inside stopcock broken to on/ outside stopcock buried

tinkmills

Help, im a disabled homeowner in a block of flats. Last night my kitchen cold tap came flying off, water was going everywhere, then i discovered my stopcock was stuck on. My crutches ended up on the floor whislt i was trying to make sure the water was going in the sink rather than all over the kitchen (didnt do too well of a job) and at the same time I called my insurance company who said it would be an hour before they could send an emergency repair plumber out however the neighbour who lives bellow me (a council tenant) called the council. They sent a plumber straight away, he had to batter the stopcock with a hammer to get it off (although not completely off) enough to replace the tap. Unfortunatly ive been advised that the outside stopcock is buried. Also the tap they have put on is not even the right one. I have an awful feeling that as the burst has been solved temporary the insurance company will say its not actually causing a problem now so it ll be down to me to fix it. Although i have read my policy agreement & it does say that all water installations are covered. Not a great weekend between being made redundant on Friday & this on Sat so please, please if anyone has any advice on how i can solve my problem, it'd be a major help, thanks

deanos

Plumbers can freeze pipes to fit internal stop taps if the external one isnt working, you can also ring up your water company and explain and they should come and repair the external one for free but this could take several weeks as a non emergency

AS long as the internal one works tho i don't see the problem it does not have to look exactly the same as the old one.

mcc100

tinkmills wrote: »

Last night my kitchen cold tap came flying off

Also the tap they have put on is not even the right one

I think Tinkmills is saying that the cold tap (rather than the internal stop tap) is not the right one

keystone

tinkmills wrote: »

Help, im a disabled homeowner in a block of flats. Last night my kitchen cold tap came flying off, water was going everywhere,...................

snip snip

........any advice on how i can solve my problem, it'd be a major help, thanks

The only thing you can do is to talk to your insurance company. They should recognise that the work by the emergency plaumver was just to stop the wate flowing and did not constiute a full repair. But you will only find out by asking them.

Cheers

keystone

deanos wrote: »

Plumbers can freeze pipes to fit internal stop taps if the external one isnt working,

Freezing mains pressure water is just a tad dodgy. If the plug comes out it will go through, yes through a stud wall like it was butter. Freezing mains should never be attempted on a DIY basis and certainly not with those silly aerosol freezing kits from the sheds - not unless you want to get very wet that is. Yes I know you said plumber not DIY - my info is posted as a warning to others.

AS long as the internal one works tho i don't see the problem it does not have to look exactly the same as the old one.

I agree with previous poster.

Cheers

tinkmills

Thanks to everyone for replying. My insurance company have refused to pay for any claim relating to this as they advise that as the burst has been made safe, it is no longer thier responsibility (even though it wasnt them who made it safe). They said they will not cover the jammed stopcock as its classed as wear and tear due to maintenance, they also will not cover the tap for the same reason, which i dont get as i understand my kitchen tap is a mixer tap but the cold side now has a classic bathroom basin tap on it. I did find out however that people with disabilities or on benifits or pensioners can get help through their local council from a department called care & repair, gladly our council has agreed to help me, they are arranging all the work & are willing to pay the first £374 (hopefully it wont cost me anything as i was also made redundant on Friday - not a good year). They have also found out that the main stopcock is in one of my neighbours, im hoping to get this done this week. Thanks again for all your input.

lapat

tinkmills wrote: »

Thanks to everyone for replying. My insurance company have refused to pay for any claim relating to this as they advise that as the burst has been made safe, it is no longer thier responsibility (even though it wasnt them who made it safe). They said they will not cover the jammed stopcock as its classed as wear and tear due to maintenance, they also will not cover the tap for the same reason, which i dont get as i understand my kitchen tap is a mixer tap but the cold side now has a classic bathroom basin tap on it. I did find out however that people with disabilities or on benifits or pensioners can get help through their local council from a department called care & repair, gladly our council has agreed to help me, they are arranging all the work & are willing to pay the first £374 (hopefully it wont cost me anything as i was also made redundant on Friday - not a good year). They have also found out that the main stopcock is in one of my neighbours, im hoping to get this done this week. Thanks again for all your input.

just a quick one on this post not sure who you are getting your water from but if you are disabled all of them got the extra mile for vunerable people. and if you let them know this and also let them know your external tap outside is buried i would suspect they would send someone out to at least locate it if not veven fit you a new one at the boundary foc

Gothicfairy

lapat wrote: »

just a quick one on this post not sure who you are getting your water from but if you are disabled all of them got the extra mile for vunerable people. and if you let them know this and also let them know your external tap outside is buried i would suspect they would send someone out to at least locate it if not veven fit you a new one at the boundary foc

Disabled or not all water companies will and do come out to locate/ uncover outside taps it just does not happen quickly. They don't move them often though and would really only look at that if they felt it was needed or there was going to be some major change..ie one near us was moved as the council put a bus stop right by it and health and saftey was an issue then.
All companies do offer an "Access" service but that does not get you moved up the list for issues like this really, it does however mean that you can have a password for meter readers and that if you require water for some health reason you will get water delievered if you are ever cut off etc

lapat

Gothicfairy wrote: »

Disabled or not all water companies will and do come out to locate/ uncover outside taps it just does not happen quickly. They don't move them often though and would really only look at that if they felt it was needed or there was going to be some major change..ie one near us was moved as the council put a bus stop right by it and health and saftey was an issue then.
All companies do offer an "Access" service but that does not get you moved up the list for issues like this really, it does however mean that you can have a password for meter readers and that if you require water for some health reason you will get water delievered if you are ever cut off etc

okay next time your of phone up tell them you have a disability and see how fast they act