I have no water pressure on any of the inside faucets as of this morning. One of my water spigots is tapped off the main line coming into the home, so I know the underground portion from the street to my house is fine. Anything past the main shut off is a little more than a trickle. There don't appear to be any leaks, surely not significant enough to cause this much loss in pressure. My best guess is there is a blockage in the main valve. I don't see what else it could be. Any other ideas? Also, I've never turned off the meter at the curb. Can this be done fairly easy?

Coincidentally, we had a bad wind storm this weekend and I had an issue with a clogged water spigot on another house on Saturday. I had to remove the internal valve, flushed the line, then re-installed the valve and everything is good now. Now I presumably have blockage issues on another home, which is 5 minutes from my primary home. This house does not have a pressure regulator. It's meter-to-valve-to-house. Could the windstorm possibly have caused this to happen? E.g., maybe there was a power outage in the area that caused a spike in water pressure to the neighborhood and caused some debris to break free and become lodged in the main valve? BTW, the house is nearly 50 years old with original copper piping.

Aside from cutting out the valve and replacing it, are there any tricks to freeing lodged debris? Maybe I'll open the bathtub faucet fully (bathtub is two feet away from main valve), then tap on the main valve while opening/closing it.

 

I didn't realize Sharkbite made a 3/4" push-to-connect 1/4-turn ball valve. Any reason not to use one of these for a main shutoff? I really don't feel like sweating pipes this evening. Just want to get water restored to the house as quickly and easily as possible.

 

Just got a call from the ex....water pressure has been restored. Whatever was blocking the valve must have worked its way loose.

 

It had to be something big to block a 3/4 inch main. You should make sure it is flushed out through an open tap (like the bathtub) before it finds its way elsewhere in the piping and blocks again. You may also have to remove any faucet strainers/aerators and clean them also. Toilet valves are small and may get blocked too.

 

I will be sure to do that. Thanks.

 

The spigot is blocked again. I'm thinking it has to be the internal seal. I probably overheated it while soldering the copper to it and it is sticking. I'll replace the internals and hopefully that will resolve the issue. No further issues with the water main on the other house.