How To Find Your Main Water Shut-Off

Every plumbing emergency starts with the same move: shut the water off. Knowing where the valve is before you need it turns a flood into a puddle. Here is where to look in a Corpus Christi home, and what to do if the valve will not turn. For the plumber, call (361) 336-0647.

Where it usually is

1. At the house: on the main supply line where it enters the home, usually on the side of the house nearest the street, near an outside hose faucet, or in the garage. It is a lever (ball valve) or a round handle (gate valve). Lever perpendicular to the pipe is off.

1. At the meter: in the concrete or plastic box at the curb. Lift the lid (a screwdriver helps) and you will find the meter and a valve on the street side of it. Some need a meter key or a wrench; a slot-type valve turns a quarter turn with a screwdriver. Corpus Christi Water prefers you use the house valve, but in an emergency the meter valve works.

1. Elevated homes on the island: at the base of the pilings or where the line comes up from the ground, sometimes behind a small access panel.

1. Condos and apartments: often in a utility closet, behind the water heater, or under the kitchen sink; ask your manager where the unit shut-off is before you need it.

Fixture shut-offs

Every toilet and sink has small valves on the supply lines under or behind it. Turning those off stops a running toilet or a leaking faucet without shutting down the house. Water heaters have a cold-water valve on top.

If the valve will not turn

Old gate valves seize. Do not force one with a wrench hard enough to snap the stem, because then it is a leak too. Use the meter valve instead and have the plumber replace the house valve with a ball valve while they are there; it is a small job that saves you the next time.

Test it once a year

Turn the main off, open a faucet, confirm the water stops, then turn it back on slowly. Show everyone in the house where it is. Tag it if it is hard to see.

Once the water is off, call (361) 336-0647 and tell us what happened. A licensed Corpus Christi plumber takes it from there.