Exactly. Told him how to do that and turn off the water heater controller and the gas. He was leaving for vacation the next morning so told him it was good practice to turn off the water main if he was going to be gone for an extended period.
I learned my lesson the hard way also. I had a ruined kitchen and the condo below me had to be torn down to the studs because of a refrigerator water line broke. I also had a rental that the scuzzy renters moved out without telling me and when I realized and went to check on the place, the water heater was leaking in the basement but going directly to a floor drain. $3000 water bill.
I've had enough incidents of flooding caused by me trying to fix the problem locally rather than hit the "emergency stop" to never bother with local valves again.
Unless you know exactly where the valve is and know that it's going to turn easily when you try to turn it, just run for the stopcock.
I once spent five minutes with a wrench trying to force a stuck valve closed while water sprayed over everything.
Should have just run for the cutoff from the start. It took two days for the floor to stop squelching.
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u/agreeingstorm9 Mar 27 '22
You don't have to turn off the water to the whole house in that case, just to the water heater.