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Shutting Off Utilities
Does everyone in your family know how to shut off the utilities? They should as that is a necessary step to minimize damage in the event of certain types of emergencies. A tornados is an example if you are in its target area. Turning off the gas, electric and water for the few moments the tornado is passing by could prevent a major fire or extensive water damage in the event your home is hit.
Your home utilities may be different than the ones shown
here so please locate them and learn where to turn them off in your home. It would be a
good idea to label them in the process. If you need help, please don't
hesitate to ask a CER-T team member for help in locating them.
The following photos are just examples that may or may not apply to your
home.
Propane: 
Most people in our area use either Propane
or Oil for heat. Propane may also
be used for cooking, your dryer, water heater, etc. The first
step it to identify what utilities use it and if they have auto igniters
(electronic) or manual pilots. This is very important as you may need
to relight manual pilots when you turn the Propane back on. If you are
unsure of what you are doing, call your propane supplier and have them
turn the tank back on for you. They will light the pilots on your
appliances for you.
Shut-off valves are usually a quarter turn valve similar to the type shown
here although the actual valve may vary. Some valves may require a wrench
to turn so find your shutoff and have a wrench handy in case it is needed.
Simply turning the valve 1/4 turn will shut off the supply
line at that valve. (This supply line is about 1" in diameter for
reference.) See this web
link for a good article on Propane safety.
If you need to evacuate quickly, it 's probably easier and safer to
turn the propane supply off at the tank. Your supply tank may be underground or a free
standing tank. In either case, there will be a shutoff valve right on the
tank.
This is the top view of a standard, free standing,
100 Gallon
propane tank. Note
there are 2 valves on this tank.
The yellow handle is only used during the filling process. The gray handle
the red arrow is pointing to is the tank shutoff. Turn it in (clockwise)
as far as it will go to turn off the tank.
The underground propane tank has a similar configuration to the free
standing version.
Again,
there are valves used during the filling process and a tank shutoff valve
shown by the red arrow. Just screw this valve all the way (clockwise) in
to turn off the tank.
These controls are accessible by simply lifting the cap
where your supplier fills the tank.
Oil Tank Shutoff:
If you have oil heat or hot water, your oil storage tank can be inside,
outside or even underground. In the case it is inside or above ground, there should
be a shutoff valve near the bottom where the oil line leaves the tank.
There may also be a filter at this location but this photo doesn't have
one shown. The shutoff valves on oil tanks are normally very much like a
water faucet on the outside of your house. Just turn it to the right
(clockwise) until it won't
turn any more to turn off the oil.
Electric:
Depending on the age of your home, your electrical distribution panel may
have fuses or circuit breakers. The panel shown to the left has circuit breakers.
There is normally a large breaker at the top labeled "Main".
This breaker will turn off all the service to your home and in the case of
an emergency, simply switching this breaker from the ON to the OFF
position will turn off all electrical service to the home. However, it is recommended
that you switch off each of the smaller breakers before switching off the
Main. The purpose for doing this is to minimize the surge of power that
may occur if you just switch the Main off. Although it shouldn't hurt
anything, it is more "power company friendly" to avoid the
surge. Likewise, when you turn the
power back on, it's a very good idea to be sure all the smaller breakers
are off first, then turn on the Main then each smaller breaker after that.
If you haven't done it, you should identify which circuits are associated
with which fuses or breakers and label them. Just brief labels like
"N. wall - living" is adequate.
In
the case of the main electrical panel above, there is a backup generator installed
and the smaller panel to the right of the Main panel is called a Transfer
Switch. It's purpose is to prevent the generator from supplying power back
out the service lines in the event the generator is operating. Transfer
switches can be manual or automatic but if you have a generator that is
connected to the wiring in your home, it is extremely important that some
type of transfer switch be used. Without it, there is the possibility that
your generator may be charging power lines that utility workers or
residents clearing trees think are dead. It would be very easy to
seriously injure or kill someone as a result.
This danger isn't present of you have a portable generator and you are
just running extension cords to specific locations and plugging into them
without using house wiring. The danger in this configuration is not using
large enough extension cords to supply the power and having a fire as a
result. Just be sure that the size of the extension cords being used are large enough to supply the current over the length of the cord being used.
Note: When you turn off the electric, the lights will go off so be sure to have a flashlight or some other means of light with you when you turn it off! I've been there and done that and it's no fun standing in the dark basement wondering how to get out!
Well Water Supply:
Water
for all of our homes in Elk Forest are currently supplied by wells. The
well normally consists of a pump, normally located down in the well
itself, and a pressure or "surge" tank. In addition, there may
be water conditioning equipment but that equipment would be located after
the pressure tank.
In the event of a broken water line, knowing how to turn off the well pump
could save your home from extensive water damage.
There are 2 ways to turn off the water supply to the home and either will
work for most emergency situations. The first and easiest is to simply
rotate the inline valve (yellow handle in this photo) to be perpendicular
to the water line. This valve in the photo is shown in the ON position.
The blue tank to the right of the valve is the pressure tank but yours may
be a different type. It will be the first tank the incoming water line
from the well will go to so you should be able to identify it.
The second way to turn off the water is to switch off the electric to the
well pump. It will be either a circuit breaker or fuses and should be
labeled in your electric panel. If it isn't, it would be an excellent idea
to label it so you don't have to search for it in an emergency.
Note: Depending on the layout of your house and the type of emergency, it may be possible for the water to siphon out of your hot water heater when the supply is turned off. You may want to turn off the water heater, as a precaution, when you turn off the water.