Jammed leaking Stopcock

[DavidRS]

Can anybody help me?

We recently discovered that our stopcock was leaking. I turned off the tap and the leak stopped and I have worked out that it is coming from the top gland nut. I followed all the advice i can but i cannot loosen the nut. I'm trying to hold the main tap in my pliers and use a wrench to loosen off but all that happens is the whole unit twists. To cap it all, i think I've made the leak worse. Also the whole tap doesn't look anything I've seen on the 'net. I've attached a couple of piccies.

Needles to say I'm a bit of a numpty when comes to plumbing.

Is there something I am doing wrong?

Many thanks in advance

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[holty]

well im pretty sure loosening the nut will make it leak.as your undoing a main nut. the gland nut you might think your thinking about is near the tap head spindle.the nut your undoing should be tightened.if it still leaks turn the stop tap off undo it,till you see the olive then wrap some ptfe tape round the olive.better still get a plumber in.were working for peanuts these days.

 

[DavidRS]

holty,

Cheers for advice. Eventually managed to get the nut off but now when I put it back on and I tightened the nut as hard as I could, the water comes out even faster at the top. Do these things have washers or should just get a new stopcock.

Time to call a plumber methinks!

Ta![/quote]

 

[JMLanders]

When you removed the top nut, did you remove any old PTFE tape (if there was any) and repack the spindle with some new tape prior to re-affixing the nut?

 

[holty]

could be the actual nut has an airline crack in it.could be you just give it to much and crushed the olive.could try using a bit of ptfe tape round the olive.see if that works.p.s no the thread.to describe an olive very roughly, its the round thing thats crushed on the pipe that sits between the nut and the compression joint. bit like a ring on a finger.no sarcasm for the last bit of the sentence please people

 

[Whitespirit66]

to describe an olive very roughly

Untitled

• Whitespirit66
• 15 Jun 2010
• 2

 

[JMLanders]

could be the actual nut has an airline crack in it.

That's one big jumbo sized crack!

 

[holty]

cmon. whitespirit66, what the hell has chris evans in a wig got to do with it. p.s i hate you butler

 

[Whitespirit66]

cmon. whitespirit66, what the hell has chris evans in a wig got to do with it. p.s i hate you butler

Never realised. I see what you mean.

 

[DavidRS]

JMLanders - yes I did but the problem is that regardless of which direction I wound the tape, when I replaced the nut, the tape ended up being pused to the bottom of the spindle. I am losing so much water now so I've taken to only opening the tap when I need water. To try and avoid water gushing onto the floor, I have to turn on the cold tap in the toilet (which is where the stopcock is) which reduces the pressure on the nut. Thank God I'm not on a meter but I've got to resolve this quickly.

I'm thinking of using Duck Tape to wrap round the nut as a temporary solution while I try and sort this out. Is this a bad idea or will it hold in the shirt term?

I am beginning to think that I need a plumber sharpish.

 

[Whitespirit66]

I tend to have more success with waxed string on old gland nuts. Buy some from a proper plumber's merchants, or coat ordinary string in petroleum jelly.

Remove the gland nut, turn a few times around the spindle, slide it down to bottom, and retighten gland nut.

 

[JMLanders]

I'm coming to the conclusion that a new stopcock may be the best choice.

How complex this is depends on what sort of pipe you have either side of the tap, and whether you can isolate the water at street level. To be honest, I think a plumber may be on the cards now.

Sorry