doughboy63
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So today I had a pipe break out in the back yard that leads to a free standing hose bib. I have only lived in this house a few months and have not had to shut the water to the entire house off yet. Anyway I run to the laundry room which houses the water heater. This was the logical place for the shut off in my mind. Nothing. So I grab a wrench and head down to the street to turn it off there. Won't budge. I call the water company and they make it there 30 mins later. Who knows how much water was wasted. Guess I will know on next month's bill. The response time was really pretty good IMO since it was a Sat and all. No charge either. The guy gave me his home number and came back out at 9pm to turn it back on, really nice guy. Anyway now on to the questions:
1. How common is it to not have an easily accesible cut off valve (house built in 1957)? The only place it might be is in the crawl space, but the street is more convienient than that
2. The guy from the water company had some kind of T wrench that he used with very little effort. He said that if I had the tool it wouldn't be a problem to turn it off and on by myself, but trying to use a normal wrench is risking damage to the main and meter which I would be liable for. Anyone know what the tool is called or where I can find one? I have attached a crude drawing of what it looked like. It was maybe 2-3 feet long.
I have other plumbing projects down the line that will prbably be done on the weekend and don't think the water company will shut off the water for nonemergencies. Thanks for the help, Erik
1. How common is it to not have an easily accesible cut off valve (house built in 1957)? The only place it might be is in the crawl space, but the street is more convienient than that
2. The guy from the water company had some kind of T wrench that he used with very little effort. He said that if I had the tool it wouldn't be a problem to turn it off and on by myself, but trying to use a normal wrench is risking damage to the main and meter which I would be liable for. Anyone know what the tool is called or where I can find one? I have attached a crude drawing of what it looked like. It was maybe 2-3 feet long.
I have other plumbing projects down the line that will prbably be done on the weekend and don't think the water company will shut off the water for nonemergencies. Thanks for the help, Erik