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JohnDavies
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We have bought a semi which is on a shared supply, piped in lead.
There is an internal stopcock in which the washer has gone.
There is a branch stopcock which we have unearthed in the rear garden under our boundary fence which seems to feed both houses. It was well buried and, not surprisingly, is totally siezed.
According to our Water Board there should be a further stopcock - theirs - under the pavement. The normal thing around here apparently was to have a branch to four houses, running up between the middle two houses and then splitting again, with a Board stoptap under the pavement and a further shared branch stoptap between each two houses. Each house then had its own internal stoptap also.
The Board stoptap has however been tarmaced over. They have been promising to do something about this for six months but no light at the end of the tunnel as yet.
Several questions
Is the correct size and type of stopcock to replace the one in the garden still available? The 1" of copper pipe it is joined to 'heavy half inch' which is what the house was plumbed in, with a wiped joint either side. I do not really want to form new wiped joints, I would rather just fit a new tap to what is there.
Failing this, I could repack the one inside the house and then use it in the garden - once the Board have enabled me to cut off the supply. But is hemp still available to repack the tap? I have asked at my local plumbers merchants but the lad did not know what I was talking about.
Secondly - is there any way I can force the water Board to fit a new tap at the end of thier supply under the pavement? Or to cut off the supply in the road - there are two main WB shutoffs at either end of the street - whilst I replace the tap in the garden?
There is an easy answer - just fit a second stop tap behind my existing one - i.e. further into the house (the washer is only just starting to go) and forget the whole ruddy thing. However, if I do this there is still the risk of cutting off the supply if I manage to breach the supply pipe during building work - very likely as we don't know exactly where the thing goes.
Replacing in plastic isn't really an option, both financially and practically - legally we would have to cut off our own old feed at our neighbours branch, so the Board informs us, and as far as any of us can tell this is buried a foot down under our concrete dining room floor. They want £800 ish for a new supply anyway, so they can forget that.
All opinions welcome!
John D
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siezed stopcock (Read 6091 times)
