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

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It looks like this. My water heater is in the garage.

[Linked Image from affordableplumbingandheat.com]


I need to replace the leaking valves for my washing machine. There isn't any visible water valve in the crawl space. Never done this before.
 
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No, this only shuts off your hot water. You will also need to find a valve that shuts off water to the entire house.

Pro-Tip- only do this repair in the morning, because if something goes wrong you will need time to get to a hardware store to get replacement parts. I am also not a big fan of those flexible pipes: I do not think they would meet building codes in my area.
 
usually you can shut off the water at the street or the main shut off in the house. Depending on how old your home is , if its really old, you might not have one. that valve in the pix shut off the water supplying the water heater. shut that off and you will lose pressure in the hot side
 
Originally Posted by DemoFly
Then shoot. I'm at a loss. My shut off must be somewhere near the road. The house was built in 81.
it should have one inside the house. see if you can find the main water feed into the house and follow that.
 
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).
 
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.
 
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.


Have had way to many issues and shortcurts by license plumbers cost me in the long run. Some are about as trustworthy as the oil change guys at a quickie lube.

Consider investing in a PEX A tool and doing the work yourself. Super reliable, even easier to install- and likely much more reliable than a licensed plumber installing copper. Here is a picture of my PEX A install with valve bypasses that allow me to do about anything I want without disrupting the water supply unless I want to.

water boss midway.jpg
 
Cut the power to the water heater before doing any work anywhere in the house-- the element can blow if run dry.
 
Originally Posted by rubberchicken
No, this only shuts off your hot water. You will also need to find a valve that shuts off water to the entire house.

Pro-Tip- only do this repair in the morning, because if something goes wrong you will need time to get to a hardware store to get replacement parts. I am also not a big fan of those flexible pipes: I do not think they would meet building codes in my area.



I am not a fan of gate valves. That gate valve would be replaced with a 3/4 ball valve very soon after his other project. I hate gate valves, they always leak. The gate valve, the Yugo of valves.
 
Yes the ball valve is the only type that should be considered for household plumbing. They have a lever that moves 1/4 turn instead of a wheel. The old fashioned gate valve (as pictured) and the similar globe valve are obsolete.

You don't necessarily need a valve on the water heater outlet. For heater replacement the pipes will drain when you drain the old heater.
 
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How do you know that the valves on the washing machine are leaking?

If they are the typical gate valves like the one on the water heater, and the leak is coming from around the valve stem, you may just be able to tighten the packing nut. The packing nut is the very top HEX nut where the valve stem goes through. A few drops of oil here can also be helpful, as well as not opening the valve COMPLETELY or hard open to resistance. Oil the stem, work the valve back and forth a few turn, and gently tighten the packing nut to see if you can get the leak to stop.

If the valves are leaking through, as in won't shut off the water, the valve is bad and needs to be replaced.

Valve stem packing can also be purchased and the packing replaced, but this will require shutting off the water and taking the packing nut loose from the stem. Yeah, a little bit of work, but if you can't solder in new valves, it's the easiest fix.
 
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!
 
A house built in '81 isn't old by any means. I'm 100% confident it will have a main shut off. Where is your water meter ? Maybe it's a regional thing but around here, meters have been installed (or retrofitted) inside homes for a very long time. Our previous house, built in 1913, had a water meter in the basement.
 
Once you find the water shut off, you can usually replace the valve stems and seats with new parts from a parts store very easily and not pricey
Do you have a picture of the valves you have that are leaking?
 
Originally Posted by eljefino
Cut the power to the water heater before doing any work anywhere in the house-- the element can blow if run dry.

That's a gas water heater
 
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