I know you would rather take a nice vacation than spend money fixing damages caused by a plumbing leak, so today we are going to talk about something that can literally help save you thousands of dollars.
My name is Floyd. I am a 3rd year apprentice plumber who has worked within the plumbing field for over 20 + years and who decided as of recent to start up a residential plumbing serivce. I can't tell you how many hundreds of thousands of dollars I have seen wasted because someone failed to do one simple thing.
If I asked you what is the first thing you should do if you discover a plumbing leak, what would you say? If you're a take charge, do it yourself kind of person you probably said, "Well duh! Turn the water off." Seems like a no-brainer, right? Well, I've found that not everyone always knows where or how to shut the water off in their home. This is vital information in case of a plumbing leak. Every single person who might be left alone in your home needs to know where and how to shut off the water. This is key for landlords to share to any and all of their renters...you just never know what a day holds.
The location of your main water shut off valve will vary depending on what kind of foundation your home has, and what local practices are common.
One problem you may have with shutting off the water at the valve is that they are often very hard to turn on and off. This is a strong indication of it needing to be replaced, especially if a leak is evident. A "shut-off curbstop rod" is then required to shut off the water from the street to the house which is done through a call to the City of Prince George water works Dept. Before phoning the City for assistance though, if you know where your main shut off valve is at the house, and can get to it, it may be easier to turn the water off there if it allows for you to do this without any leaking or difficulty. Some common locations are: where your water service pipe comes into the basement or crawlspace wall, near the water heater or behind an access panel. The trend in home construction has been to treat the plumbing almost as an afterthought so plumbers often have to get pretty creative in finding places to install shut offs.
A & F RESIDENTIAL PLUMBING SERVICES LTD.
250.961.6959 or 1.877.962.3747
