plumbingplumbing-fixturewater
I woke up yesterday morning to water spraying out of the bottom of this attachment. After having a mini panic attack I shut the main off. I waited about 30 mins before turning the main back on and the water stopped spraying out and everything appears to be fine now. Is this some kind of back-flow preventer or pressure regulator? Can someone explain to me what the purpose of this attachment is?
Edit Here are some more photos of the setup.
You need to find the main shut off valve in the road, side walk or somewhere on or near your property. They are usually placed in mini manholes with easy access:
But if you're unlucky you will need to get some building plans and try to find where on the plans the supply pipe runs and find the valve at the connection point to the main supply. In most cases it will be near the connection point of the main supply:
but if its not, or if you struggle to close it call your council to help you. You don't want to break that!
It is easy to snap these valves- if its rusted badly apply (known as WD-40, LN-40, HT-40) spray oil based rust release (spray leave an hour try again.. repeat a few times), TAP the valve with a hammer (!TAP!, do not whack it, to help release the valve. Also, usually opening the valve slightly helps to release it then try to close it.
The bursting is actually caused by the ice. Ice takes up more room than the amount of water it was made from, ultimately bursting through copper.
If you had a trickle of water, you may have been better off leaving the taps all open in hopes of keeping the water flowing. Flowing water (even a trickle) is less likely to freeze than standing water. One of the ways to prevent frozen pipes is to leave the taps open to a trickle (obviously not a good long-term solution, but can work in a pinch in locations with rare temp drops). The open taps also allow for lateral expansion of the water that may freeze.
At this point, if the pipes are frozen solid, and are behind walls so that you can't get to them, you pretty much have to wait it out and hope they haven't burst. If they have, depending on how many places they burst, you may be able to go in and fix a few patches. But if there's more than a few splits, you may end up wanting to pull the whole thing out and replacing it all (and this time ensuring everything is properly insulated).
Good luck!
Best Answer
Looks like a valve installed to tap off of your main line for an irrigation system, then either abandoned or never used. The part on the far left is a knurled knob with a slot in it, probably designed for using a special "keyed" handle so that it could not be accidentally turned off and have your landscaping die. The seals likely failed from never being used, then managed to re-seal when you turned off the pressure. Expect it to fail again now, sooner than later. You should have it replaced or removed if you are never going to use it.