Am preparing to replace my daugther's water heater. The winters are brutal and her water meter with shut off is in her yard by the street five (5) feet under a manhole cover. Her house is a little ranch style built on a cement slab in 1950.

As far as we know, the only main water shut off is under the manhole cover (besides the water district one on the sidewalk next to the curb).

The plumber who gave the bid said he never heard of a house not having an inside main water shut off, however we have not been able to find one.

Today, I saw these four nuts under an old scrap piece of linolium that was placed under the old water heater. The largest nut is 3/4" and the other three are 5/8". Hard to see from the second photo but there are two water pipes coming up from the cememt slab for the hot water heater ... on for the cold and the other for the hot.

What are these four nuts and could they possibly have something to do with water shutoff ?

I don't know what the nuts are for, but my townhouse does not have a total water shutoff inside. There is one under the sink to allow replacement of the garbage disposer and dishwasher and when my Handyman repaired my broken pipe he put in another accessible from outside the kitchen to shut off all water there, but the only ones to shut off all water to the house are in the front outside. The "owner" shutoff was replaced and made more accessible by my Handyman during the repairs.

flashguy

when I read your title I was thinking Jimmy Hoffa and three of his closest friends maybe

I wonder if it could be a cable tensioned slab. I'm just blind guessing here.

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Originally posted by old rugged cross:
when I read your title I was thinking Jimmy Hoffa and three of his closest friends maybe

Better to have nuts in the slab than nuts on the chin ...

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Originally posted by DetonicsMk6:
I wonder if it could be a cable tensioned slab. I'm just blind guessing here.

What I though of at first blush too ... but why just four in a small area with a big slab. Interesting the nuts with the stubs having a slot cut on top. I sprayed a little PB Blaster on the nuts and in the next couple days will gingerly see if they turn.

What does the valve with blue handle shut off?

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The plumber who gave the bid said he never heard of a house not having an inside main water shut off

Strange.. I've seen more than a few houses that did not have a inside main water shut off.

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Originally posted by wcb6092:
What does the valve with blue handle shut off?

The blue valve shuts off the cold water to the water heater. The other old valve shuts off the water to an outside faucet. The old valve leaks unless totally shut off so I plan to pull that portion out and swap in a frost free faucet and get rid of the old valve.

Is it possible those are old gate valves? Kind of looks like one without the wheel/handle.

-Jeff

Jelly ... I agree with you, and I too have seen a few houses that did not have an inside main water shutoff.

What is curious is that the nut and stub are made out of, if would guess bronze ... because the metal is darker than any brass I have seen. It kind of looks like these are plugs that go inside of a pipe end. I need to take a wire brush to get a better look at the end of the pipe I can see.

I'm not sure I'd mess with them just for curiosity sake. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

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Originally posted by Krazeehorse:
I'm not sure I'd mess with them just for curiosity sake. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

Totally agree, last thing I need is to open up a stinky can of worms.

Plenty of houses don’t have a main water valve beyond the water meter. Just depends on who and when they were built.

As far as the strange stems, I wouldn’t screw with em, god knows if you turn something if it will go back or not...

House built on a slab with in floor water heat?

If so they might be valves, turned by screwdriver, to balance the flow of heated water to the different loops (rooms) so some rooms don’t get too much or too little heat,
Then “nut” parts are packing nuts around the valve stems. Snug up a little if the stem is leaking.

Do I see a round ring below the "nuts"?

Could be the mainstop and 3 small stops. Chip a little cement away around each

Sort of like this?
https://www.wilmar.com/Sku/35-...098268466836-900-049

They are anchoring Guam...

Not sure what they are, but they aren’t tensioning the slab. Post tensioned slabs have the nuts in the exterior, and it pulls the edges of the slabs in.
Most tensioned slabs also have notifications stamped in the garage floor, warning you to not drill or cut into the slab.

I've never owned a home with an inside main shut off . They have always been right where the water line comes into the house . I'm seeing a lot of new homes being built with an inside shut off though .

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Originally posted by Chris42:
House built on a slab with in floor water heat?

If so they might be valves, turned by screwdriver, to balance the flow of heated water to the different loops (rooms) so some rooms don’t get too much or too little heat,
Then “nut” parts are packing nuts around the valve stems. Snug up a little if the stem is leaking.

My guess as well.