How to Shut Off Water Supply


It’s important to know where your water shut off is BEFORE disaster strikes. When you move in to a new place, one of the first things you do should be to find wherever your water and offs are. Electrical shut offs are at the breaker, but water shut offs can be more elusive. 

How to turn off indoor water supply to whole house or apartment

In order to turn off the water supply to the whole house or apartment, you must know where the shut off is. Finding the water shut off can be a little tricky since they tend to be hidden, here’s a list of where your shut off could be: 

Homes

  • Homeowners, look for your home inspection report from when you bought it, inspectors generally note where water, gas, and electric shut offs are. 
  • If you don’t have an inspection report to reference, check your basement, access panels near/ around your bathrooms (could be in an adjacent room or closet), follow your water line until you find where your water comes in from outside and check for any valves that you can pull or turn. 
  • Water shut offs will often be near your water meter.
  • If your water shut off still eludes your search, call your city inspector or a licensed plumber to help you locate your shut off valve. 1-800 WATER DAMAGE can help, but our services are best used when a water issue has already occurred

Apartments

  • Check in any access panels you can get into, but don’t force one open. 
    • Look around the wall where your water heater is located, the utility room, or any in-unit laundry rooms/ closets for panels. They could also be around the bathroom or in a hallway.
  • If you cannot find your apartment water shut off, call your property management office or maintenance crew and ask where it is for your unit specifically. Due to the connected nature of apartments, there may not be one that is easily accessible to residents. 

How to turn off outdoor water supply 

Sometimes you don’t need the indoor water supply shut off, but outside, this looks a little different than shutting off water for the whole house. For example, in places with cold weather, shutting off water to just the outdoor spigots is important to protect pipes from freezing.

  • Look in your basement or crawlspace and find the wall/ ceiling space where your spigot is, there should be a valve to turn the water on/ off. 
  • Some places (usually in warm climates) have the valve outside near the spigot or on an outdoor wall somewhere on the house.
  • Just like your indoor shut off, if your outdoor water shut off still eludes your search, call your city inspector or a licensed plumber to help you locate your shut off valve since it may not be easily accessible!

How to turn off sink/ appliance water supply

  • To turn off a sink’s water supply, but not water to the whole house, look under the sink. There should be a valve that you can turn to cut the water to only that sink, it will likely be a silver or brass colored oval(s) close to the wall that you can twist.
  • Appliances like refrigerators typically have shut off valves behind them. Dishwashers commonly have their shut off under the kitchen sink. Sometimes the shut off valve is behind the dishwasher. Built-in appliances can be difficult due to potentially needing to be pulled out, if your dishwasher does not have a shut off valve under the sink, consider installing an access panel. 

How to turn off toilet water supply

  • Just like the sink, toilet water shut off valves will be at the base, close to the wall or floor, likely as a sliver colored, twistable oval.

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