How to Find and Shut Off Your Main Water Valve in an Emergency

When a burst pipe or severed washing machine hose is actively flooding your home at 10 to 15 gallons per minute, scrambling to find the main shutoff valve is terrifying. In Englewood, Littleton, and Sheridan, the layout of your home determines where this valve is placed.

In homes with full basements, look along the front foundation wall facing the street. The municipal water line enters through the concrete wall or floor slab, leading into the water meter. The main shutoff valve is installed immediately before or after the meter. In homes built on crawl spaces, the valve is typically located near the front access hatch or directly beneath the kitchen sink. In slab-on-grade homes, check your utility closet beside the water heater.

Once you find the valve, identify the valve type: Gate Valves have a round wheel handle, similar to an outdoor garden hose bib. To close a gate valve, turn the wheel clockwise ('righty-tighty') several full rotations until it stops firmly. In older homes, internal mineral scale may make the wheel stiff. Never use extreme leverage or pliers, which can snap the brass stem.

Ball Valves feature a straight metal lever handle. These modern valves are far more reliable. To shut off water flow, pivot the lever handle 90 degrees so that it rests completely perpendicular (crosswise) to the pipe. When the lever is perpendicular, the internal stainless steel ball blocks all water flow.

If your interior shutoff valve is seized, leaking around the packing nut, or inaccessible due to basement flooding, you must shut off water at the municipal curb stop. The curb stop is located inside a round or rectangular iron pit in your front lawn or near the sidewalk curb.

Remove the heavy cast iron lid using a pry bar or screwdriver. Inside the pit, several feet down below the frost line, you will see the city water meter and a brass valve with a raised rectangular lug. Using a six-foot steel 'water meter key' (available at hardware stores), lower the tool onto the lug and rotate it 90 degrees until the padlock holes align. This shuts off all municipal water entering your private lateral.

After successfully closing the main water valve, immediately open the lowest faucet in your home (such as a basement utility sink or outdoor hose bib) and the highest bathroom faucet. This allows standing water in vertical supply risers to drain harmlessly into the sewer rather than continuing to pour through the broken pipe opening.

Next, switch your water heater to 'PILOT' mode (for gas units) or flip the water heater double-pole circuit breaker to 'OFF' (for electric units). Operating a water heater with drained supply lines can burn out electric elements or overheat the steel tank.