Where is the PRV Located?

Generally (with exceptions in certain neighborhoods), in homes built between 2000 and approximately 2014-2015, PRVs (and your main whole house shut off valve) have a valve box (sometimes two) located to either the left or right of the double cleanout for the home.

The double cleanouts are those two white pipes that are sticking up out of the flower bed. Those allow plumbers to access your main sewer line going under the home and to the street if there is a clog. Usually, in an attempt to avoid additional digging, most of the new construction plumbers would often install the main water line in that same excavated trench. Sometimes we have to use locating equipment to find these buried water lines and then exploratory digging to find the PRV (and shut off the flow).

Starting in about 2014-2015, common sense began to prevail in the new home builder trades. They gradually began to relocate the PRVs (and main shut off valves) into the garages or utility closets and sometimes the laundry rooms.

By 2016-2017, the practice of installing these two critical devices outside, buried underground, and rarely accessible was pretty much nonexistent. In all homes being built right now, the PRV and shut off valve is typically located inside the wall behind an access panel or fabricated cabinet door.

This makes everything very accessible, which is important for two reasons. The PRV may need to be adjusted up or down through the years, and the whole house water shut off valve needs to be readily and easily accessible in case of an emergency water leak scenario.

Although rare, we will occasionally see a PRV (and shut off valve) in the garage of a house that was built in the late 1990s and early 2000s. When we do run into it, it seems to be more common in larger homes over 5,000 sqft and/or multi-family homes (condominiums, duplexes, and townhomes).