Main water leak.

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vsarinana

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Hello,
I have a leak on the main water valve. The leak is coming from the union (I believe that is what it's called). I have attached a picture. When I first realized it was leaking mud completely covered it. So I believe the pressure from the mud tweaked it a little bit but I’m not sure. Well the leak is coming from the bottom which likes a nut and I just need to know if I should look into purchasing a new pipe and if so can someone please let me know what I need to purchase and what I should do to change this. I am a first time homeowner and I am trying to learn and do things on my own. Thanks for your help.
:confused:
 

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The "union" is what's on the right side of the black square (hex shaped object), the object in the square appears to be a gate valve missing the handle.
If it's on the municipal side of the meter, you'll have to have the town shut down your water while you replace it with a ball valve.
My state won't let unlicensed folks do that, the towns won't shut it unless there's a licensed plumber there, yours may be different.
IF it's on the house side of the meter, you might be able to shut it off on the other side of the meter, hopefully the valve on the other side is in better shape...if there is a valve.

If you've never soldered, I might suggest having a pro look at it.
It might also require what we call a "Ford" fitting to adapt it.
 
Meter tailpiece,valve,nippel to pvc? Is this under ground,where is the meter pit?Mostly we would use a Ford yoke & pit.Regardless valve needs to be replaced by a pro.
 
GrumpyPlumber said:
If it's on the municipal side of the meter, you'll have to have the town shut down your water while you replace it with a ball valve.
Click to expand...

If it's on the municipal side, let them worry about it. The only tool you need is the telephone :D. Looks like that ain't the case, unfortunately.
 
Main Valve

The Meter is the Blue box on the right hand side so the main valve is just right of that. Now I know what the union is thank you. What's in the black box is on my side. When the water company came out to look at it the had to remove a lot of mud. So I think the mud put pressure on the pipe and loosened it. I attached a close up picture. This is the best I can do. But I believe if just tighten it down on the left hand side I should be okay. However I will go with your opinion if I have to hire a professional I will. Thank you for your response.
 

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This is a very poor installation to be very blunt. You need to get a professional to straighten it out. You don't just bury valves, the valve is the wrong type anyway, and everything should be in a pit for easy access. That leak did not occur because of mud putting pressure on anything. If it was done right, there would be no mud anyway.
 
You still need to replace that valve,no matter what,have a pro fix it it might
save you some big$$$$.
 
It looks like there is some kind of vague outline of a concrete structure around the mess -- might have been an attempt at a pit, which might be salvageable and repairable.

If it's any consolation, my main valve looks exactly like yours, only mine still has a handle on it. An old local plumber tells me it's common to see them around here, because they were used at the local phosphate mines and readily available at Midnight Supply. I'm running a new water line (old one goes under a 30-year old oak tree & its days are numbered) with a proper valve in it.
 
Cost

Thank you everyone for your help. Yes Mikey it is a pit (if that's what you want to call it). I agree this is some poor work. Thanks Grumpy Plumber. I went to Home Depot and looked at what a real Ball Valve looks like. Well I am going to call a pro. Do you know how much I should be looking to pay for someone to come and replace the pipe. i measured it and it's like a foot of pipe in all with the Ball Valve in the square. thanks again for all your response.
 
You may want to get 2-3 estimates for this repair. The water company may be able to give you the name of several company's that do that kind of work.
 
Don't know what state he is in, but in S. Calif. this is what you see on most houses. Meter and shutoffs are in a concrete box right at ground level. They start out clean and dry, but over the years, depending on how they are doing the lawn around it, and of course when there is a leak, it can become a muddy mess.


Your plumber can call the water company to come shut off the stop on the street side of the meter. Most cities provide that service free, 24/7
You are not allowed to shut that street side valve, becuase if you break it , you bought it!!!

Then you just have to clean out the mud to get a clean area to work in.

This is not a reliable valve, and you do want to get it replaced with a ball valve. This is not a huge job for a plumber. 1 hour maybe.
 
You might save some time and money by shoveling out the muck and providing the plumber with a clean roomy space to work in. Go easy with the shovel, though...
 
The break is on his side, notice the arrow on the meter.

A lot of people have given advice on whether or not he can shut the street side valve. The truth is it differs from town to town. I can shut the curb stop at one house and three houses down I have to call the water district and wait for them come come out and do it. It depends on whether you own everything to the meter, to the curb stop, or to the main. A simply phone call to your water district is the only way to get accurate information in this case.

I fail to see anything wrong with that installation. It is probably twenty years old and gate or globe valves were the only way to go then.
 
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Lots of advice from all the real plumbers here, but you've jumped to conclusions that may have this guy spending money he doesn't need to.

The gate valve without the handle probably works just great with a pair of vice grips.

First thing you need to do is get a garden shovel the small kind that we use for potting, and scoop all the mud and water out of the concrete valve box.

Even under the meter, because it might be leaking on the meter side of the valve. The valve is the demarkation point, you own the valve and everthing to the left in the first picture. If it's leaking at the union on the meter, call the water company to fix it. You said the water company came out and took some mud out, did they isolate it to the valve, or... doesn't look like they took enough mud out to make that determination.

Or it could be the valve, and the cheap answer is to tighten the stem nut below where the handle used to be...

"EDIT" On a second look at the photo, it looks like a drip echo in the puddle under the valve, so try to figure out where on the valve it's leaking.

Rancher
 
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fixed

Thank You very much for all your advice. The water company came out since they had to shut the water off. The gate valve was broke and where the PVC pipe is (it will be replaced with the proper piping in a week) was loose. Basically where the copper pipe connected to the pvc pipe. The guy from the water company looked at what I was going to do and said he had an extra ball valve in his truck. He took the time to replace the ball valve and he ensured everything was tightened and back to how it should be. This guy was awsome. He wasn't going to report what he did since he had nothing else to do and all it cost me was a gatorade. Talk about luck. You guys gave me great advice and everything ended up perfect. I am going to get some estimates so I can get rid of that garbage PVC Pipe and put in some copper. I will dig up the line and of course provide the copper pipe and other connectors I will need. All the plumber will have to do is put the line in. Thanks again for all your help.
 
That guys generosity saved you more than you will ever realize, it is a good thing he wasn't busy.
 
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Should have thrown him fifty bucks or so. He probably saved you $500.. In any case you defiantly lucked out and got a nie guy out there.
 
You might want to replace it with 160 or 200 psi Polyethylene. It would probably be more reliable than the copper and certainly less expensive.

With the poly pipe you would use at least 1" and probably 1-1/4" pipe with no joints in the line except at the end.
 
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