Mains water stopcock

belfastgirl23

Useful thread! I've been worried because the last time we had someone do any plumbing work in our house they refused to touch the stopc*ck at all saying it was too old and fragile looking (true IMHO, it's all painted over and looks as if it hasn't moved for years) and they were worried about it coming off in their hand. There is an external one as well, I remember from when they were doing work on the street. So I wanted to know, first of all would it be very pricey to get the internal one replaced? And secondly would I (or a plumber acting for me) be able to access the external one if necessary?

bayness0

The simple answer is yes and yes

You can turn the one in the street off - you may need a special tool to do this as the street stopcock can be a long way down.

the first question is do you need to replace your stopcock - is it leaking? Normally it leaks from the handle and it is a simple case of removing the locking nut from the handle, wrap some PTFE around the thread and re-screw the locking nut.

If you have a real leak simply remove the 2 nuts holding the stopcock in place, remove the olives (use will need an olive splitter for this) replace the olives and tighten the new stopcock in place using PTFE tape on the screw treads again.

Should not take a plumber longer than an hour to do this from start to finish.

A word of warning though the water you see on the pipes is most likely condensation - especially in the winter an this can be fixed just by lagging the pipes, costs about 50 pence per metre for pre-formed lagging.

27col

Stop cocks should be operated every 9 months or so. They are very prone to seizing up, or at the very least, needing a spanner to operate them. If you get a leak, you do not want to be chasing around looking for a spanner or lever to turn off the water. It is a bit of a bind remembering to do it, but it is worth the trouble. The advice about turning the !!!! back half a turn is good also.
On one job, I found that the !!!! was let into the wall behind the gas cooker, which had to be moved if you wanted to operate it. Even when I got to it, it would not move without the risk of breaking it. Needless to say, I fitted a new one under the sink, where it could be got at.

nptes

hi
i am in the middle of changing my stopcock but got as far as taking it off and trying to get the nuts off the pipes but they dont want to come off!
how do i do this to replace them with new ones?

thanks

27col

If they fit the new stopcock you do not necessarily have to remove them. See my recent post on another thread.
You have several options.
1) You might find that the existing nuts will fit onto the new stopcock. This assumes that it is the same length as the old one.
2) Cut the pipe and fit a new section containing the new stopcock. As per ormus post.
3) Gently saw the old olive off with a junior hacksaw. This assumes that you can get good access.
4) Use an olive puller. These are a bit expensive just for the odd job. http://www.toolstation.com/documents/search/index.html
5) Don't bother to remove the old stopcock. Just insert a new one elsewhere in the main.