Is valve on water heater a water shut-off to the house?

[HangFire]

Originally Posted by maxdustington

Originally Posted by HangFire

Do yourself a favor, while replacing the water heater, install a whole-house shutoff. If you house has more than one story, add a second shutoff to the water heater. That will allow you to swap it out next time without having the upstairs plumbing drain out when you disconnect it. (Yes you can drain some through another sink, but never all).

Originally Posted by JLawrence08648

You should hire a plumber. I'm a believer valves should be soldered rather than Press Fit or Shark Bite which the latter you will be doing due to the lack of experience. All good and accurate advice on here. I also like to have unions in my hot water heater. A shut off valve on the hot water heater outlet is illegal in my State.

Why not just replace all the plumbing in the house? Why not just buy a brand new house? Let's spend as much of other people's money as possible!

Absurd. I suppose you rail against Fujimoto drain valves as well, since they are not strictly necessary? On most first-time water heater replacements, you have to cut pipe anyway, since most replacement heaters are not exactly the same height as the old, and the old-style valves always need replacing. Since you are doing that, perfect time to add in a ball valve or two, to make life easier next time.

 

[DemoFly]

The meter and main are in a ground box at the edge of the property. I found it. I've adjusted the packing nut on the valves several times and they always start leaking again and I don't want to risk the potential drywall, baseboard and linoleum damage. Soldering washer service valves doesn't seem very smart. The water heater in the first post isn't mine, it's just a picture I found as a reference for the valves location.

 

[JLawrence08648]

Shut off the water, replace the packing under the packing nut. Is the shut off valve at the meter on the house side and on the street side? Is it a regular valve or is it notched?

 

[Hall]

Originally Posted by DemoFly

I've adjusted the packing nut on the valves several times and they always start leaking again and I don't want to risk the potential drywall, baseboard and linoleum damage. Soldering washer service valves doesn't seem very smart.

You can only tighten the stem packing so much before you either replace the packing or replace the valve. For the labor involved, I would just replace the valves but get 1/4 turn ones. How are the existing valves connected - threaded or soldered ?

 

[DemoFly]

Originally Posted by hallstevenson

Originally Posted by DemoFly

I've adjusted the packing nut on the valves several times and they always start leaking again and I don't want to risk the potential drywall, baseboard and linoleum damage. Soldering washer service valves doesn't seem very smart.

You can only tighten the stem packing so much before you either replace the packing or replace the valve. For the labor involved, I would just replace the valves but get 1/4 turn ones. How are the existing valves connected - threaded or soldered ?

Threaded pipe and teflon tape. New valves are already on, everything is fixed. The hardest part of the job was finding the water shut off.

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted by DemoFly

New valves are already on, everything is fixed. The hardest part of the job was finding the water shut off.

Good deal! Glad you got it fixed. I hear you on the hard part sometimes being finding your curb shut-off. Couldn't find mine one day a few years ago when my main shut off in the house started leaking badly from the packing and the packing nut was stripped. Water company couldn't find the shut off either and it took them a couple days to come back out and cut in a new one for me. Where'd they install it? Smack in the middle of my driveway! They replaced the black top they excavated and did a nice job. I then hired a plumber to cut out the old gate valve main shut off in my basement and he soldered in a new 3/4" ball valve in it's place. It cost me under $200 IIRC.