shut off valve

I got a new washer today, and noticed the valve is leaking and running down onto the washer. Which way do I turn it to shut it off? Also, is it ok to shut it off completely?

Two things could be happening...(that I can think of) the hose may not be on tight enough (while they may last longer, many places are using a fairly hard plastic washer that needs to be tightened more than a rubber one), or the faucet really is leaking. Most (not all) faucets turn off by turning them clockwise. If it is old, its washers may be shot, too. And last, it is a very good idea to turn off both the hot and cold supplies when you are done with the washing machine. There are a variety of washing machine shut off valves that shut both hot and cold off at the same time. On "Ask this Old House" (reruns?) over the weekend, they showed a (fairly expensive but neat) electronic device that goes on the supplies and has two neat features: it automatically shuts the water off to the hoses unless the washer is turned on and, comes with a water sensor you put on the floor, so if either the hoses or the washer leak, it shuts off the water supply. If you were interested in this, I'm sure you could find references to it on their website.

The elbow at the window should be fine. Is the dryer gas or electric? If gas, you will need to move things or have the outlet moved (well, I guess you could go inside it and replace the cord with a longer one - not sure what the manufacturer would think). An extension cord is not a good idea. If it is an electric one, they don't ususually come with a cord - it is purchased separately. Haven't looked at one lately, but I'd guess they could specify a longer one for the dryer.

You do have a lot of glitches! Some of that comes with an older house, but still.

Depending on how much that valve is leaking, you might want to turn off the main valve overnight.

Does the valve have a nut around the stem? If it has a packing nut, sometimes you can stop a leak around the stem (is it leaking around the stem or from the outlet?) by backing the thing off (opening it) and then tightening the packing nut a little. That might take all of 5-minutes, cause you'd want to shut the main valve off first so you don't get water all over the place while you try to tighten the packing nut.

Packing Leaking Around Stem

The nut just under the handle is a packing nut. Try tightening it by putting a wrench on it and turning it clockwise. That usually solves the problem, at least temporarily.

If that doesn't solve it, you may be able to replace the packing. If you can turn off the water, you can usually remove the handle, unscrew the packing nut, and put a turn of graphited packing around the stem; then retighten the nut. You might also lubricate the valve stem.

You will probably have to ask the guy at HD for the packing and maybe you will get lucky and find someone who knows what it is.

washer hoses

If I were you, before I tried to take that valve apart to add packing, I would turn that handle or stem counter clockwise real hard. If it's an old single packed valve, doing that might put enough pressure on that packing to stop the valve from dripping. You can always take the hose off and put a pan under it till you get the leak squared away.

Go to the store and get two new valves for your hoses. Might be good if you bought a little packet of hose washers just in case you have to double up. You can get 4 or 6 washers for $.60 or so.

You can get either...

leak

Look at and you can see if it's soldered or threaded pipe.
I just assumed that those pipes were galvanized.
If it's galvanized then get two 1/2" iron pipe boiler drains or whatever they call them in your city.