"Joe" wrote in message
ups.com...
The valve that shuts off the water that leads to my house is dripping
pretty steadily. My brother in law told me that I could fix the valve
by packing the pipe with dry ice until it freezes then replace the
valve. This seems a little dangerous to me since any mistake will
result in disaster. Has anyone else attempted this kind of repair and
am I just better off going with a plumber?

I got lucky; my drippy old valve was in a up vertical pipe; I was able to
dry the next horizontal piece out well enough to sweat a new valve on before
it got wet enough to interfer.
If you aren't that lucky, two options for adding a new valve after your old
one:
1) They sell a CA glue for copper pipes (you have copper don't you?) that
will work on wet pipes. I haven't tried it, but bought some when a store
went out of business, and plan on playing with it one of these days.
2) They also sell plastic balls that jam into pipe to block them, dissolving
in an hour or two. That stops the drip long enough to sweat a new joint on.
Some people recommend bread.

I would buy both; try #2, and if that doesn't work, try #1. If that doesn't
work put a big bucket under the drip and call the water company in panic.

I think your BIL is pulling your leg, freezing the pipe is likely to break
it.