Seized stop cock under sink

Hello, this is my first post after lingering for quite a while on the forum.

Please could someone help me with my nightmare.

We have a seized, half off stop cock under our sink which from my limited experience seems to be copper on copper, the top is sheered off from the previous owners attempts to get it moving and there is really not much room to maneuver under the sink area with only a few center meters of pipe coming up from under the concrete.

The water pressure is understandably pathetic because of this issue and we are not able to use our new kitchen at all.

To add to this we are in a block of flats and the only other form of isolation is another completely seized stop cock in a cupboard in the hallway, this one is impossible to work on because walls have been built either side of it - why on earth they did this back in '65 I could not tell you, but its a pain in the rear now. So in order to turn the water off I will have to give the other flats notice and get the waterboard to switch off for us. I have found the outside isolater but it has a massive "head" on it which no key I have found so far will turn.

So far I have had 5 plumbers look at it, they all took a quick look, shook their heads and left. I suppose its too much of a nightmare for them to bother with when they can simply move on to the next job? I really need this sorted and I am running out of options.

Any advice at all please. I will add pictures tonight.

You need to do as you've said, arrange for the outside supply stopcock to be turned off in the correct manner and then arrange a plumber to come and change your stopcock when you have a definite date and time for the water supplier to turn off the one in the road. Not much else you can do really

......Or freeze the pipe. And i wouldn't change existing stopcock, i would just cut a new one in above it if you have room....or unscrew the shaft of existing one and replace with a new one.

Not to freeze you will need static water and a good freezing kit!

powell30 said:

......Or freeze the pipe. Note to freeze you will need static water and a good freezing kit!

Click to expand...

...and balls of steel. I'd be very wary of freezing a 45-year-old pipe on the live side of the stopcock with no way of turning it off if the pipe splits...

muggles said:

powell30 said:

......Or freeze the pipe. Note to freeze you will need static water and a good freezing kit!

Click to expand...

...and balls of steel. I'd be very wary of freezing a 45-year-old pipe on the live side of the stopcock with no way of turning it off if the pipe splits...

Click to expand...

especially in a block of flats.

Easiest thing is to remove the replace the head of the stop cock.

Did this on my mums old 1940's house. I just brought a new stopcock and just unscrewed and replaced the head, maybe I was lucky but it looked original.

After getting the water board to repace the seized stop cock in the road.

I know access sounds bad, but why someone replaced the kitchen (i did read new kitchen right?) without replacing the stopcock is madness. Also, it may look daunting but can the cupboard be removed?

Unscrew it from it's surroundings, wind up the legs to remove tension and slide it out.

Maybe?

Just an update, I managed to get ahold of a plumber last night who insisted he can get this done, apparently he is well versed in different types of imperial fittings.

I think that our only real option was mentioned above and that is to replace the spindle/handle assembly in the existing stopcock.

I would be wary of freezing the pipe as the pressure from the mains is really impressive below the seized section, in our bathroom the water literally pumps of out of the taps. I can only assume its 2bar plus.

If this chap is not able to fix this tonight and I supply images of the markings and look of the stopcock does anyone think they may be able to tell me where I can get a replacement? So far taking the information to local plumbers merchants has not proved successful.

I don't think they will let you turn the water off to the entire block.

I once got called out to a block where water flooded down through three flats and they still refused to let us turn it off in the road.

Probably some H+S rubbish

epi34 said:

Just an update, I managed to get ahold of a plumber last night who insisted he can get this done, apparently he is well versed in different types of imperial fittings.

If this chap is not able to fix this tonight and I supply images of the markings and look of the stopcock does anyone think they may be able to tell me where I can get a replacement? So far taking the information to local plumbers merchants has not proved successful.

Click to expand...

no surprise about the merchants BS 1010 pattern stopcock will get the correct head/thread...... bet your guy knows that too

londonboy said:

I don't think they will let you turn the water off to the entire block.

I once got called out to a block where water flooded down through three flats and they still refused to let us turn it off in the road.

Probably some H+S rubbish

Click to expand...

If its a quick job...Just turn the water off, it will be back on before anyone knows theres a problem.
If any one complains say sorry & give them a bottle of wine.

Diyisfun said:

londonboy said:

I don't think they will let you turn the water off to the entire block.

I once got called out to a block where water flooded down through three flats and they still refused to let us turn it off in the road.

Probably some H+S rubbish

Click to expand...

If its a quick job...Just turn the water off, it will be back on before anyone knows theres a problem.
If any one complains say sorry & give them a bottle of wine.

Click to expand...

Upstairs the only taps that are connected to mains are the cold kitchen, all the others come from a tank on the roof so I believe we will be able to get away with switching off for 30 mins without too much hassle. Its only the ground floor flats that are on cold mains throughout.

i do that type of job quite often,,, you or he need to clean around the top of the valve to see if it says 1010 bs there no grantee it will,, as there is a very similar size which as a finer thread.. beware as it will go in but not hold,, the date sugests its 1010 if so its an easy one