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Emergency Services 24H

Emergency Plumbing → Shut-Off

No water in house? Start at the main shut-off valve

Three causes explain almost every case: a street outage, a closed or failed main valve, or a well pump fault. Work the tree in that order, and learn where the valve is before the night you need it.

No water in house plumbing comes down to three causes: the street supply is interrupted, the main shut-off valve is closed or has failed, or a private well pump has stopped delivering. The main shut-off valve sits where the service line enters the building, usually within a few feet of the meter.

Search results for no water in house split along those causes, with one page covering wells and another covering municipal supply. This one covers all three, because you cannot know which you have until you have checked.

Diagnose in this order

No water at all? Work the tree first

  1. 01

    Test several fixtures

    Hot and cold, upstairs and down. One dry tap is a local fault; every tap dry means the supply is interrupted upstream.

  2. 02

    Check the street

    Ask a neighbour or open your utility outage page. A whole street with no water is a main break, and no amount of valve-hunting will help.

Main water shut-off valve and meter where the service line enters a basement
  1. 03

    Check the main valve

    Find it, then confirm it is fully open. Partly closed valves cause weak flow that people misread as a pressure problem.

  2. 04

    Well systems: breaker first

    On a private well, check the pump breaker and then the pressure switch. A pump running with no pressure should be switched off before it damages itself.

No water in house: where the main shut-off valve actually is

Where is the main water shut-off valve?

Where the supply line enters the building: the street-facing wall of a basement or crawlspace, a garage or utility closet in slab-built homes, or beside the water heater. Outside, a second stop belonging to the water utility sits in a covered ground box near the kerb.

If there is no water in house-wide, the valve is the first thing to find. Three practical hints narrow the search. The valve is on the street side of the house, it is usually within a few feet of the meter, and it is almost always at or below the level of the lowest fixture.

  • Basement or crawlspace homes: the wall facing the street, often behind stored boxes, with the meter beside it.
  • Slab-built and southern homes: the garage, a utility closet, or an exterior wall near the hose bib.
  • Apartments and condos: a service riser cupboard, with individual unit isolation rather than a whole-building main.
  • Everywhere: a kerbside ground box marked with a water lid, containing the meter and the utility stop.

The three valve types, and what closed looks like on each

Knowing which valve you have matters at 2am, because two of the three give no obvious feedback that they have actually closed.

Diagram of gate, ball and stop-and-waste shut-off valve types with the closed position marked on each
Gate, ball and stop-and-waste valves, with the closed position marked. A ball valve closes in a quarter turn to crosswise; a gate valve can take several full turns and gives no positive stop. Source: Emergency Services 24H original diagram

Gate valves have a round wheel handle and are the older type. They close over several full turns clockwise, they seize when they are never used, and they are the type most likely to break under force.

Ball valves have a lever. A quarter turn to crosswise is fully closed, and the handle position tells you at a glance which state it is in. Stop-and-waste valves add a small drain port so a line can be emptied for winter.

Confirm closed rather than assume it

After closing the valve, open a low tap and let it run dry. If water keeps arriving after the pipes above have drained, the valve is passing and the utility stop outside is your fallback. A gate valve that has been forced may look closed and still let water through, which is how people conclude their shut-off worked when it did not.

If the valve will not turn

Old gate valves seize, and the failure mode is ugly. Forcing one snaps the stem or shears the gate off inside the body, and a contained leak becomes an open main with no way to stop it.

Use steady even pressure and nothing else. No breaker bars, no pipe extensions, no hammering. If it will not move under hand pressure, it is not going to move safely.

Go outside to the meter box near the kerb instead. That stop belongs to the water utility and is operated with a meter key, and most water companies will send someone to close it if you call and say the interior valve has failed. If water is already escaping inside, the sequence in what to do in the first ten minutes of a burst still applies while you wait.

Know the line

Yours, or the water company's?

Safe to check yourself

  • Everything from the meter into the house is the homeowner responsibility
  • The interior main shut-off valve is yours to maintain and replace
  • Internal leaks, pressure problems and fixture isolation are yours
  • Labelling and exercising the valve twice a year is yours

Call a pro now

  • The service main in the street is the utility asset
  • The kerbside stop and the meter belong to the utility
  • A leak on the street side of the meter is reported, not repaired by you
  • A whole-street outage is a utility fault and nothing you do will fix it

The line at the meter decides who pays, and it is the single most useful thing to know before making a call. Water surfacing at the kerb, or a soggy verge between the pavement and the road, is almost always their side.

Turning the water back on without causing a second problem

Restoration is where people create the leak they were trying to avoid. A valve opened fast sends a pressure surge through a system that has just been drained, and the surge finds every marginal joint at once.

  1. Open a quarter turn. Let the system fill slowly. You will hear it filling; that is the point.
  2. Bleed from the top down. Open the highest fixture first and let it spit air until it runs clean, then work downward through the house.
  3. Open the valve fully. Only once flow is steady and the air is out.
  4. Walk the run. Check every visible joint on the affected line, and check under sinks and behind the water heater half an hour later.

Brown or cloudy water for a few minutes after restoration is normal, because the surge lifts settled sediment. Run a cold tap until it clears before using it, and avoid running hot water first, which pulls that sediment into the tank.

Why there is no hot water when the cold works

Cold water works but there is no hot water. Why?

The fault is at the water heater, not the supply. Usual causes are a closed isolation valve on the heater, a tripped breaker or extinguished pilot, a failed heating element or thermocouple, or a broken dip tube. The cold side working proves the main supply is fine.

Check the simplest things first: the breaker for an electric unit, the gas control knob for a gas one, and the two isolation valves on the pipes at the top of the tank.

Stop immediately if there is any sulphur smell near a gas water heater. That is a gas utility call from outside the building, not a plumbing diagnosis.

Label it tonight, find it in the dark next time

The best five minutes anyone spends on home plumbing is finding the main valve while nothing is wrong. Tag it, photograph it, and note the valve type.

Exercise it twice a year. Closing and reopening a gate valve two times a year is what stops it seizing, and a valve that turns freely in June is the difference between a wet floor and a wet house in January. Keep a meter key with the tag if your only reliable stop is outside.

How the matching works, and what we do not do

Emergency Services 24H is a referral service. We do not employ plumbers, and we cannot operate a utility stop on your behalf.

Your request routes by ZIP code to licensed, insured contractors covering your area, and they contact you directly. If the answer turns out to be a call to your water company instead, that is what this page tells you to do.

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Get a licensed plumber moving on this

A failed main valve, a leak you cannot isolate, or no water with the street still supplied. Send the symptoms and your ZIP code and licensed, insured plumbers covering your area will contact you directly. No obligation.

Fire, a gas smell, or an injury? Leave the building and call 911 first, then your gas utility or power company. Use this form once you are safe.

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Straight answers

Frequently asked questions

The questions homeowners actually search for on this problem, answered in plain language.

Browse all guides
Why would a house suddenly have no water?

Three causes cover almost every case: a utility outage or main break affecting the street, a main shut-off valve that has been closed or has failed, or on a private well a tripped pump breaker or a faulty pressure switch. Test several fixtures first, then ask a neighbour, then check the valve.

Where is my main water shut-off valve?

Where the service line enters the building. In basement and crawlspace homes it is on the street-facing wall near the meter. In slab-built and warm-climate homes it is more often in the garage, a utility closet, or outside near the hose bib. There is also a utility stop in a ground box near the kerb.

What if the main shut-off valve will not turn?

Stop. Old gate valves seize, and forcing one snaps the stem or shears the gate off inside the body, which turns a contained leak into an open main. Use steady even pressure only. If it will not move, call your water company and ask them to close the kerbside stop, which is their equipment.

Why is there no water even if I open the faucet?

If every fixture is dry the supply is interrupted upstream, so check the main valve and the street. If only one fixture is dry the fault is local: a closed isolation valve under the sink, a blocked aerator, or a frozen section serving that run. A hot-only failure points at the water heater.

Why is my well pump running but there is no water?

Usually a loss of prime, a failed foot valve, a waterlogged pressure tank, or a well drawn down faster than it recovers. A pump running continuously without building pressure should be switched off at the breaker, because running dry damages it quickly. That is a well contractor call rather than a plumber call.

How do I turn the water back on safely?

Slowly. Open the valve a quarter turn at a time and let the system fill without slamming, then bleed air by opening the highest fixture first and working down. Once flow is steady, walk every joint on the affected run, because the pressure surge on restoration is what finds the next weak point.

Exterior water shut-off box set into gravel beside a slab-on-grade house wall
Where the main enters a slab-on-grade home
Older brass gate valve with a round wheel handle on a galvanised main line
Gate valve versus ball valve
Shut-off valve problems, by urgency Stop. Call 911 first: A valve that has failed while water is flooding; Water reaching electrics with no way to isolate. Contractor tonight: The main valve will not close during an active leak; A seized valve with a leak already running; A snapped handle or sheared stem; A valve weeping badly at the packing nut. Can wait for an appointment: A stiff valve exercised during dry conditions; A slight weep at the packing under no load; Replacing an old gate valve preventively; Labelling and mapping valves before you need them Shut-off valve problems, by urgency Stop. Call 911 first Leave the building A valve that has failed whilewater is flooding Water reaching electrics with noway to isolate Contractor tonight Damage is compounding The main valve will not closeduring an active leak A seized valve with a leak alreadyrunning A snapped handle or sheared stem A valve weeping badly at thepacking nut Can wait for an appointment Book in normal hours A stiff valve exercised during dryconditions A slight weep at the packing underno load Replacing an old gate valvepreventively Labelling and mapping valvesbefore you need them When in doubt, treat it as the more serious lane. A false alarm costs nothing.
Find and exercise your main valve now, while nothing is wrong. A seized valve discovered mid-burst is the worst possible time to learn where it is.
Shut-off valve work Angle stop replacement: $100 to $300, most often around $180. Main shut-off valve replacement: $250 to $800, most often around $450. Whole-house isolation valve add: $300 to $1,000, most often around $600. Curb stop or meter valve work: $300 to $1,200, most often around $700. Source: Aggregated 2026 US cost guides (HomeGuide, Angi, This Old House), cross-checked against UGC-reported prices. Shut-off valve work $0 $200 $400 $600 $800 $1k $1.2k Angle stop replacement $100–$300 Main shut-off valve replacement $250–$800 Whole-house isolation valve add $300–$1,000 Curb stop or meter valve work $300–$1,200 Most commonly reported figure Source: Aggregated 2026 US cost guides (HomeGuide, Angi, This Old House), cross-checked against UGC-reported prices
Curb stop and meter valve work often belongs to the utility rather than to you. Ask before you pay a private contractor for it.

Sources for this page

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Get help from a licensed local contractor

Tell us what has failed and where you are. We route your request to licensed, insured contractors covering your ZIP code, and they contact you directly.

Fire, a gas smell, or an injury? Leave the building and call 911 first, then your gas utility or power company. Use this form once you are safe.

By submitting this request you agree that Emergency Services 24H and the licensed contractors in its network may contact you at the phone number and email you provided, including by automated dialing system, prerecorded message, or text. Consent is not a condition of purchase. Message and data rates may apply. You can opt out at any time. See our privacy policy and terms.

Free to submit. No obligation to hire.