Where do you get a curb key?

Even a licensed plumber would not touch one unless they are reasonably sure of its condition

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Are you joking? What are the afraid of?

They sell meter keys here even at the Ace Hardware.

I have turned water meters on/off hundreds of times...and I'm an electrician.

A meter box is a lot different than a curb style box. A curb key is a little different animal than what you are talking about. It is about sticking a rod down a one inch tube filled with dirt and feeling for the top of a valve and trying to get it to turn without snapping something off. Some thing a plumber should do without the water company only in a rare emergency. I call the water company and wait on them. A homeowner should never attempt it.

A curb key is a little different animal than what you are talking about.

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Ahhhh...got it.

Here those valves are in the middle of the streetand shut off large sections of main, not every house.

thank you

Water company marked gas valve as water.Gas18inches water stop 48inches
I know the differance when have to dig i can be very deept.

Alectrician said:

Ahhhh...got it.

Here those valves are in the middle of the streetand shut off large sections of main, not every house.

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Different places = different setups, maybe... but we're not talking about what's under manhole covers. Talking about that little round metal cover, about 4 inches across... usually at the curb, near the sidewalk (hence "curb key"). Unscrew the cover, there's a 2" pipe going down... valve is at the bottom...

Did a quick google, so's we're all on the same page...

scroll down a bit, picture on the right:

http://www.chesterwater.com/cust_box.htm

or again:

http://www.clowcanada.com/english/p_ancilliary_accessories.html


... hey, in answer to the OP, did you try to find a curb key online? I'm finding a ton of suppliers. The top key on this page is the one I've got...

http://www.aymcdonald.com/ProdList_Water.cfm?getgroup=42&sendCat=4

but there's a bunch more:

http://www.farm-home.com/cgi-bin/miva?/mn/t9_main.mv+FRGL07+HSI+002195+0210+JDISTRIB1406-3051~~~~~~~

http://www.*********.com/webapp/wcs...com2froogle-_-product_feed-_-D26X-_-100084117

http://www.home-improvement-superstore.com/orbit-underground-53266-curb-key.html

http://www.thehardwarecity.com/thc/?sku=2844140

http://www.thegreathardwarestore.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=155002&click=2744

...here's the search page:

http://www.google.com/products?q=curb+key&btnG=Search&hl=en&show=dd&sa=N&start=10

The A. Y. McDonald 304B key would be the one to work with a curb stop with a one-inch pipe atop it, since the 5660 rod would attach to the curb stop, and the key would engage the top of the rod. My supplier only had 3-foot keys of this type, since all the local utilities using this setup have the top of the rod within a foot or so of surface grade.

There are different keys. In addition, there are special keys needed to take the caps off in most cases - a pentagonal nut. In nearby Idaho Falls, the keys have a half-moon on one side and a nut tool on the other side, and at the other end of what I call the "bullet" key, there's a slotted piece made to fit inside a 1" galvanized pipe. The wide, flat top has two tiny holes that you stick the half-moon in to twist it off the pipe thread.

This is different from the more common type with a cap on a 2" cast iron bury hole. The bullet key locks onto a permanent shaft where the other type fits on the flat bar of the stop itself.

Here's a pic of the curb box with the attached shaft:



Typically, the key goes into the 1" pipe a couple of feet to meet the shaft, and the pipe is buried 5' deep. The key for it looks like this:

Mueller uses that system, without any pentagonal bolt in the cap on the one-inch pipe. Just the two holes. I hate it when the cap is set into an asphalt driveway, and it won't loosen with the key.

One good thing here is that we have meter boxes, nothing deep like you all back east.

If we break a meter, we pay the water company to replace it. We are supposed to call the water company to come and shut the water down, but when I show up and need to tturn it off, I don't have the time to wait.

Now, if the meter is hard and will not turn, then I notify the customer I have to wait at an additional charge and the water company will come out, turn it off and then I have to wait for them to return to turn it on

This only happens when the customer has an in-operational isolation valve on the main entering the house.

I have 2 meter keys, one that I purchased from a supply house, large and heavy, but works well and the other is the one that comes with the mcmanics wrench, or the right angle wrench we use to remove nipples in cabinets and hook out c/o adapters to for pulling caps

Well....that just looks like a meter key.

I am in the desert so out shut off valves (which look just like yours) are about a foot deep in a meter box with the meter attached to them via a brass union style setup.

westcoastplumber said:

Now, if the meter is hard and will not turn, then I notify the customer I have to wait at an additional charge and the water company will come out, turn it off and then I have to wait for them to return to turn it on

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I had to shut off the water at a curb box recently that was so hard to shut off I needed to use a four foot cheater bar on my key. Still better than waiting for the city to come out.

I ended up having to install an extra ball valve though to finish the job, cuz the piece of crap didn't shut off all the way. I think they're still waiting for the city to come out and replace that meter.

One More Observation

I am between San Francisco and San Jose on the Peninsula, so my meter box and shutoff are only 1 foot down.

Why hasn't anyone mentioned that abomination gate valve that was standard issue as a shutoff on a house built in 1955. Over time they corrode, erode or otherwise get messed up so that they will no longer close. I gave up a few years ago and replaced mine with a proper ball valve, but not before I used a home made key I built from a section of galvanized 1 1/2" pipe and scraps of 1/4" plate.

After Loma Prieta there were fund raisers here to sell keys to shut off the gas and the water in the event of another, even more serious quake. It was just long enough to engage the meter shutoff and had a handle end 6 inches long teed across the top. One end of the tee was shaped to quickly lift the rectangular meter cover. The key would not budge the valve. I put a pipe cheater on it and quickly learned that it was made of some kind of cast pot metal that snapped with the first bit of stress. That is when I welded up my key.

I'm glad I don't need it any more. The notion of snapping off the water line at the meter is not a pleasant one.

Thanks to the thread for an education.

baumgrenze

Verdeboy said:

I had to shut off the water at a curb box recently that was so hard to shut off I needed to use a four foot cheater bar on my key. Still better than waiting for the city to come out.

I ended up having to install an extra ball valve though to finish the job, cuz the piece of crap didn't shut off all the way. I think they're still waiting for the city to come out and replace that meter.

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Silver city, cool, I used to plumb in santa fe and in albuquerque new mexico.

Pretty place, nice place to live, but you need a nestegg, then live there, you can't make any money (in my opinion)

Verdeboy said:

I had to shut off the water at a curb box recently that was so hard to shut off I needed to use a four foot cheater bar on my key. Still better than waiting for the city to come out.

I ended up having to install an extra ball valve though to finish the job, cuz the piece of crap didn't shut off all the way. I think they're still waiting for the city to come out and replace that meter.

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I learned a long time ago that if you force a city valve you will be paying for it at some time. The first time I did it without calling the city first was my, last cause it snapped and cost me more than it was worth.

in a lot of cases I think there would be a way to turn off the water without turning a frozen valve.

In many cases I've cut and capped, cut and valved off, unthreaded and valved off live water lines. there has to be a way to turn the water off and not open yourself up to city penalties. It might cost the homeowner more, but not me.

westcoastplumber said:

Silver city, cool, I used to plumb in santa fe and in albuquerque new mexico.

Pretty place, nice place to live, but you need a nestegg, then live there, you can't make any money (in my opinion)

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Santa Fe is about as upscale as it gets here. If you thought you couldn't make any money there, you really couldn't make any money in this little town. That's why the plumbers around here are so crappy and unprofessional. They can only charge $30-40 an hour, and I'm sure a large chunk of that goes to the company they work for.

As a Handyman, I only make $20.00/hr, and many complain that is way too high. I had a small nest egg when I arrived, but I had tendinitis in my right elbow that was so bad, I had to take a year off to let it heal. Goodbye nest egg.

I live very simply here and just squeak by. But I love the mountains and the fresh air.