Main water shut off valve in garage on the wall? Is this normal? House built in 2023.
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And I never find them in an unheated garage… Depends on local practices wherever you live.
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In Texas location
If the garage is not heated, and if your area is subject to freezing temperatures and you’re worried about freezing and bursting pipes, then yes, it would be an issue, but other than that, as long as it’s accessible, it shouldn’t be an issue.
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Common and generally accepted location here in Texas. The Building Codes are not crystal clear about its location as noted in this requirement.
P2903.9.1 Service valve. Each dwelling unit shall be pro-
vided with an accessible main shutoff valve near the
entrance of the water service.
This is obviously located on the garage wall adjacent to the interior of the home (conditioned area) which means the main supply line runs under the foundation to rise at that point. Some jurisdictions lock their water meter covers or use specialty keys so homeowners can not or have a difficulty time accessing them. That leaves you no access to the shut-off at the meter in case a leak occurs between it and the house side main water shut-off valve.
You appear to be located in Grand Prairie, TX and I do not know what they are doing there for the water meter covers. Go to Home Depot and buy yourself one of these https://www.homedepot.com/p/JONES-STEPHENS-1-2-in-x-30-in-Water-Meter-Key-with-Box-Lid-Key-M25130/202281919 . One side is the lid key and the other is the valve wrench for the meter valve. Try opening the meter lid with the key. It should be easy to do but if you can not they are using one of the specialty lids. That’s an easy hack with that tool to open it. Let us know and we can tell you how.
That plastic box used for the valve box is not a proper fire rated box and I expect the other side of that wall is the interior of the home. If you look closely it is a washing machine (or other) valve box as you can see it marked “Hot” and “Cold”. That violates the fire rating of that wall if it is adjacent to the interior of the home which I suspect it is.
Another item you should be aware of is that many jurisdictions run high water pressures above 80 PSI. Typically but not always we will also find a Pressure Reduction Valve (PRV) installed at the main shut-off valve in that valve box in the wall or somewhere immediately around it. Did you have an inspection to determine what your water pressure is? If not also go buy one of these and test it yourself https://www.homedepot.com/p/Watts-3-4-in-Plastic-Water-Pressure-Test-Gauge-DP-IWTG/100175467 . Pressure should be from 40 - 80 PSI max.
As an aside check the outlet the Rheem Tankles Water Heater is plugged in to. Rheem does not approve of that outlet being GFCI controlled. Most likely it is.
Who was the Builder on this home?
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We see them in the garage all the time.
But I live in an area that never freezes.
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I believe that the minimum side cleareance is 6" for Rinnia WH’s, the label that explains this is. located on the left side of the WH shown in your photo.
Well, that’s a Rheem pictured above.
You would need to locate the actual model # for installation information. Here is a typical RTGH install, some of this will be duplicated on other models but needs verification.
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Is there a water softener loop near the garage valve location? A lot of times there is a valve in the garage wall to shut off the softener for install & maintenance. Recently, someone (code guys) figured out “Hey, this water softener is an appliance just like a water heater & it should have a shutoff, too!”.
Do you have pictures further back in the garage?
Any shutoffs in the water meter riser or very close to it?
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Interesting… and vehicle protection too.
Yes, I see this 80% of the time in new construction. Unheated garage. No problem.
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