Water Shutoff Procedure

Every unit should have their own main water supply shut off valve (unit supply valve) in their utility closet directly above the hot water heater. If you cannot find this, ask a BOD member or ask your plumber. Any repairs to your water supply inside your unit may require you to shut off the water at this unit supply valve. 

If you do not have a unit supply valve, then the next time you do any plumbing repairs inside your unit, you will need to have the whole building water supply shut off, and a unit supply shut off must be installed in your unit at your expense. 

To have the whole building water supply shut off, you need to submit a maintenance request to American Dream on the portal or call them at least 2 – 4 days in advance and provide the date or dates and times when the water needs to be shut off. Because the building shutoff valve exists inside another unit, that unit owner needs to be included in the scheduling coordination. 

Your plumber should be responsible for shutting off the main building water supply and for turning it back on. If your plumber is not willing to take on that obligation, the BOD will hire their preferred plumber to perform that task and the cost for that will be billed to you. You can avoid the extra cost by using the BOD’s preferred plumber for all your plumbing needs. Normally this is not an issue, but it did come up one time where the owner’s hired plumber had corporate rules that did not allow him to shut off the valve if it effected multiple units. 

So be sure you know where your unit water supply shut off valve is and if you don’t have one, be sure to get one installed as soon as you can, so that we can avoid having to shut off the whole building when ever possible.