How to Shut Off Your Water in an Emergency (Find It Before You Need It)
Five minutes now, or twenty minutes of flooding later
Almost every emergency call we take begins with the same exchange: water is going everywhere, and the person on the phone does not know where the shutoff is. We can talk anyone through finding it, but that conversation happens while water is still running.
Go and find yours today. It takes five minutes and it is the single most useful piece of plumbing knowledge a homeowner can have.
Where it usually is in an Arkansas home
There are typically two shutoffs, and you want to know both.
The interior main is where the supply line enters the house. In a home on a crawl space it is often near the front foundation wall or accessible through a crawl space hatch. In a slab home it may be in a utility closet, the garage, or near the water heater. Look for a valve on the largest incoming pipe, either a lever or a round wheel.
The meter valve is at the street, in a concrete or plastic box at ground level, usually near the property line. Lift the lid — a screwdriver in the notch helps — and you will see the meter and a valve on the street side. This one often needs a meter key or a wrench.
While you are there, note whether the valve looks corroded or seized. A shutoff that will not close is worth replacing before you need it, not after.
How to turn it
Lever valves are quarter-turn: handle in line with the pipe is open, across it is closed. Round wheels are multi-turn and close clockwise, and they can take many turns.
If a wheel valve is stiff, turn it steadily rather than forcing it — old valves can snap, which converts a leak into a much larger leak. If it will not move, go to the meter valve instead.
Once closed, open the lowest tap in the house to drain remaining pressure out of the lines.
The other shutoffs worth knowing
Every toilet has a valve on the wall behind it. Every sink has valves underneath. Water heaters have a valve on the cold inlet, which is the one to close if the heater itself is leaking. Washing machines have two, hot and cold.
Knowing the local valve for a fixture means you can stop a single problem without shutting down the whole house.
Once the water is off, call (833) 435-9778. We are answering around the clock, and with the water stopped the situation has already gone from urgent to manageable.