Talk of The Villages Florida - Can You Shut Off Your Water in an Emergency?

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Quote:

Originally Posted by TVCZ1 (Post 2092869)

Hi Madelaine, I am looking into having my plastic whole house water valve replaced, but my neighbor warned me about good/bad plumbers and paying too much. Can you tell me who you used to switch out the valve and what I should expect to pay?

Thank you in advance

We use Kileys for all our plumbing. If we need a job done we get a well established company and pay what they want. Kiley's and probably all other well established companies stand behind their work.

We actually did once have a handiman do a plumbing job for us, paid him and then paid Kiley's to do it properly. :)

I can understand replacing the plastic valve with a metal one if you are going to be using the valve a lot. But, if you only need the valve in emergencies, I would stay with the plastic valve. Your entire water system is plastic pipe and you already have about 12-15 plastic push-pull valves at your sinks, toilets, etc. When the plumber installs a metal valve, he/she needs to make two connections between plastic and metal pipe which can cause a leak even if the metal valve operates properly. But, the important thing is to test the valve occasionally to make sure that it is accessible and not stuck and can be turned off when needed. I have been in some houses where there is so much junk piled in front of the valve, that you can't get to it. And, the homeowner doesn't even know where the valve is anyway. Also, the builder installs an access panel in the wall in front of the valve that you cannot open without a screwdriver. When your bathtub is overflowing, you need to be able to shut off the water immediately.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tvflguy (Post 2088011)

I installed a water softener in the garage next to the main water shut off. I have a shutoff valve going into the WS and after. Both are simple to get to and turn.

That's exactly how our Nova filter was installed right at (after) the main valve with valves on both the in and the out side of the filter. No bending and made it much easier for me to shut off main supply to replace the other plastic valves in the house (still have 2 to go). :) The original valve is a REAL PITA to turn.

The reason plastic valves are used is because brass valves leach metal into water.
They should not be used in any drinking water piping.
As stated above Nova uses a heavy gauge 80 valve that will not fail.

https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-aabq...438598.jpg?c=1

they are $15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Topspinmo (Post 2088265)

Yes, iF got tool to shut it off, (down deep in little hole) why it has shut off valve before meter.

I MacGyver’ed up one of those water shutoff tools by taking a piece of rebar, putting the end in a vice and hammering the end into an L shape, than I ground down the tip with a grinding wheel so it would fit into the slot that turns the shutoff valve. It works great and I had the piece of rebar sitting around because T&D left it behind when building our pool. Easy peasy.

you can buy the main shut off tool from Ace about $10 to turn off in lawn meter box

Me too. He did not even charge me