What are these valves in my utility closet (water heater & HVAC unit)
May 19, 2015 6:55 PM Subscribe
I recently moved into a new Condo, only to realize I have no idea what any of the dials/knobs/valves (I'm sure there's a correct term here) do. Looking for help identifying what they may do.
Need help identifying what the various shutoffs do. And what harm my befall my turning them off. I'm really hoping to figure out if one of them is a main water shutoff for my unit, but don't want to screw anything up by shutting something off I shouldn't. I can get more pictures tomorrow evening if needed.
Picture for entire utility closet.
This is right behind the water heater near the top. Pipe comes from the wall and splits up to the blue thing and down straight into the water heater.
Comes out of bottom of water heater.
This is from the HVAC unit.
Need help identifying what the various shutoffs do. And what harm my befall my turning them off. I'm really hoping to figure out if one of them is a main water shutoff for my unit, but don't want to screw anything up by shutting something off I shouldn't. I can get more pictures tomorrow evening if needed.
Picture for entire utility closet.
This is right behind the water heater near the top. Pipe comes from the wall and splits up to the blue thing and down straight into the water heater.
Comes out of bottom of water heater.
This is from the HVAC unit.
Response by poster: Regarding picture #2 ("This is right behind the water heater near the top"), I would need a slightly wider view of that to be able to say what is going on.
Let's try this one. Here's another showing 2 pipes coming from the wall.
posted by jmd82 at 7:05 PM on May 19, 2015
Let's try this one. Here's another showing 2 pipes coming from the wall.
posted by jmd82 at 7:05 PM on May 19, 2015
Hmm, that makes it a bit clearer. I could start speculating now, but I would really like to see a picture first which shows what happens on top of that blue tank.
posted by Juffo-Wup at 7:09 PM on May 19, 2015
posted by Juffo-Wup at 7:09 PM on May 19, 2015
Best answer: The blue thing is a water expansion tank. It relieves the pressure in your water heater created when water is heated. Not sure what the valve does though.
posted by cecic at 7:11 PM on May 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by cecic at 7:11 PM on May 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
The valve is probably the supply (cold water) shutoff for the water heater.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:13 PM on May 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:13 PM on May 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
cecic: I would guess that the valve is on the incoming cold water line to the water heater; these usually have shutoff valves. And I tend to assume that, yeah, the blue tank is probably an expansion tank too, but I'd be curious to see the outflow valve on it anyway...
I guess if it's a bladder-type tank and the input and output are both "inside" the bladder, then it would make sense. I'm not exactly sure why an expansion tank would be needed, though, in a domestic hot water(-only) system.
posted by Juffo-Wup at 7:13 PM on May 19, 2015
I guess if it's a bladder-type tank and the input and output are both "inside" the bladder, then it would make sense. I'm not exactly sure why an expansion tank would be needed, though, in a domestic hot water(-only) system.
posted by Juffo-Wup at 7:13 PM on May 19, 2015
The blue tank on top of the water heater is an expansion tank, which provides a mechanism to relieve pressure resulting from water heating and expanding. The valve on that side is the cold water inlet cutoff to the water heater - handy if the water heater starts leaking.
posted by jgreco at 7:14 PM on May 19, 2015
posted by jgreco at 7:14 PM on May 19, 2015
Best answer: Juffo-Wup: many modern plumbing installs have a check valve that prevents the backflow of water into the muni water system. When your hot water taps are all turned off, in the old days, the expansion of water in the heater would result in a mild backflow into the muni system which effectively dealt with the expansion issue. With a check valve, that backflow is no longer possible, and pressure would build up. The expansion tank resolves that issue.
posted by jgreco at 7:17 PM on May 19, 2015
posted by jgreco at 7:17 PM on May 19, 2015
Response by poster: Thanks for the answers so far, but I'm a bit confused about how the water supply works. Say that valve is for cold water to the water heater - would shutting that off actually do me any good if I encounter a leak (besides the water heater) or need to do plumbing work elsewhere in the Condo requiring my water to be shut off? It seems like all that water would still be sitting in the hot water heater allowing water to flow through the plumbing.
posted by jmd82 at 7:26 PM on May 19, 2015
posted by jmd82 at 7:26 PM on May 19, 2015
Best answer: It would be helpful if the leak was in the water heater itself or in a hot water line, but otherwise no, the water heater shutoff is only useful for servicing the water heater.
posted by wierdo at 7:30 PM on May 19, 2015
posted by wierdo at 7:30 PM on May 19, 2015
Best answer: Right, what wierdo said. If you need to shut off *all* water to your condo, I do not see any valve in any of your pictures which would accomplish that.
It is possible that there is a shutoff valve in your unit which would do so. It is also possible that there is not. If there are any more valves in your unit, feel free to take pictures of them and post them here. If not, you might ask your building "super" / maintenance person / etc.
posted by Juffo-Wup at 7:33 PM on May 19, 2015
It is possible that there is a shutoff valve in your unit which would do so. It is also possible that there is not. If there are any more valves in your unit, feel free to take pictures of them and post them here. If not, you might ask your building "super" / maintenance person / etc.
posted by Juffo-Wup at 7:33 PM on May 19, 2015
In our building the water valves are in the garage (i.e. below all the units) and it's possible to shut off the water supply to all the units, to the units on either 'side' of the building (where the supply to each side is tee'd off the main supply line), or to all the units stacked vertically on top of each other (as they share a rising supply line). So if a unit directly below or above another unit needs to shut off the water to do work, the water in all the others below or above goes off too.
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:36 PM on May 19, 2015
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:36 PM on May 19, 2015
Best answer: The faucets recessed into the wall on the left are supply lines for a washing machine that could go in that closet. Note the electric outlet above the box that a dryer could use.
These faucets are most certainly off, so don't turn them on unless you have a washer connected.
Although I don't see where a washer could possibly drain except that tall PVC pipe that's also taking the A/C drain and heater blowoff line (the two smaller plastic pipes that feed into it). Or it might be in that recessed box itself between the valves (thus the rag blocking the drain smell from getting out)
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:37 PM on May 19, 2015
These faucets are most certainly off, so don't turn them on unless you have a washer connected.
Although I don't see where a washer could possibly drain except that tall PVC pipe that's also taking the A/C drain and heater blowoff line (the two smaller plastic pipes that feed into it). Or it might be in that recessed box itself between the valves (thus the rag blocking the drain smell from getting out)
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:37 PM on May 19, 2015
In my mom's condo the whole-house water shut-off is in the crawl space, in case that helps.
posted by thejanna at 11:13 AM on May 20, 2015
posted by thejanna at 11:13 AM on May 20, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
Regarding picture #2 ("This is right behind the water heater near the top"), I would need a slightly wider view of that to be able to say what is going on.
Regarding picture #3 ("Comes out of bottom of water heater."), the red valve there controls the gas supply to your water heater. The way it is shown in the picture is "on." If you rotated it 90 degrees, it would be "off." It should never be set to any position other than fully on or fully off.
Regarding picture #4 ("This is from the HVAC unit"), the red valve there controls the gas supply to your furnace. The way it is shown in the picture is "on." If you rotated it 90 degrees, it would be "off." It should never be set to any position other than fully on or fully off.
posted by Juffo-Wup at 6:59 PM on May 19, 2015