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I was there the whole time the plumber worked on the stopcock. He was extremely cautious in everything he did as he suspected this pipe was lead. He dug out as much as he could around the stopcock before trying to unscrew the old fittings and I couldn't see any lifting or wiggling as he did so...

Today the plumber came to put in the new stopcock. I suggested changing just the headgear but he was happy to replace the whole thing. Once he'd finished, I watched the stopcock as he switched the water mains back on. Water came gushing from somewhere between the stopcock and the meter...

I have about 5 plumbers in. First one suggested new boiler and electric power shower. Second one just shrugged shoulders. Third one replaced heat exchanger (at my request) and then came back to replace diverter valve (at his suggestion). The diverter replacement **seemed** to sort the problem...

I spoke to another plumber who will do it next week for £100. All I have to provide is the new stopcock, so I think I would be mad to try it myself. Are all stopcocks equal? For example, will this do the job? Thanks, I'll investigate this. After it's all finished, I thought it might be...

Apologies, I did it the lazy way: I turned off the main stopcock and let some of the water drain, then did the scrape test. It's difficult to reach, so my photo isn't great, but wouldn't you say this looks like copper? IMG_20190201_121342 by pulck posted 1 Feb 2019 at 12:18 PM

Unfortunately, it's currently under 3 inches of muddy water because of the leak so I can't do the scratch test at the moment. I just tried a magnet, though, and it's not magnetic.

Sadly that's not the kitchen on the other side of that wall - that's the pavement/road. So the mains stoptap is only about 3-4 feet away. The kitchen is in the other direction - behind me as I'm holding the camera. That pipe almost certainly runs under my front garden (about 10'), under my...

Thanks. I think you're right - I'm nervous about what happens if I cause a bigger leak. I suppose that's why I'm paying extra for the plumber. Also, I'm keen to get the whole tap replaced. I have been having ongoing water pressure problems and the Thames Water engineer suggested that the rubber...

OK, so I have dug out around the stopcock. Below are some pics and a video of the leaking tap. I sent these pics to a plumber who quoted £250 (incl. parts) to replace the stopcock (I would do the backfilling). Maybe I'm being unreasonable, but does that still sound expensive? I assumed this...

Thanks for all the tips. Saw a plumber yesterday and agreed with him that I would dig out around the stopcock before he gives me a proper quote. Wish me luck!

Thanks for the warning! How can I tell if it's lead? I've got someone coming to have a look this afternoon. If his price is also high, I'll probably follow your suggestion of bailing/digging out the hole. How would you go about syphoning water out of a hole in the ground. Cup and bucket...

So I've just had a quote from a plumber to replace the stopcock. He's telling me £500 (per man) for labour and £150-250 for parts. He is saying it is a big job because he would have to dig around the hole to create space to work and then replace the stopcock with a commercial valve. I'm not...