Hi there, I was curious to know if the main shut off in the house has to be "full" open or "full" closed to prevent leaks. I recently added a bathrrom on the third floor, no problems, then I needed to tie in a laundry room and shut off the main for about 1 hour, and turned it back on, 3 days later the tenant in the basement reported the room had flooded from a drip from the main valve. Does it matter what posistion the valve is in? I mean a garden valve doesn't leak if open half way why did this?

Thanks for helping if you can


Gunsguy

The valve should never leak in any position. Gunsguy, I would start by checking the packing nutt directly under handle to see if there is a drip. Both ball valves and wheel handle styles have a small nut located directly below the handle that will occasionally leak when a valve is opened or shut.

If the valve had not been leaking prior, the recent use probably loosened your packing nut.

I'm pretty sure that the main shut off valve is owned and maintained by the city.. probably the owness on them to fix it.

I could be wrong, but one quick phone call to your local utility will clear that up

Knucklez

I am talking about the main shut off in the house not outside, I agree it should not leak, in the full position it is not driping

Gunsguy

Guy,

Follow malex27's advice. Open the valve up full and back it off 1/4 turn, If it's leaking past the stem then snug up the bonnet packing nut, located just below the handle, until the leak stops. Do not overtighten. Good luck, Tom

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Originally Posted by gunsguy

Hi there, I was curious to know if the main shut off in the house has to be "full" open or "full" closed to prevent leaks. I recently added a bathrrom on the third floor, no problems, then I needed to tie in a laundry room and shut off the main for about 1 hour, and turned it back on, 3 days later the tenant in the basement reported the room had flooded from a drip from the main valve. Does it matter what posistion the valve is in? I mean a garden valve dosent leak if open half way why did this?

thanks for helping if you can


Gunsguy

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Hi you have a leak on the valve coming in from the mains! Well if its called a stopcock you will have a little handle on top further down is a little nut tighten this up and it will stop the leak.be careful not to over tighten or it will break then you will have a monsoon!

Wow, what crappy luck. I now have the Same PROBLEM. My valve, which is a twist many times to close type, has started leaking.

I will follow toms advice and tighten up the nut (if it has one) just below the handle. This is where the water is coming out of anyway, so makes sense.

I will also call the city water people as this is a major problem. Its Sunday 8pm just day before new years. Think anyone will show up at my house? I've been dumping a bucket of water every hour... hope this nut tightening thing works!

I'll post back the status in a couple of minutes.

Knucklez

So I opened valve all the way then backed off 1/4 turn. Water came to a drip.. so that's an improvement. I used wrench and gave it my all and the nut did move a bit, but not much. Water flow remained the same.

So I think, well maybe there is some other position that it will stop at? So I started closing the valve and it sprayed water all over the place! So I'm scared and opened the valve back up, then 1/4 turn close.. I get the drip back.

OK, this is bad. I must call the city.

Wish me luck!
Knucklez

Niat.. city says its my responsibility. Bugger. City will "mark and locate" the turn OFF valve which is between the front of my house and the city system, somewhere buried in the front lawn. They do this for free.

Then plumber comes over an hour later to fix the valve, or replace it actually. $65/hour plus parts, which I thought was reasonable. Shouldn't take longer than an hour I'd say.

City suggested if I'm handy I could replace it myself, and if I'm fast, the city will turn ON the water for free. If I'm slow, they leave and if they have to come back a 2nd time it costs $80.

Well, I'm slow.. and really I am handy but not on critical stuff. Just on stuff that I can relax and take AGES to finish.. so a water main valve, this is not in that category. So I called a plumber. :)

Knucklez

In retrospect, I think this is totally a do it yourself project. The city comes and digs up your lawn to find the external water main shutoff. Then they close it to make sure they found the right one. You confirm your water is off. Then they will leave it closed, or open it back up - your option.

So with it closed, you can make your valve replacement. The line from the city was 3/4" galvenized and was male threaded coming out of the basement floor. So you use a monkey wrench to loosen the fitting. Then diassemble the piping all the way to the meter. Then replace with 1/2 copper (or whatever size you want) and a ball valve in line with the water.

The copper should have threaded female addaptors to connect the new valve and copper to the water meter & city supply. Use good quality thread tape (pink colour, NOT WHITE) and you're good.

Then take off handle of new valve. Tighten up the nut (even if brand new, just do this for good practice) and put the handle back on. Close the valve. Go out to front lawn and turn water back on.

What tool to use for this external water supply? It looks like a car tire wrench! One of those emergency use for chaning out a spare tire. I'm not sure, maybe a pro can give a more exact definition.

Then go into your house and slowly open the valve.

You should open/close this valve about once a year to make sure the valve never seizes.


Having said that this is a DIY fix, yes it is, BUT I am glad that I had a plumber come and do it. Because he was very nice, a real pro and I met a plumber I can trust for later jobs that are out of my experience level (i.e. next year activity).

Knucklez