Turned off street stopcock, water still flowing

[gravesend46]

Hi, am trying to change bathroom basin and taps. There is no stopcock to be found inside the house (only been here a year and never had a need to look before), no isolator valves on basin pipes and, having taken off bath panel, not on bath taps either.

So I've pulled up the trap in front of my drive. There's a plastic white thing with a blue lid (bit like a car screenwash container) and the usual stopcock tap. Am able to reach it easy enough and have turned it clockwise (and anti- just to make sure) until there's a definite stop.

But the water is still on in my house. It's a mains-fed system, no tank, so why won't it turn off? I left it running upstairs and downstairs for a good five minutes. How long does it take to drain?

 

[dcawkwell]

If you have no cold water tank and you are sure you have turned
the water off in the road the only answer is the the stop cock in
the road is faulty.

Ring your water company and they will come and change it.

You might want to open it and shut it a few times and see if there
is any difference to the flow in the house. It might just not be seating
perfectly and the movement backwards and forwards could help.

 

[gravesend46]

Thanks for the advice. I just rang Southern Water and they said they'd get someone out but only within 10 working days.

Which leaves me a bit stuck. Is there any way I can shut off water to only the basin taps in the meantime?

 

[picasso]

do you have an unvented cylinder or a combi boiler,? if unvented the expansion vessel will keep the tap running for a while as it empties, see if you have pressure at the kitchen cold tap, if you dont then the stopcock has turned off.

 

[gravesend46]

No. The heating and hot water is via a standalone combi boiler.

 

[HERTS P&D]

Hire a plumber with a freeze master and fit a new internal stopcock.

What would you have done if you had a burst pipe?

Andy

 

[gravesend46]

What would you have done if you had a burst pipe?

Andy

I would have assumed (yeah, I know ) that I'd've had a stopcock in a normal place - until obviously an emergency happened and I found out I should have checked first!

 

[flameport]

Are you sure the one in front of your drive is actually for your house?
Is there any change in the flow of water when you turn the 'broken' one off? Even if damaged internally, it should still reduce the flow somewhat.

The other way if the bathroom is upstairs is to turn on the downstairs taps fully, which will often prevent the water reaching the upstairs ones.

 

[Charnwood]

I would have assumed

How long have you lived there

Every property I've been responsible for, i.e. own home or holiday home etc, the first thing I do is find out where the consumer unit/fusebox and stopcock are.