Shut off hot water to Kitchen

JoeBlack23 wrote: ↑ Tried to do DYI to fix a leaky kitchen faucet (single handle). I couldn't pull the handle out after taking the little screw out with an Allen wrench - I think I might have broken that screw in half. I tried to use some force to pull the handle out. Well I gave up, but when I turned the water back on with valves under the sink, I can't turn hot water off with the sink handle no matter what direction (I guess I broke something in the handle).

So I try turning the hot water off from under the sink, but the valve seems damaged now as when I turn it to "off" there's still a small stream coming out the faucet. So basically, the faucet handle can't stop hot water at all, and the valve under the sink doesn't stop the water completely (small stream coming from faucet).

So next I look for the valve to shut off water from the water heater. But following the pipe out of the heater, it goes up to a T-intersection, and I can see no valve between the heater and the T-intersection. I *think* the water to the kitchen would be going left from the T-intersection, but I can't see any valves along that pipe (but it's hard to tell cause most of that pipe is behind an air duct, so "seeing" is more feeling by hand if I can find a valve).

So, how can I shut off hot water flowing from the heater (i.e. shut off all hot water flow in the house) if I can't find a valve to turn off? Can I shut off the heater (i.e. turn off the breaker switch - it's electric)? If I turn off the main water valve, does that take away the pressure of the hot water through the pipes?

EDIT: OK, shutting off main water valve does shut off hot water as well. Is that an advisable thing to do, as this must mean no new cold water is going into the hot water tank. Should I still shut down the hot water tank (turn off the breaker?).

Scote64 wrote: ↑ An issue with all of the older screw-type water valves is that the seals deteriorate over time, even more so if you don't use them. If you haven't touched a valve in years, you're very likely to find it frozen and hard to move, leaking when you shut it off - and then continuing to leak when you turn it on again. This is always a pain, especially if you have to shut off water to the whole house to fix it, and even worse if it's the main valve for your house that's now leaking. Some can be repaired, but more likely you'll need to replace the valve if it's an old model. That may mean sawing copper pipes and attaching a new valve with brazing, or using a shark-bite connector - or just call the plumber and open your wallet.