New forms of main stopcock / renewal

[ey143]

If I am renovating my mains water supply as part of a redevelopment project on the house, what new ways of plumbing should I be considering including the use of a simple mains stopcock at the touch of a button for ease of handling in an emergency?

 

[avonmouth]

Use a full bore lever stop tap.

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Plumbing/d20/Valves/sd2696/Lever+Ball+Valve/p14624

 

[ree]

Full bore valve is not a stop-tap its an isolator. It doesn't have a jumper to prevent back siphoning.

Your house is required by the Regs to have an internal stop-tap.

 

[avonmouth]

Try again Ree.
These are approved by the WRAS and can be used as a stop tap.

 

[TCCHeating]

http://www.leaksafesolutions.com/wireless-water-switch/

These are the dogs balls. I installed one the other day and was well impressed. If you were clever like my customer. you could even link it to a smart wireless control system. So that you can set the stop cock to automatically close when there is no one in the house, and open again as soon as you get home.

 

[sooey]

I could do with one of them on my eyeballs, to stop them watering after seeing the price.

 

[TCCHeating]

I could do with one of them on my eyeballs, to stop them watering after seeing the price.

Yeh forgot to mention he is very very rich! He has all of the lighting, heating, curtains etc linked up to this wireless control system. And the house has movement sensors so it knows when it is inhabited! All very clever stuff

 

[mfarrow]

Full bore valve is not a stop-tap its an isolator. It doesn't have a jumper to prevent back siphoning.

Your house is required by the Regs to have an internal stop-tap.

The British Standard used to say this:
View media item 50196
Now it says this (note the "NOTE").
View media item 73364

 

[ey143]

TccHeating,

Yes, that is something I was thinking of doing. Automating your home is no longer expensive unless you go for the old Lutron hard wired equipment which can cost upwards of £10-20k.

Google zwave or lightwaverf (and in the USA, smartthings) and you can start automating lights and sockets from a few pounds, wirelessly. It's amazing the sort of setup you can do.

I want to install wireless moisture detectors to tell my [whatever device exists out there] to switch off the mains water supply if it detects a leak.

This only works best however if your house doesn't have a tank in the loft but is on mains pressure.

 

[avonmouth]

Full bore valve is not a stop-tap its an isolator. It doesn't have a jumper to prevent back siphoning.

Your house is required by the Regs to have an internal stop-tap.

The British Standard used to say this:
View media item 50196
Now it says this (note the "NOTE").
View media item 73364

Easier still to understand is this.(cut&pasted)

Under the old Byelaws, the “stopvalve” to a property was normally to BS1010 or BS5433. These are of the screw down type (with rising headworks), which incorporate a rubber washer. The new Regulations no longer specify a type of valve and spherical “Ball” valves may be used. R2.8 states that any valve may be used providing it confirms to an appropriate British Standard (e.g. BSI Kitemarked), or appropriate European standard, or the Regulator’s specification (e.g. WRAS / KIWA UK) and it is suitable for the purpose.

G2.8 makes it clear that spherical valves may be used for above and below ground applications. Indeed the valves supplied by the water company in the meter box are normally spherical.

G2.7 states stopvalves, servicing valves and drain taps “… do not incorporate a loose washer plate”. The reasons are not explained but are likely to be over concerns of unwanted non-return characteristics - where expansion from a water heater is acceptable for example. Loose washer plates have also been known to vibrate causing unwanted noise.

 

[ey143]

We have that style of lever tap in my parents house. It's in an awquard location but easier to close off the supply if needed. Can they still leak?

 

[ree]

avonmouth & mfarrow,

I hold my hands up to your knowledge of more recent Regs, i was wrong. I apologise.

If the reasoning behind the Regs change is thermal expansion, and water hammer, then its a poor pay-off compared to the risk of back siphoning in non-metered installations.

Thermal expansion, of course, can be taken care of by Expansion tanks (TET's) and degraded jumper washers by a washer replacement.

OP, stay away from any complex controls unless you wish to walk point in the one damn thing after another going expensively wrong jungle. Keep it simple, it works.
And, yes, that valve can leak.