Stopcock

BYTEr

BYTEr

BYTEr

Associate
Joined
2 Oct 2004
Posts
1,048
Hi all,

I want to replace my outside garden tap and need to shut the water off first, however my stopcock doesn't seem to be fully shutting the water off, i'm turning it clockwise as much as I can with my hand but it's only reducing the flow of the taps in the house, not completely shutting it off.

I suppose if I really wanted I could twist it a little bit more, but should this be the case? I'm worried if I try too hard i'm going to snap it off!

There is a stopcock in the pavement in front of our house, but I don't particular want to do this.

It's a new build, 6 months old.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
 
Does the outside tap have its own stopcock, or another stopcock on inline that might shut off 100%?

Also how long have you waited after turning stopcock off, maybe taking awhile for the remaining water to drain out of the pipes, depending on how your plumbed maybe a water tank in the loft to drain
 
Does the kitchen tap stop working when you tun off the stopcock?
If its 6 months old chances are low that you have a tank in the loft.
Have you tries turning the stopcock all the way in both directions a few times to free it up a bit if its stiff or limescaled up?
 
If its the stopcock within the home and its stiff, yes be very careful mines jammed and won't budge if I put some grippers on that and turn it for sure its gonna snap and break. I think its just from the cold and lack of use it just jams like that.

I can't be 100% sure in your case but check these you tube videos here:



I think your better off buying this key:

Long T handle stopcock key, cost just over 5 quid off fleabay, its probably the easiest way to turn the mains water on and off to your home and hopefully
saves you a pretty penny from snapping the stop **** valve inside the home. I have the same exact issue, can't even repair it since its located under and behind kitchen work tops and sink who is going to turn their kitchen upside down just to repair a frozen tap !
 
What was said earlier - - when you have turned it off inside turn on all cold taps especially upstairs and see if it drains pipes - - all that aside if you are just screwing another tap on to replace old it won't hurt if some water is running but open new tap first.
 
Off topic I apologise, but this stuff always annoys the crap out of me about the building trade. No thought ever goes into maintainability of the building plumbing etc. If you're in a hard water area for instance irregularly used valves are likely to seize so why isn't there a master martyr arrangement (2 in line) for the stop **** an extra £30 on £100k+ project? Why are stop cocks put in ridiculous places that mean they are going to get boxed in or are just inaccessible. Same for an external tap, why isn't fitting an inline isolator inside the house standard for any outside tap as they are much more prone to failure and leakage in my experience.

I swear if I ever build a house I'm going to treat this stuff properly with long term solutions not half assed ones.



Back tot he OP's original query if none of the above works for you it is possible to buy domestic pipe freezing kits you could freeze the pipe feeding the outside pipe, cut the pipe, install an internal in line isolator and then you can change the tap outside at your leisure.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I haven't tried leaving the taps running for a while so I'll try that tonight.

I'll also have another look to see if there's any other type of switch that might be a stopcock just for the garden tap.

When I've turned the stopcock as much as I can clockwise it does initially reduce the flow of the kitchen tap by at least half, but I've only left it running for about 10 seconds, I also quickly tried the downstairs bathroom tap and it was similar, reduced flow, but water still coming out.

I should really figure out how I turn it off on the street though, as if I did break the stopcock that would be the only thing that would save me.
 
Leave the taps open then turn off the stopcock, there is probably a tank or the boiler pressure tank that is holding an amount of water, I have to let mine run for a good 30s before it's all empty.
 
My water shut-off valve is a quarter turn lever that is as smooth as butter, however.......
When the kitchen was redone, it was not until a year or so later i realised that access to it is awful.
Have to take out all items from a cupboard, climb half way in and reach through a 4" hole in the cupboard carcass and with the tip of a finger can just about reach it to push it closed. Due to the angle of the lever, opening it up again is a tad harder.
I have long arms and just about reach it, my Mrs couldn't.
So, valve good, access atrocious!
 
Good and bad news.

Good news is internal stopcock works, as mentioned the remaining water just needed draining which took about 1 minute.

Bad news is that when I took my garden tap off and turned the water back on it was only trickling out from the wall meaning the tap isn't at fault which I hoped it was :(
 
BYTEr said:
Good and bad news.

Good news is internal stopcock works, as mentioned the remaining water just needed draining which took about 1 minute.

Bad news is that when I took my garden tap off and turned the water back on it was only trickling out from the wall meaning the tap isn't at fault which I hoped it was :(
Click to expand...

Follow the pipe back from the garden tap/pipe and check for any isolation valves. - might have an isolation valve you can just turn on with a flat head screwdriver - might have been turned off so it didn't freeze in winter or turned down to reduce flow

If new build i would guess its probably the other side of the wall from the kitchen or utility sink or taken off the cold main in the garage

Might have to pull off the pipe insulation to check for iso valves or other stopcocks - you often see outside taps have there own stopcock
 
I don't think it's any isolation valves or anything, it worked fine for the first 5 months, then the first time I've tried using it since the cold weather and it's trickling out and the tap isn't at fault, I have looked and there is one, but it's fully open so I'm going to ask Persimmon to take a look.
 
PlacidCasual said:
Off topic I apologise, but this stuff always annoys the crap out of me about the building trade. No thought ever goes into maintainability of the building plumbing etc. If you're in a hard water area for instance irregularly used valves are likely to seize so why isn't there a master martyr arrangement (2 in line) for the stop **** an extra £30 on £100k+ project? Why are stop cocks put in ridiculous places that mean they are going to get boxed in or are just inaccessible. Same for an external tap, why isn't fitting an inline isolator inside the house standard for any outside tap as they are much more prone to failure and leakage in my experience.

I swear if I ever build a house I'm going to treat this stuff properly with long term solutions not half assed ones.
Click to expand...

Can't say this has been a concern for me at all on my new build:

Stop **** under the sink (where I'd expect it):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/q05cyhnrdshop5x/20180406_154533.jpg?dl=0

Outside tap isolation valve:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0ycxpn8exoknxl6/20180406_154559.jpg?dl=0

Plenty of access room to the hot water storage tank / plumbing:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/oilqwdn03vfn9d3/20180406_154357.jpg?dl=0
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom