External Stopcock/stoptap

grumbler

Why do you ignore the questions?

And Dyno aren't the only people that can do this. There are dozens of other plumbers around.

Useless_ukpc

This is really difficult.

The leak is on the mains before it gets to the stopcock in the house. 

The leaky pipe is under the kitchen sink. The plumber wants to replace the copper pipe before the internal stopcock.

The outside stopcock in the street does not fully shut off the water to the house. Because the water can't be shut off outside, the Copper pipe can't be removed as water will gush everywhere.

So my understanding is before the internal leak can be fixed the external stopcock needs to be repaired by Thames water who are shirking their shoulders. 

grumbler

OK, you can keep arguing with Thames Water or read this thread carefully and say, why the suggestions here are unfeasible.

And a copper mains pipe coming into a house is, IMO, unusual. Normally it's either a plastic pipe or a led one. Where from does this pipe get to under the sink?

Useless_ukpc

The pipe comes out the floor under the sink and a hole in the cupboard the is connected to the stopcock at the bottom of the sink cupboard.

The house was built in 2005. To my mind a copper pipe makes more sense then a lead pipe. 

My understanding is the pipe needs replacing. At the moment the leaky pipe has a temporary fix. 

grumbler

My house was build in mid 90s and a blue plastic pipe comes from the floor under the sink and is connected to the stopcock. Mains pipe coming to a house is buried in ground - it cannot be copper because of corrosion.

If your pipe has a temporary fix and is accessible below, then it can be frozen there and repaired above the frozen part.

plumb1_2

They stopped using copper for water mains in the 80’s, almost certainly it will be plastic if built in 2005. The so called plumber needs to cut out some of the base unit where he’ll find the adapter .
If it’s just a trickle, make sure all outlets are closed, and it will freeze.
Why dyno? My guess is that’s who your contract/insurance is with. Most dyno plumbers are not time served plumbers, so have limited knowledge/experience to deal with tricky situations, plus limited to what they can do by their company.

I have known plumbers phone utility company say have a bad leak here, internal stop tap broken and stop tap in the pavement won’t shut off due to the head snapped off, you need to send a team to dig up and replace the valve. As Nadia says they will come.

ps what ever you’ve paying monthly to have dyno insurance, stop paying and put the money into a fund, so when you need a good plumber the funds will be there hopefully.

Section62

Useless_ukpc said:

Dyno tried to switch this off but all that happened was the water slowed to a trickle in the house but not shut-off completely.

Dyno insist there is nothing they can do until Thames water fix the external stopcock. 

How much is this 'trickle' - for example is it enough to fill a cup in less than a minute.

If it really is a trickle and TW refuse to do any work on their valve then one thing Dyno could do for you is to install your own external stopcock (in your property and on your side of their valve/meter).

Freezing the pipe to effect an internal repair is Ok, but not having the ability to turn your water off externally in case of emergency is not good.  If TW won't repair their valve then the next best thing is to install your own.

Do you have a water meter?

Useless_ukpc

Hi all thanks for your assistance. Thames water have come out and switched off the external stopcock. As far as they are concerned no issues.

The water flow stopped so it's back to dyno to get the internal leak fixed now. 

The Thames guy mirrored a lot of what you guys have been saying. 

I can confirm I am on a water meter. In a twist of fate the chap said his dad used to live in the neighbourhood back in the 70's and the estate I am on used to be a factory.

He said its possible that rather than plastic piping that metal piping used as a possibility of contamination.  When we moved in we had searches done and no evidence of contamination was found.

Now need to get dyno to come back and once they fix it need to find another way to cover the hot and cold water plumbing. 

Mutton_Geoff

Useless_ukpc said:

the internal stop !!!!!!.

the external stop !!!!!!
the external stop !!!!!!
the external stop !!!!!!
the external stop !!!!!!

I'm at my wits end. What do I do? 

So am I. Can you go back to your original post, click the cog at the top left and edit your post, including the title, remove the space between the two words stop and the word after it so it says stopcock and you'll get rid of all the exclamation marks.