Never vented to the exterior here. Virtually never plumbed at all - just a deflectoe tube leading to floor level to pervent scalding if you are close when it releases.
Any code require otherwize??
While I would have had the water turned off in that case, if I was desperate enough I'd try welding the thing--with enough current you can weld under water. Of course I'd probably just slag it down and end up flooding the place, which I wouldn't care about because I'd electrocuted myself.
What would happen if the main valve let go? How would the turn off the water?
Where I live, they'd cut a little patch of lawn out of my front yard and turn off the valve between my house and the street main.
When the job was done, they'd turn it back on, toss the lawn patch back in the hole and let me watch it die over the next few days.
SPecifically the valves under toilets and sinks.
Never seen a ball valve under a toilet.
Good idea but I'm not sure how to replace a main shutoff valve. ;-) I don't have a street key and not sure where to stick it.
And what do they do when the valve in the lawn won't shut off??? I've heard of guys using dry ice to freeze the pipe for a few minutes to change the house shut-off valve.
When the city came to change my water meter the other year the shutoff wouldn't work so I told the meter tech I'd run out and grab a new valve while he shut it off at the street. I came back with my acetylene torch and the new valve and had it changed by the time he got back to the basement with the new meter.
Won't freezing a pipe full of water burst it?
Dunno. Never had that happen. The valve in the front yard is less than
6 years old. When they replaced the street water main we all got new new valves in our yards. It's been shut off at least once since it was installed so I;m guessing it'll be fine for a while.Prior to that, the I-haven't-a-clue-how-old (maybe original, 55+) had been turned off 15 or so years ago.
My guess is they'd turn off the street, replace my valve and then turn the street back on. Seems pretty logical to me.
Which can be gate or ball...
After you follow this link, you will have. ;-)
The quarter-turn valves, even the ones for sinks and toilets are ball valves.
I don't have a street key either, but I do have a phone. The water authority owns the valve in the front lawn, so they'll come and turn it off if I call. I own the pipe from the lawn shutoff and the shutoff itself. They own the meter, then the rest is all mine.
As a total aside, my hose bibs, front and rear, are before the pressure regulator, so I have street pressure for my hoses. When I moved in only the front one did. I did a little pipe rearrangement and ran street pressure to the back hose bib too. SWMBO was very pleased. Cut her watering time down substantially.
...and every one I've seen is the cheapest POS possible. I've broken tons of them. ...enough that I try not touch them but even that's not good enough.
IME, they *may* do it sometime in the next week or three.
We have no regulator in the house. Well, I've traced the lines (unfinished basement and haven't found one. Perhaps they're one at the street (makes sense).
Some valves can be closed, then the packing replaced, then reopened without (much) leaking. If it's not that type, I'd have to ask the water company for a cutoff 'service call'.
We had a system like that when we lived in Texas. I loved it but they are illegal in Georgia.
HTH
I live in a small enough water authority that response times are measured in hours. Scheduling has never been an issue.
As an example...
When I had my driveway replaced last year, they discovered a shutoff under my blacktop, just off of the road. I wasn't sure whose it was, so I called the water authority late that afternoon. At 8 AM the next day I was in the office of the water authority (by invite) going over the maps for my street with the foreman. We determined that it was probably an abandoned shut off from when they replaced the street main, but just be sure, he followed me home, took some measurements and declared it safe to bury.
In the 35+ years that I've lived in this house, both the water authority and the town's maintenance department (sewers, roads, etc.) have always been extremely responsive to any issues that I or my neighbors have had.
Have you ever measured your pressure? My hose bibs run at about 95 (street pressure) My regulator is set for 50. I sure wouldn't want my fixtures running at 95 long term, other than the hose bibs.
The only issue I run into is when I use both the hot and cold water bibs at the front of the house. Since the hot water side is at house pressure, and the cold water side is at street pressure, I have back pressure issues when both are on and the Y-connected hose is closed. Turning on fixtures in the house basically reverses the water flow and I get warm water at my cold faucets, toilets, etc. The first time it happened I was really confused, but now we know that it will go away as long as I remember to turn off the hot water bib as soon as I'm done with it.
You need to get out more. All of mine have ball valves, some close to two decades old now. quarter-turn angle-stops have been available for decades.
My dad's home was built in the mid 70's and had galvanized pipe. And of course it rusted and leaked. A local plumber company e-pox-e'd the pipes and installed stainless steel ball valves on every connection in the house.
The main valve to shut off water is normally directly connected to the water meter on the street side of the valve. You can often use channel locks to turn the valve on or off.
Let's be clear about what we call the "main valve".
Many of us have 2 valves on the street side of the meter.
I have one valve inside my house. It's a multi-turn gate valve with an oversize hose bib type handle. No channel locks needed. (I know they differ from house to house)
I also have a valve out in the lawn (owned by the water authority) that shuts off the water before it reaches my in-house valve.
I believe that K was saying "I'm not sure how to replace the internal valve because I don't know where to turn off the exterior valve."
I've never tried here but it's a county system and I doubt they're responsive, though 811 is only supposed to take two days (still a long time).
No, I've never measured it. I know there isn't a regulator in the first 50-60' of the internal pipe. There my be something hiding behind the water heater but I doubt it.
Hot water outside? Must be of of those rich people with a septic system. ;-)
I put ball valves to all of the bathrooms in my VT house. The AL place had PEX, so everything had a valve. This house is all CPVC, so I'm afraid to do anything to it, including *touch* the shutoffs to the toilets. I've broken way too many of those things - the metal chrome type (whatever they are, they suck).
Not exactly. There is no internal shutoff and I don't know really know where the county's shutoff is, nor a key to operate it.
I was responding to, Good idea but I'm not sure how to replace a main shutoff valve. ;-) I >>> don't have a street key and not sure where to stick it.
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