incoming mains problem - broken stop cock

[ZETEC153]

hi

i wanted to change the taps in the kitchen and as they did not have serviceman valves on the feeds i needed to turn the water off at the internal stop cock.

however, when i tried to turn it, it had obviously been opened fully and not moved again for several years as i could barely turn it. o top it off it started leaking out of the 'tap' part of the valve.

no problem i thought, i will just turn it off at the external stop cock in the street, as i live in a terrace and each house has its own feed. on opening the lid i found that someone has already had a go and has broken off the handle on the valve!!

i managed to turn the water off on the internal valve but there is a really tiny dribble from the 'tap' part still. i have wrappeda cloth round it and put a jug underneath it. going to ring severn trent tomorrow and get an engineer out free of chsrge as its there stop cock outside and there responsibility.

Is there any way i can change the internal stop cock without turning off the supply?? stupid question i know but there might be a way!!!

many thanks

george

 

[bengasman]

freeze it is one option.
if it is under the floor, you could save the money for freezing and do it live.
personally, i don't do either

 

[gavinda]

or get the water board to replace your external one for free then replace the internal one.

 

[bengasman]

be prepared to wait for several months if they are as quick as thames water

 

[kirkgas]

if the leak is where the handle shaft enters the valve because you have disturbed the seal by turning off, then you simply need to tighten the nut where the shaft enters the valve, or you may need to loosen the nut and repack with ptfe tape, at the external valve are you sure it is broken? they are normally a brass valve about 40-50mm x 12mm which you turn off with a water key

 

[ZETEC153]

if the leak is where the handle shaft enters the valve because you have disturbed the seal by turning off, then you simply need to tighten the nut where the shaft enters the valve, or you may need to loosen the nut and repack with ptfe tape, at the external valve are you sure it is broken? they are normally a brass valve about 40-50mm x 12mm which you turn off with a water key

yeah the handle is deffo broke!! all i can see is the shaft that the handle used to be attached to!!!

if they come out to replace the valve outside, will they need to dig up the street?? the valve is at the bottom of a 4 or 6" tube!!

cheers

george

 

[gavinda]

yeah, but they'[ll sort it.

 

[TicklyT]

One of the old 'dodges' to disguise leaking gland packing on a stopcock was to turn it 'on' as far as possible, so the innards are clamped up against the bottom of the gland, stopping the leak.

The gland nut may have been overtightened in an attempt to seal the gland, and the old packing has probably hardened over the years. That will make the stopcock difficult to turn.

As Kirkgas has said, adding some PTFE tape to the gland packing may well revive the gland.

The top of an external stopcock is often just a 5/8" or 3/4" square shaft, requiring a key to turn it. I have used a piece of square steel tube that started life as a table leg as a key.

 

[ZETEC153]

cheers eberyone.

the stop cock in the kitchen has stopped leaking for now - think it may of resealed itself or something!!

spoke to ST and they are coming out on wednesday to do an isolation on it so i can change the valve inside, then they can turn it back on for me and its there problem then!!!

we are only decorating and demolishing stuff at present and we got a central heating system going in shortly so its no big deal really!!

cheers

george