No external stop tap?

fshbf · 13 June 2024 at 5:00PM

Our semi detached house was built in 1948 and has a lead water supply pipe. The house was built slightly after the ones either side, although to the same plan.

The internal stoptap is wedged in at floor level and very difficult to use, we also think it is stuck halfway as our flow rates reduced significantly after it was used during some plumbing work. We would like to replace it with a new tap, however we have been unable to locate the external tap to isolate it.

We are in house #151, attached to #153. There are two small water access covers in the pavement outside - one outside the next semi up the road (155/157) and one a considerable distance down the road (143/145). We tried the closer one but it didn't turn off our water.

We have contacted our supplier (Yorkshire Water) who say that their maps don't show any external taps for our street. They have refused to help us locate an external tap, and their website states they only locate external taps in emergencies. Further, they said we might not have an external tap or that it might have been tarmacked over.

They put us on to a company who do pipe freezing, but they've said they can't freeze lead pipes.

So, we've got an internal tap that we want to replace, but can't locate the external tap even if we have one, and can't get the pipe frozen to isolate it. Any suggestions welcome...!

brook_heather · 13 June 2024 at 5:34PM

First step might be to request a water meter - I would expect them to install an external stop tap as part of the meter. Secondly you might want to consider applying for their lead replacement program - you would need to replace the existing pipe from your property to the boundary and YW would replace the pipe on their side of the boundary. Replacing an old lead supply pipe with a modern MDPE 25mm pipe should improve your flow.