Do you know where your water turns off?

Don't expect the plumber to know the answer to this question when he attends to your house because it's more than likely, upon arrival, he won't.

Almost every house plumbing system these days is different in some way and the location of the mains water stop-cock is often in an in-accessible place, behind kitchen units for example or under a floor or in the basement or in the garage.

There is always the option of turning off your water from the street if the valve's 'Toby cover' is accessible. It may have been tarmaced over, which is very common indeed, by one of the utility companies. It may even simply not exist it may even be full of rubbish or soil which means having to call out Scottish Water who will locate it for you however this can take days!

Not exactly the thing you, the customer, wants to be hear when your home is flooding at two in the morning. So, do yourself a favour and make sure you know exactly where your water turns off in order that the above scenario doesn't happen to you!

You can find out where your water stop-cock is by looking in the most obvious places:

kitchen cupboard, hall cupboard, cloak-room, basement, garage (always on the ground floor or basement or cellar), pavement at the front of your house or by asking your neighbours or the previous owner if you've just recently bought the house.

Once you have located the valve turn it off to check that it works properly:

Turn the handle clockwise for off or anti-clockwise for on.
Or, a quarter of a turn if the valve is on the pavement (these valves are a little bit tricky to locate and to operate) you will require a 'water key' for this type of valve which can be bought from any good plumbers merchant for approximately £15 and could literally be a lifesaver in an emergency, particularly if you live in a tenement flat!

Make sure that the valve actually works and that it does in fact turn off all of the cold mains water supply in your house not just, for example, the cold water supply to your kitchen sink. Check this by running another cold tap in your house or if you have an outside tap turn this on for a few minutes to ensure that the water is indeed off. You may have to check that the cold water tank in the loft (if you have one)is not filling up by flushing the toilet for example.

In the event that you are unable to locate the valve or turn it off then you are best advised to turn on all of the taps in the house on and then call a plumber but remember to keep a check on the taps that are running in case sinks, baths etc over-flow and, keep flushing the toilets!

These simple steps could ,at the very least, save you the expense of having to call out an emergency plumber during the night and they could assist you in minimising damage to your property.

A question we are asked often is 'can I put on my heating if the water has been turned off?' Yes, is the simple answer unless of course your heating system pipe-work is burst in which case no.

However for most cases whenever the water is turned off you can have your heating on but again if you are not sure ask a plumber/heating engineer.

This advice is general and is for information purposes only.

Always contact a qualified plumber if you are in any doubt about how to follow the above advice or call us on these numbers:
0141 638 1543 or 07957 542 569 and we will be happy to help.

T Cosgrove, at your service!