Outside stop tap

[GingerNinja]

Hi,

I have a leak on the main stop tap in the house, so I called a plumber and he was unable to find the main stop tap outside my house. It would seem everyone has a grate for the water right outside their house except for mine. The only thing we did find was that my neighbour had 2 outside his. One of these was a stop tap, the other was full of water, when the plumber drained the water all he found was a hexagon steel blank plate about 1 inch in diameter, it looked like this had been a tap at one point but had been blanked off, another problem was that it was leaking so the chamber would fill back up with water.

Has anyone ever heard of this or know of any other place I might find my tap, I called the water board who are investigating this, obviously I need to fix this leak asap but I cant because I cant shut the water off to my house. Am I right in assuming the tap outside my house is the water boards responsibility, I have a horrible feeling this could get expensive.

 

[kevplumb]

if it is within the boundry its yours and visa versa

 

[GingerNinja]

That begs the question why would my neighbour have 2?.... they both look about the same age so based on this it doesnt look like he's had one then installed another.

 

[kevplumb]

quite possibly there was not an internal one at some time

didnt say it wasnt yours might well be but its no good if you cant use it

have a look on the pavment outside

failing that dont pay the water

sharp come round and fit one so they can cut you off

 

[GingerNinja]

HAHA never thought of that.....
Water Board: "Sir if you dont pay your bill were going to cut you off"
Me: "Certainly what time do you want to come around I'll have my plumber waiting"

 

[kevplumb]

seriously tho if you cant find it you could think of freezing the pipework

 

[GingerNinja]

I had heard of that but I didn't know if it was a viable option, the plumber didn't suggest it last night so I guess he did have the right kit for it.

Are there any problems in doing this to the main water pipe?
Is this somthing a good plumber should be able to offer?

 

[kevplumb]

Are there any problems in doing this to the main water pipe?
Is this somthing a good plumber should be able to offer?

yeah dont see why not

you can get a kit at most merchants

 

[GingerNinja]

Thanks for your response, I'm trying to find a plumber now that will do pipe freezing.

 

[Slugbabydotcom]

Dont know which area you live in but round here the water board dont charge for turning water off or back on again. They are obliged under water regs to prevent water going to waste so give em a ring and see what they say. I always get them involved now unless the boundary stoptap is a modern plastic one and easy to locate.

Here's why-
The last one I did I couldnt find the stoptap. I called and told them it was an emergency as the leak was in the house and damaging property. There was someone there within the hour. The guy had all the gear to locate and turn off the stoptap.
When he tried to shut off the valve it disintegrated and would not turn back on!
He said if that had happened to me I would have got the bill for it as it is water board equipment
A new stoptap was fitted by them at no cost the next morning and I never even got my hands dirty

 

[brumylad]

I recently used a boundary box stop tap. The gland failed and the "box" filled with water.

This means there is a risk of contamination. Customer told water board he was having to boil his water. Thet came and fixed the stop tap next day.