Street water valve won't shut off

Dia4shy

Just bought a house, built in 1961. We are remodeling the bathrooms and kitchen. We shut off the homeowner valve at the street next to the meter, however, there is a steady (low) stream coming through.

Does the street valve need to be replaced? If so, does anyone know how to do it? Is this a Do It Yourself project?

D'Brie

Can you see where the water is coming from? If you have a "Stop Waste" valve, there will be a small hole in the side towards the bottom. I'd replace this even if it is still good due to siphoning. If there is a crack in the valve body or threads, replace as well. You may need the city to replace the valve, check your local codes @ City Hall.

Alan

If you're talking about one of the meter stops that has a hole in it for locking purposes, the city will need to replace those. Usually, the city stops are ball valves and don't have problems like that. Sounds like you have a gate valve a little ways away from the meter.

If that's the case, you'll need to shut off the meter using the stop on your side of the meter. If it is really hard to turn, stop and ask the city to come shut it off. If you break it they will charge you a lot to come fix it.

Once you have it off you'll need a new valve and possibly a union depending on how far away from the meter union the valve is. If you're really close to the meter union you may be able to use that for your union instead of buying a new one.

What kind of piping is in the ground? If it's galvanized, I wouldn't recommend doing anything with it, and just use the meter stop to turn your house off.

I wouldn't call this a hard project ,but there are a lot of variables that could turn it into a pretty difficult project very quickly.

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Journeyman Plumber

bernieb

If you call the water department they'll fix it free, but be sure your shutting it off properly, those valves are confusing .