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When the Main Shut-Off Is the Whole Problem

Check this before you spend money on anything else. It takes two minutes and it is free, and it is more common than people expect after any plumbing work.

A lever ball valve and a wheel-handled gate valve on the same run of pipe

PressureTrace is a referral service, not a plumbing contractor. We connect homeowners with independent contractors. Contractors are required to hold whatever credential their state or municipality demands. Every state page sets out who licenses plumbers there and where to check, so you can confirm before work begins. We do not perform plumbing work, we do not set prices, and we never charge homeowners anything — the contractors in our network pay us when we route them a call.

There are usually two valves between the street and your taps: one at or near the meter, and one where the supply enters the building. Either can be left short of fully open.

Why it happens

Anyone who works on the plumbing shuts the water off and turns it back on again. Turning it back on "enough" is easy to do and hard to notice, because the house works — it is simply weaker than it was. If your pressure dropped shortly after any plumbing work, a water meter change, or a spell with the water off, start here.

How to check

Gate valve — the type with a round wheel. Turn it counter-clockwise until it stops. Do not force it. These are the ones most often left part-open, because nothing about the handle tells you where it is.
Ball valve — the type with a lever. Fully open is the lever lined up along the pipe. At an angle means partly closed.

If the valve was already fully open

Then this was not it, and the next thing worth eliminating is the pressure-reducing valve or the pipe itself. The full running order is here. Take a gauge reading first so you know what you are starting from.

Water meter in a ground chamber with the lid lifted, brass valve alongside

One caution

An old gate valve that has not been moved in twenty years can seize, or can shed debris into the line when it is forced. If it does not move easily, leave it alone and have someone look at it rather than putting weight on the handle.