It's the water valve for a toilet. Until we moved here, I had never noticed one before and certainly never used one. Right now, though, this is the only working toilet in the house since the one in the master bath needs to be replaced. Until last night, we had to turn this valve on to flush the toilet and then off again afterwards because the toilet would run constantly. Not only is the sound annoying, it's forcing our electric well to pump, forcing our water softener and pressurizer to run, and wasting water.
Turning it on and off, though, wasn't too much fun. It was annoying to turn on and off. First Son couldn't do it himself. I was also worried it would break off like the one in the master bathroom did (which forced Kansas Dad to deal with a gigantic mess in the bathroom rather than finish painting the kitchen the day before we moved in).
No more! Kansas Dad replaced the guts of the toilet last night and now we can flush at will!
Ah, the simple joys.
