leaking stopcock

[mastertimbo]

Hi,

The stopcock in my flat has started leaking - not a drip, but a steady flow. At first, this was coming out of the main tap in the kitchen. I closed the stopcock to take a look at it, and when I opened it again, it started leaking from the stopcock. The kitchen tap didn't stop. Can this be fixed simply, or is a plumber required? The flow diminishes the closer the stopcock is to closed, but doesn't stop until it's completely shut. Thanks for your help.

 

[ChrisR]

Not clear where the water's coming from, out of the stop cock itself??
Ok the kitchen taps' faulty , but, one at a time..!

 

[mastertimbo]

Yep, the water's leaking out of the stopcock itself - too fast to determine exactly from where. The kitchen tap is leaking too, but both only leak when the stopcock is open, and stop when it's closed. Do you think it might be pressure related?

 

[MANDATE]

The stop cock appears to do its job when it's closed so you can repair the kitchen tap. By opening the stop cock water gets to the outlet side of the valve and the leak will be from the valve spindle. The repair can be as simple as tightening the gland nut which will exert force on the packing gland and stop the leak. Or if the leak can't be stopped that way, I suggest you close stop cock and slacken gland nut off and add more packing using ptfe tape and tighten the gland nut again. but you may need to repeat this.

 

[mastertimbo]

Thanks for that. I guess my confusion was that the kitchen tap and the stopcock seemed to start leaking at the same time. I'll give that a shot and let you know how it goes. Cheers.

 

[mastertimbo]

The stopcock could be fixed quite easily by tightening the gland nut. The washer in the kitchen tap had completely split - rather than simply wearing down - which was why the drip was so quick. Thanks for your help,

Tim