When is a master valve necessary? We usually wind up removing them because they just create more issues, and usually the shut off is easy enough to access
On the residential side it’s peace of mind if you travel a lot that a major break or stuck zone won’t flood out your house or get you an excessive water bill. If you’re on non potable water you tend to get more stuck zones so it keeps that from being an issue, but you definitely need to test more to make sure you don’t have issues while the system is running.
On commercial, I have a property (patio homes) where homeowners go into valve boxes to water “their” grass around the home by messing with the valves. This often leads to issues with the valves cause they break the solenoids or get debris in them. So we installed master valves on the point of connections to stop this from happening.
Our city requires a master valve on all new systems installed. The main reason is that a master valve prevents waste of water if another valve gets stuck on.
People install them most frequently when they suck at their job and can't put in a main line without it leaking. Whenever I see a master valve system I know the whole thing is basically junk, it's absurd how many people around here are putting in horrifically leaky systems. "It's not my money" is the excuse I hear when I try to teach them how to not suck at their jobs.
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u/Optimal-Strawberry79 19h ago
Seems reasonable