anyone have one? im located off tryon but can drive a decent distance. I just dont wanna spend 10 bucks at lowes for a new one.

thanks.

even a crescent wrench would be ok.

1/9/2011 5:10:39 PM

Have you looked at the meter? A few years ago they replaced mine with one that they could read remotely and they removed the old style manual shutoff valve in the process.

1/9/2011 5:38:28 PM

yes, i did.

its the only place that I have found where I can cut off the water to the entire house.

1/9/2011 6:49:54 PM

^^huh? are you positive about that? i have never seen such, and i put my eyes on a healthy amount of water meters week in/week out. you sure it's not just been covered up with dirt and/or other debris? i have found that to be a frequent scenario after the switch over to the electronic readers. if it really was removed for some reason, i would contact whatever municipality you are in ASAP because that's definitely not supposed to happen.

^^^you're welcome to borrow my key, but it would have to be one evening and i would need it back before the following morning...

1/9/2011 7:19:21 PM

just let me know when.


I have a shower faucet thats in the new place and only running hot water, no cold.

so im thinking if i cut off the water and take off the face plate i may find either the piece is clogged or the cartridge is broke.

am i right with that?

1/9/2011 8:10:36 PM

the small black ones are less than $10 in the plumbing section at lows, if worse comes to worse

1/9/2011 8:17:51 PM

^^^ Pretty darn sure. I put in a sink last year and had to crawl under the house to shut off the water. I've turned water off with a key before and know exactly what that valve looks like. I borrowed a key to do this job, opened my box, and the valve just wasn't there. I'm in Raleigh.

1/9/2011 8:25:48 PM

^^^i'm definitely going to be using it tomorrow and tuesday i already know. wednesday evening would probably be fine. i would definitely need it back by 8am thursday. i highly suggest buying one, though. it's a valuable tool for any homeowner to have around in case of emergency. ten bucks is pretty negligible when you consider the chaos a burst pipe/fitting can cause if you're stuck with no way to shut the system down until a plumber or city official arrives.

i couldn't even really begin to speculate on the shower issue without knowing what brand and model the valve is. even then, it's an educated guess at best as to what the actual cause/problem might be. could even be something unrelated to the valve itself all together. generally speaking, diagnosing plumbing problems over the internet isn't much easier/accurate than diagnosing automotive problems. if you can give me a brand/model of the valve or a pic of it, i'll at least give you my opinion.

^yeah, i'd definitely be calling up the city of raleigh about that asap if i was you. wtf do they expect to happen should your main line rupture or your main cutoff fails? or what if you never pay your water bill and they need to lock the line down/pull the meter? that's really weird, they would have had to shut down a main in the street somewhere to have even successfully eliminated the valve...


[Edited on January 9, 2011 at 8:56 PM. Reason : plus a whole other host of scenarios beneficial for you and them to have a cutoff in place...]

1/9/2011 8:45:48 PM

even if the meter didn't have a valve (which i can't believe is true), wouldn't there still be 2 valves on your RPZ device?

1/10/2011 2:09:29 AM

not necessarily. rpz's or any other "true" backflow preventer aren't very common to find around here on residential main water supplies (commercial is a different story). the city does incorporate a simple single check valve at the meter, but that's it. about the only time you'll see an rpz, double check, etc. in a residential setting here is for irrigation or pool water supplies. that is due to the much higher risk for a cross connection occuring within those systems and contaminating the potable water supply. cross connection program requirements/guidelines and their enforcement vary greatly between different municipalities across the state/country.

1/10/2011 4:22:34 AM

ah gotcha, all my experience is commercial

1/10/2011 12:23:13 PM

It seems like there may have been something on the new meter that I could turn, but it didn't look like the traditional squared off valve that I'm used to seeing and the water meter key didn't fit it. I just assumed this was normal when they put in the new meter, but I guess not. I'll pop off the cover and take another look at it sometime.

1/10/2011 12:42:05 PM

is it normal that I can just turn off my house's water shut-off valve with my hand?

1/10/2011 1:32:43 PM

yes, depending on what kind of valve it is.

my old apartment was nothing but a faucet you turn clockwise to turn it off and what not.



I ended up just using a crescent wrench from the neighbors and a screwdriver, called the townhouse mgmt afterwards and they directed me to where it was in the house...its beside the fireplace in a closet. WTF??

the one place i DIDNT look.

thanks for the offers though, and the moen cartridge was bad, went to lowes and got a new one instead of worrying with the warranty crap.

1/10/2011 2:16:33 PM

^^yes, you SHOULD be able to do it by hand if the valve is in good working order. just be very careful if it's a gate valve (round handle you turn clockwise off/counterclockwise on), they are notorious for getting hung when you try to turn them back on and the shaft/shank will strip or sometimes even snap in two. then you're screwed with your only options being to remove the guts rendering the valve useless, or replace it. best practice to avoid problems is to back them out a little, go back in a bit, back out more, back in partially, and repeat until it's fully open. doesn't hurt to tap the body of the valve with a hammer handle or screwdriver or something at the same time. also, be sure to check for any water seeping out around the packing nut after as well and snug it up as needed. about 75% of the time they will start leaking, especially if the valve hasn't been cycled in a while. i can't stand gate valves. full port brass ball valves are far superior cutoffs.

^yeah, it's not uncommon to find the main cutoff and prv in a lower level coat/linen/utility closet in many spec built townhomes and single family homes that are on a slab.

call up moen customer service (1-800-BUY-MOEN), they'll ship you a new cartridge free of charge. keep it around as a spare or return it to lowes. occasionally, they will request for you to send the old cartridge back, but usually not. even if they do, it's completely voluntary and they send a return shipping label for it. it's simply so they can examine the failure for their own quality control purposes.

[Edited on January 11, 2011 at 1:43 AM. Reason : you'll need to say if it's a moentrol (pull out and rotating handle) or positemp (rotating only) ]

[Edited on January 11, 2011 at 1:47 AM. Reason : 1200(brass)/1225(plastic) for moentrol and 1222 for positemp should be the respective part #'s iirc.]

1/11/2011 1:18:09 AM

I realize you already have this figured out, but in the future like BBR has mentioned there should always be an angle stop in the meter box which is easily turned on/off with an adjustable wrench (ball type are much easier to operate than the cheaper key/plug type). Just quit paying your bill next time and they will come turn it for you

Skack - yours is probably covered with dirt. When they switch the meters all they do is unscrew the old meter from the angle stop, screw in the new one, and add the pit lid adaptor to the meter box lid.

1/13/2011 2:43:22 PM