Many times we receive calls from customers in a panic.  Water is pouring out!!!!  Our first question, have you turned the water off to the sink, toilet or even the whole house.  So many times we receive the reply…how do I do that?

I decided to show you.

1. How to turn off the water to your sink.  Do you see the two valves in this picture.  One is for the hot water and one is for the cold water.  So if only one side is leaking you should be able to turn off that specific valve.  Some valves are quarter turn and some you have to turn several times to shut off.  To turn the water off you turn the valve to the right until it stops.  Do not force it, these valves are not used often and will sometimes get frozen and wont work no matter what you do.  If this happens, the best solution is to replace them.

2. How to turn off the water to your toilet.  The valve in this picture is the water supply line to your toilet.  If your tank is leaking or toilet running you can turn the water off, however if the bowl and tank are full of water those will continue to leak until the water is drained.  You follow the same steps as above to turn off water to a toilet.

Toilet Supply line

3. How to turn off the water to your house.  The valve to the right of this outside pipe is where your water comes into your house.  You can turn this valve off and it will stop all water from flowing into your home to all of your fixtures.

4. How to turn off the water to your water heater.  The valve in this picture when shut off will turn the water flowing into your water heater off.  However, if your water heater is leaking a the base of the water heater, all water inside the tank (40 – 50 gallons) will continue to drain until the tank is empty.  If you find yourself in this situation and the pan is not draining you can hook up a water hose to the base of the water heater and run the hose to a bathtub or outside of your home.

5. Where is my cleanout? – The sewer cleanout is located outside of your home.  It could be in a front flower bed as shown in the image below.  It could be in the back yard or any side of your home.  Really depends on how the plumber routed the plumbing for your house.  This is a very important access hole for a plumber to use to unstop sewer lines when needed.

Every home is different.  Some homes are older and some are newer.  In older homes you may want to install a shut off valve because way back when they were not always installed.  So if any of your valves or cleanouts do not look like those listed above, not to worry we can help.  Some customers don’t know where their clean outs are and we have been able to help locate them.  We have even encountered customers whose homes were remodeled and the cleanouts were never relocated and the new slab was poured right on top of them.