. But it IS reasonably common in the Northeast.

that makes sense.. I have only ever lived in the mid-atlantic area

There should be a valve by the meter and their is definitely a valve in your second pic. I would turn off the blue handled valve in the second pic and see if it works.

Don't know what's customary in Florida but around here it's about a 50/50 shot of getting lucky with an inside shutoff. Go take a look at your water heater; the incoming cold water will have a T with one branch going to the heater and the other continuing on to supply the fixtures in the house. There will be a valve in the branch that goes into the heater but if the plumber had future service in mind you might find another valve in the incoming just upstream of the T.

Good luck! Jeff

All of the houses I have lived in here in Florida had a main right next to an outside garden hose faucet. There should also be a valve in the box, but I never use it. Once shut off the main, be sure to open some faucets in order to get rid of the remaining water.

J

I have a plethora of shutoffs in my house. Starting with the main shut off where the line comes in the cellar. Oh, right, you have to have one of those. Every sink, toilet and shower seems to have it's own shut off. Plus the city has one on the terrace. Just lucky I guess.

iceracer wrote: I have a plethora of shutoffs in my house. Starting with the main shut off where the line comes in the cellar. Oh, right, you have to have one of those. Every sink, toilet and shower seems to have it's own shut off. Plus the city has one on the terrace. Just lucky I guess.

At my house the city has a valve out at the curb and I have one just inside the house before it gets to the meter. And I put valves on any faucet, etc. inside that didn't have one when we bought the house. I didn't like the idea of shutting off all the water to the house just to replace a faucet washer.

The valve in my area would be well below the frost level on the city side of the meter box. They are usually brass and they have a cast iron riser on top of them. You put a long key down the riser and give a half turn. I find them with a pin finder. They are often buried after years of no one looking for them.

same here.. I have two "caps" by the kerb.. the big one where the metre used to be when they were mechanical (now it is just an electronic sender) and a smaller one that you pop to send the tool down to turn the water off

SVreX wrote: He lives in FLORIDA. There are no crawlspaces or basements in FL. Just slabs. And alligators.

HA! Gotcha. My parent's house, circa 1945 and certainly nothing out of the ordinary, does indeed have a crawlspace under it. Played around a lot in there as a kid.