Cannot find internal stopcock: plumber?

Silvertabby

vw100 said:

There could be a stop !!!!!! buried in a wall/plastered over, one of houses I lived in had that and only stumbled upon it during some works.  Get one fitted if you cant find one.

The tap for draining our radiators/central heating system is sited just inside and to one side of the dining room french doors.  The original floor base has a square cut out with a finger hole in, so you just lift out the square to get at the tap.

When we had engineered wood fitted downstairs, Mr S asked the fitter to cut a small square panel that could be lifted with a rubber sucker.  He did an excellent job, and you'd never know the access square was there unless it was pointed out.  But, worryingly, he said that he had laid wood flooring to a number of houses on our estate - and we were the first ones to point out the tap/ask for a means of access. 

Jackmydad

Silvertabby said:

vw100 said:

There could be a stop !!!!!! buried in a wall/plastered over, one of houses I lived in had that and only stumbled upon it during some works.  Get one fitted if you cant find one.

The tap for draining our radiators/central heating system is sited just inside and to one side of the dining room french doors.  The original floor base has a square cut out with a finger hole in, so you just lift out the square to get at the tap.

When we had engineered wood fitted downstairs, Mr S asked the fitter to cut a small square panel that could be lifted with a rubber sucker.  He did an excellent job, and you'd never know the access square was there unless it was pointed out.  But, worryingly, he said that he had laid wood flooring to a number of houses on our estate - and we were the first ones to point out the tap/ask for a means of access. 

That's the other snag. They get hidden.
Long story, not for here, but a property I was working on had a burst pipe after a sudden very hard freeze.
Nothing in the road outside.
Nothing apparent inside. 
It was under the fitted vinyl in the rear hallway.

FreeBear

Owain_Moneysaver said: You can buy the crutch keys from Screwfix etc
https://www.screwfix.com/p/rothenberger-universal-stopcock-key-36/71652

If you have a water meter, the stopcock is often a 10mm hex (from memory) - It is on my meter... The last time the water board was out to do some work, the guys were kind enough to leave me with a couple of spare keys.

MalMonroe

If you have a boiler, is it near there? At my last property, I phoned a plumber when we had a leak and he advised turning off the internal stop tap until he could get there. Well, I looked everywhere for it. Under the sink, he said. No, said I. Yes, said he. I found it under the boiler, more or less boxed in . . . and hidden. That is to say, all the pipes to and from the boiler were boxed in and there was a hole cut into the boxing in so you could put your hand in to turn the tap off/on. If you knew about it, that is! Someone suggested to me that I turn off the outside stop tap but I was too scared of what the neighbours might do to me! There must be an internal one. Somewhere.

JIL

I have a blue switch in my downstairs loo. 
Strangely a plumber  who came out to do an outside tap said he had never seen anything like it before.

roddydogs

Don't  most meters have a straight tap to turn off? Mine is. No tool needed.

silvercar

My water meter is at the edge of the property boundary in the front garden. The stopcock is under the kitchen sink at the rear of the house.

Jackmydad

JIL said:

I have a blue switch in my downstairs loo. 
Strangely a plumber  who came out to do an outside tap said he had never seen anything like it before.

That sounds like a Surestop (No affiliation)
https://www.surestop.co.uk/product-range
I've never actually seen one (but then I'm not a plumber!) but people say they are very good.

JIL

Jackmydad said:

JIL said:

I have a blue switch in my downstairs loo. 
Strangely a plumber  who came out to do an outside tap said he had never seen anything like it before.

That sounds like a Surestop (No affiliation)
https://www.surestop.co.uk/product-range
I've never actually seen one (but then I'm not a plumber!) but people say they are very good.

It is very like that.
It's very neat, just under the downstairs toilet cistern. Theres no pipework on view at all.