Outside stop cock seized

[wiggy777]

Hi. I have a customer who would like a high output combination boiler installed and they have a conventional boiler at the moment. A flow test i have carried out shows 14 litres per minute entering the property which is much to low for the new boiler but there is 3.5 bar pressure. I would like to do an additional flow test at the stop cock in the street but it is very old and has seized up and I am unable to shut the water off in the street. I live and work in the London area and Thames Water are the people who are responsible for the stop cock and water supply. Does anybody know what Thames Water responsibilities are with regards to coming out and replacing the old seized stop cock with a new one and how long are you likely to have to wait for them to come and carry this out ?

 

[kirkgas]

i cant comment on time to do it, but the supplier is responsible for the stop cock working properly, give them a call to check it out, (they might send a big strong guy with a big water key who will free it up for you ) or they will change it.

 

[Fluffster]

As it is not a priority it can take weeks if not months, however tell them you have a leak inside and cannot turn it off and they may attend a lot sooner

Pete

 

[Goldberg]

I would like to do an additional flow test at the stop cock in the street

How are you going to achieve that, given that it isn't your customer's stop cock and you don't have permission to touch any of the connections to it?

 

[Agile]

I have heard of some horror stories about Thames Water telling people that the street stopcock is theirs and they are not bothered if its seized up because the customers stopcock is the one for the customer to use to isolate their property.

Also I have seen them come out on a saturday evening at 8 pm and fit a new one on the spot when the customer's stopcock had sheared off and they had put a kango through a pipe!

Tony

 

[izzy eckerslike]

Ours turned but wouldn't shut off the water properly ( 1950') & we had the same problem with the one in the house so we wanted to renew the indoor one which was awkwardly at floor level.
In an attempt to turn the pavement one a bit tighter the T bar broke off so we started to panic as we only had a dribble at the taps.
We called Severn Trent emergency line who said they would send someone out, meanwhile the bloke next door came out with some engineering tools which included a device suitable to grip the stem of the tap & turn it back on & he welded it to a pipe so we could reach down to the tap & we heaved a sigh of relief.
We never did get anyone turn up from ST even tho I called them again twice but didn't tell them the water was back on so I would have had no water if left up to them! Presumably they considered I shouldn't have touched the tap in the first place

A year later they relaid the main pipe down the road & I asked if they could renew my tap at the same time but they said no but would report it for me & they sprayed blue paint to mark the position. Two weeks later a lorry turned up & they dug it up & fixed it. Still can't renew the original indoor one so we fixed a new one just above it

 

[kmeeres]

I have heard of some horror stories about Thames Water telling people that the street stopcock is theirs and they are not bothered if its seized up because the customers stopcock is the one for the customer to use to isolate their property.

Also I have seen them come out on a saturday evening at 8 pm and fit a new one on the spot when the customer's stopcock had sheared off and they had put a kango through a pipe!

Tony

Large uncontrolled leak, generally give a good response to that.

Had one customer insist i should turn up with a pipe freezer as advised by supplier, not thames in this case but arrived to find full flow out of pipe.
2 nd suggestion bend pipe and hammer over , 3 in old lead available.
If i did that cust has no suppply until stopcock fixed, not leaking so not urgent. No supply - well the plumber sealed off the pipe so it is down to him !!!

 

[kmeeres]

Hi. I have a customer who would like a responsibilities are with regards to coming out and replacing the old seized stop cock with a new one and how long are you likely to have to wait for them to come and carry this out ?

One trick i have used before is where if there is only a stoptap then ask about going to a metered supply.
Need to check your usage though, last time i did that there was only one occupant.

 

[electronicsuk]

You could try a chemical spray such as Plusgas to loosen any corrosion and rust on the stop tap, no guarantee it'll work but it's quicker than trying to get the water board out, and will only set you back a few quid.

 

[LMannix]

They are all the same these water companies.

Had a customer who had dug out his back room concrete floor because of damp problems. As the builder was doing this he put the spade though the lead main.
We got there and the customer had no internal stop cock and a mud field as a back room. Went to use the street one and when they had renewed the mains about 8 months earlier they thought it would be a good idea to put the sleeve about one foot away from the actual stop cock.

Called United utilities, which the very helpful woman the other end suggested we try and cut the lead pipe and fit a stop cock to it!!!! When we laughed at this, she suggested wrapping the pipe. Honestly!

They turned up a week later after many many phone calls and many promises of being there within 4 hours.

 

[kmeeres]

You could try a chemical spray such as Plusgas to loosen any corrosion and rust on the stop tap, no guarantee it'll work but it's quicker than trying to get the water board out, and will only set you back a few quid.

You could try but how much force do you use ?
This is the suppliers equipment . Get it wrong and you could be liable for a big bill if it goes wrong.
Even if nothing happens if you have discussed this with the supplier and stopcock is in the street you could still be in court for causing the problem.

 

[bengasman]

i cant comment on time to do it, but the supplier is responsible for the stop cock working properly...

Are you sure about that Kirk? Last time I called them for a seized streetvalve and a noticeable leak between there and the stopcock, they told me a watercompany does not have to provide a streetvalve at all.
Not that thames water has ever won any prizes for honesty, reliability of professionalism.
They could be the watercompany that holds the record for number of fines and total amount though.

 

[Goldberg]

Even if nothing happens if you have discussed this with the supplier and stopcock is in the street you could still be in court for causing the problem.

Please could you explain how such an action would lead to being in court?

 

[kirkgas]

i cant comment on time to do it, but the supplier is responsible for the stop cock working properly...

Are you sure about that Kirk? Last time I called them for a seized streetvalve and a noticeable leak between there and the stopcock, they told me a watercompany does not have to provide a streetvalve at all.
Not that thames water has ever won any prizes for honesty, reliability of professionalism.
They could be the watercompany that holds the record for number of fines and total amount though.

Ben, my reasoning is that the supplier is the only one able to shut off the water supply feeding the individual stopcock to allow it to be changed (similar to the MCV at the gas meter) havent done anything like that for years but any time it was required west of scotland water came out and fitted the new toby valve and we connected our supply to the outlet side

 

[kmeeres]

Even if nothing happens if you have discussed this with the supplier and stopcock is in the street you could still be in court for causing the problem.

Please could you explain how such an action would lead to being in court?

Well if too much force is used and stoptap gets sheared off they could argue that it was my fault and try to charge me for it which i would dispute.
I know of a sheared stoptap but this was fire brigade so no problem.
No personal knowledge of any disputes,just wary.