Find your main shut-off
before you need it
The first thing to do with a burst pipe is turn the water off. The second is to already know where the valve is. Here's where it probably is in a Fremont home, and how to check it works.
Most of our emergency calls start with water running for twenty minutes while someone looks for a valve. Twenty minutes is a lot of water.
Where it usually is
- Raised-foundation homes (most of Niles, Centerville, Irvington): on the front wall outside, near a hose bib, or just inside the crawlspace hatch.
- Slab homes (Ardenwood, Warm Springs, newer tracts): in the garage on the wall shared with the house, or outside at the front corner.
- Any home: at the meter box by the curb. The city's valve is there too, but yours is the one on the house side.
Check it works
Once a year, turn it off and open a tap. If water keeps running, or the handle won't move, it's a gate valve that has seized. We replace them with quarter-turn ball valves during a scheduled visit, and the next emergency becomes a quarter turn.
At 2 a.m.
- Main off.
- Open the lowest tap in the house to drain pressure.
- Call to check the next available visit in Fremont.