How to Shut Off Your Home's Water, Gas, and Electricity

Ready.gov lists knowing how to shut off water, gas, and electricity as a basic household safety skill. Its advice: tag the main water valve and make sure it closes completely, shut off individual circuits before the main, and get gas shutoff instructions from your gas company without practicing the shutoff. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) adds what to do if you smell gas.

1. Water: find it, tag it, test it

Ready.gov says everyone in the household should learn how to shut off the main water valve to the house. Its steps:

1. Find the shut-off valve for the main water line that enters your house.
2. Tag it for easy identification, and make sure everyone in the household knows where it is.
3. Make sure you can shut it off completely. Ready.gov warns that a valve may be rusted open or may not close all the way. If so, it says to replace it.

Ready.gov also points out a less obvious reason to know this valve. After a disaster, cracked lines can pollute the water supply, so it is a good idea to shut off your water until authorities say it is safe to drink. Closing the main valve also keeps the clean water already in your water heater and toilet tanks from draining away by gravity.

One distinction from Ready.gov: the valve you want is the main house valve, not the street valve in the cement box at the curb. That one is extremely difficult to turn and requires a special tool.

A simple way to check it (not from Ready.gov): close the main valve, open a faucet, and confirm the flow stops, then reopen the valve and look for drips. A valve that will not turn or will not stop the water is the one Ready.gov says to replace.

2. Electricity: the panel, in the right order

Ready.gov says electrical sparks can ignite natural gas if it is leaking, and to teach all responsible household members how to shut off the electricity, starting by locating the electrical circuit box.

The order matters. Ready.gov's instruction, "for your safety": always shut off all the individual circuits before shutting off the main circuit. Writing that order on a card near the panel means nobody has to remember it under stress. It is also worth checking that the panel's circuit labels are readable.

3. Gas: learn it, but do not practice it

Natural gas is different, and Ready.gov is clear about why. It says natural gas leaks and explosions cause a significant number of fires after disasters, and that everyone in the household should know how to shut off natural gas.

Three rules from Ready.gov shape how you prepare:

• Ask your gas company. Shut-off procedures differ by meter configuration, so Ready.gov recommends calling your gas company for the correct procedure for your meter.
• Do not actually turn off the gas when practicing. Learn where the valve is and what tool it takes, but leave it on.
• Never turn it back on yourself. If the gas is turned off for any reason, Ready.gov says only a qualified professional can turn it back on.

Ask your gas company what tool, if any, your meter needs.

4. If you smell gas

Ready.gov says that if you smell gas or hear a blowing or hissing noise, you should open a window, get everyone out quickly, turn off the gas using the outside main valve if you can, and call the gas company from a neighbor's home.

PHMSA lists do's and don'ts if you notice the distinctive "rotten egg" smell of odorized natural gas.

Do not:

• Start an engine of any kind.
• Strike matches or create any flame.
• Use a telephone or cell phone, which PHMSA says can ignite airborne gas.
• Turn any light switches, garage door openers, or other electrical switches on or off.

Do:

• Make sure gas appliances are turned all the way OFF.
• Leave the area.
• Call 911 from a neighbor's house or another location well away from the leak, and explain the situation.
• Warn others, if it is safe to do so, against entering the leak area or creating ignition sparks.

PHMSA's list says not to turn any electrical switches on or off, so the breaker routine above is for a normal day, not for a gas smell.

5. A one-page plan for the household

After your weekend walk-through, write a short card and tape it inside a kitchen cabinet:

Show every adult and older teen in the house each location. Ready.gov repeatedly says everyone in the household should know.

6. Key takeaways

• Find and tag the main water valve and make sure it shuts off completely; Ready.gov says to replace it if it is rusted open or will not close all the way.
• The main house valve is not the curb valve, which needs a special tool.
• At the panel, shut off individual circuits first, then the main.
• Learn the gas shutoff from your gas company, but do not practice turning it off, and never turn gas back on yourself.
• If you smell gas, PHMSA says leave, avoid switches, phones, and flames, and call 911 from a safe distance.