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April
Joined: 13 Dec 2003
Posts: 6593
Location: Westchester/NYC5/1/17 7:27 AM |
House woes #3 -- water leak!
This WAS the cause of the slightly wer carpet: the main water shut off valve. I thought I took care of it by tightening the 2 nuts on top of the valve -- for a day. Now it's dripping again!
This, looks to be the main valve where water comes in from outside into the house. In order to replace the leaky valve, one need to be able to stop the water from somewhere further upstream, from somewhere OUTSIDE the house. :-(
I suspect it might be time to call in the pro's? unless there's something else simple that one can easily do to remedy that which I overlooked?
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Steve B.
Joined: 19 Jan 2004
Posts: 769
Location: Long Island, NY5/1/17 8:15 AM |
Out near the street (if using municipal water supply) is a "water box", a 6 inch square steel plate. It has a cover that's removable and a few feet down is the street valve, which shuts off supply to the house.
Bottom line though is a plumber is needed to replace the shutoff in the house, they in turn will have the long square tool that shuts off at the street.
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April
Joined: 13 Dec 2003
Posts: 6593
Location: Westchester/NYC5/1/17 10:43 AM |
Thanks. Plumber appointment made for Wednesday.
(I was a bit panicky because this being Monday rather than Friday, which means I won't be at the house to monitor the situation like I was over the weekend)
In the mean time, I gave the nut another hard twist. It felt like it turned a tiny bit in response. I'll find out on Wednesday if that solve the problem. If not, I'll have the pro's on their way to me.
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Matthew Currie
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 800
Location: Vermont5/1/17 11:40 PM |
If the valve is leaking at the stem, you may have to tighten the nut a good bit as it ages, but that will usually stop it. Remember that if it's an emergency cutoff it need not be free moving. Tight is fine. The other thing is to make sure that the valve is open all the way. Many valves will seal best when fully open.
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April
Joined: 13 Dec 2003
Posts: 6593
Location: Westchester/NYC5/16/17 10:15 AM |
Thanks Matthew! That did the trick. It's been almost 2 weeks now and there's not more water in the drip pan.
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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX5/16/17 12:42 PM |
The 'packing nut' when the seal is old and dry... Turing it at all can cause it to leak. Then tightening it to make stop leaking usually has the opposite effect. Older, more likely to leak worse the more you dont leave it alone.
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