How do I turn off the water, gas and electricity in an emergency?

This is a ten-minute job that people do after their first flood rather than before. Knowing where the shut-offs are — and that they actually turn — is the difference between a wet floor and a ruined ceiling.

Safety

What you'll need

• Torch
• Labels (optional)
• Stopcock key for an outside stop tap (optional)

Step by step

1. Find the internal water stopcock.Most often under the kitchen sink, sometimes in a downstairs cupboard, bathroom or utility. Turn it clockwise to close.
2. Test that it actually turns.Stopcocks seize if never used. Turn it fully off and on once or twice a year. A seized stopcock discovered during a leak is a plumber's call-out you did not need.
3. Find the outside stop tap too.Usually under a small metal cover in the path or pavement. It needs a stopcock key. This is your fallback if the internal one fails.
4. Locate the gas emergency control valve.At the gas meter. A lever that turns 90 degrees — the handle across the pipe means off. Make sure it is reachable and not boxed in behind stored items.
5. Find the consumer unit and the main switch.The big switch that isolates everything. Usually near the front door, in a cupboard or under the stairs. Know which way is off.
6. Label everything clearly.A luggage label or a sticker on each. In an emergency, at night, people who do not live there may need to find them.
7. Tell everyone in the house.Including children old enough to understand, and anyone who stays regularly. The person who is home during the emergency may not be you.
8. Save the emergency numbers.The national gas emergency number, your water supplier and an electrician. In your phone, and written somewhere in the house.

Tips

• Keep a stopcock key with the household tools. Buying one during a leak is not an option.
• If you rent, find these anyway and tell your landlord if one does not work. Access to shut-offs is a basic safety matter.
• Photograph each one and where it is, and share it with anyone who might need it. It takes two minutes and it is genuinely useful.

Common mistakes

• Never testing the stopcock — They seize shut or open when unused for years. Discovering that during a burst pipe means the water keeps running.
• Turning the gas back on yourself — After an emergency shut-off, appliances need checking and relighting by a registered engineer. Turning it back on yourself is dangerous.

Questions people ask