Turning on outside water - Stopcock help

[Onimal]

Hey, new to this site.
My house has a stopcock that is 8 feet below ground, and I have this huge metal rod to turn it on and off.

I'm not sure who was the one that turned it off before me (my wife hired a sprinkler company to do it) but when I try to turn my stopcock to get water this is what I get:


9 o'lock - Start position.
No water. If I turn to the left (towards 6) it grinds a bit. I don't push it.

12 o'clock - quarter turn clockwise.
I get water, but the tube that I'm turning in fills up with water - not great.



Now if I remember correctly I should be able to turn to 3 o'clock and the water will stop, and if I turn down to 6 o'clock the water should go to the sprinklers.

I say this because when I first moved in, if I turned 1/4 to the left from Off, the sprinklers worked. If I turned 1/4 to the right, the tube filled up with water.

So what I'm thinking is they turned it too much one way.

Thoughts?

 

[Servotech]

What a confusing post!

Your obviously not a plumber!!

However, I think I've made sense of it (ain't it grand to be daft!)

I reckon your boundary stop tap is stuck/seized in the "on" position so when the rat box starts to fill with water you are actually starting to turn the whole
stop-tap head away from the stop tap body - STOP!!! don't proceed any more.

Just ring your local water board and tell them your boundary stop-tap is stuck (it's their stop tap)and it's free to you to have it repaired (bugger it up and you will get one hell of a hefty bill from them)!

 

[DeltaT2]

What a confusing post!

Your obviously not a plumber!!

However, I think I've made sense of it (ain't it grand to be daft!)

I reckon your boundary stop tap is stuck/seized in the "on" position so when the rat box starts to fill with water you are actually starting to turn the whole
stop-tap head away from the stop tap body - STOP!!! don't proceed any more.

Just ring your local water board and tell them your boundary stop-tap is stuck (it's their stop tap)and it's free to you to have it repaired (b*****r it up and you will get one hell of a hefty bill from them)!

Roger, awrite luvvie.............

 

[Onimal]

So if I keep turning Counter CLockwise - which is where it gets that stuck feeling, it could break. What happens if I keep turning right?

THis is what happened last year:

1/4 turn right - water on.
1/4 turn right again - water off
1/2 turn left (Back to the start) water off
1/4 left - water on, hole filled up with water.

What happens if I keep turning to the right? Could the thing come off? or will it just get the "Stuck" feeling again?

 

[Nige F]

With a stopcock buried 8 feet - you must be in BC ! - some posters put radom locations : . Anyway we`re all UK based , but yours sounds like it`s a Plug Cock - you`ll have to get your water supplier to have a look - because @ 2feet 6 deep mains here in the UK , we`re out of our depth with yours Good luck