Stopcock

sarah69696pink

Hi all
this may be a clueless question but is there always an internal stopcock in a property? 

We’ve been told (house we’re buying) has stopcock under pavement outside, we’ve gone back and asked where the internal one is and been they’ve already told us that stopcock is outside. I thought there was always an internal one? But have limited house ownership experience so could well be wrong! 

Alter_ego

Internal stopcock is normally under the kitchen sink, not sure if  there's a legal requirement to have one.  Common sense says yes though

Grabs39

You’d normally have two, one under the pavement in front of the house (sometimes with a meter) where the supply for your house meets the mains for the street, and then one somewhere accessible in the house, often under the kitchen sink.

The one in the street is normally for use by the water board or a plumber, and often need a special tool to turn it.  The one in your house is a tap for you to use if you go away or get a leak.

If there isn’t one inside then one could normally be added fairly straightforwardly.  We just had one added as the old one was in an awkward place and a handyman charged £65 to do it.

Falafels

I used to rent a flat in a huge Victorian property in a seaside town. There was no internal stopcock; the local water company were not able to install a meter either, when I made enquiries.

sarah69696pink

Thanks all really helpful. 

Davesnave

Our internal one is inside a fitted IKEA Pax wardrobe. (water originally entered property via a garage, now partly dressing room) Could have moved it, but we know where it is; into Narnia and turn left!

Rambosmum

sarah69696pink said:

Hi all
this may be a clueless question but is there always an internal stopcock in a property? 

We’ve been told (house we’re buying) has stopcock under pavement outside, we’ve gone back and asked where the internal one is and been they’ve already told us that stopcock is outside. I thought there was always an internal one? But have limited house ownership experience so could well be wrong! 

No there isn't always an internal one. Our old house had no internal stopcock, instead it had individual isolators on all water pipes and 2 external ones (one in the front garden, one on the pavement outside the boundary). If we needed to do big work to the property, we used the special tool (£5 from Amazon) to turn to garden one off, otherwise we'd just use the isolation valve on the pipe we were using. We did a full house renovation only using the isolation valves. 

FreeBear

Alter_ego said: not sure if  there's a legal requirement to have one. 

Current regs I believe mandate having an internal stopcock, but these rules are not retrospective. My house never had one internally, just one at the front of the property just inside the boundary - Most of the houses along my road have a similar setup.

pumas

My house had only a pavement stopcock. We have a long metal rod to use with it.
House completely gutted, now have internal stopcock and every water pipe has its own stop.

Marvel1

I only have one inside in the kitchen, not much good to stop bathroom though, outside it is (it would stop next door also).

greatcrested

New houses always have them. Older ones, not always. My mother's did not.

As long as you have access to the outside one in case of emergencies (leak etc) that's fine.

But take a look at it - some are deep down and need a special tool to access. If so, make sure you keep the tool handy, and loosen off the stopcock once a year to make sure it does not freeze up.

Of fit an internal one some time.