Struggling to turn water off

[IanW]

Hi,

We need to replace taps on the sink in the bathroom.

So we thought we would turn the water off....

However we cannot!

I can get the hot water tap off.

But when I turn the mains stopcock it turns a fair way, but the cold tap in the kitchen (and indeed the outside tap) will not stop, they certainly have reduced pressure, but will not stop totally.

We have even tried turning the two taps in the loft and the two by the hot water cylinder, but still the taps both upstairs and downstairs run.

I guess we left it for a good 30-40 minutes, so assume we would have drained any tank.

The other thing is the noise increases dramatically in the pipe leading up from the main stopcock, which feeds the kitchen sink and then vanishes upstairs.

Any suggestions.

A bit loath to call a plumber out as we simply cannot afford it, but at the same time the hot tap on the sink has stopped running completely, so needs to be replaced.

Thanks in advance.

 

[buff]

Hi,

We need to replace taps on the sink in the bathroom.

So we thought we would turn the water off....

However we cannot!

I can get the hot water tap off.

But when I turn the mains stopcock it turns a fair way, but the cold tap in the kitchen (and indeed the outside tap) will not stop, they certainly have reduced pressure, but will not stop totally.

We have even tried turning the two taps in the loft and the two by the hot water cylinder, but still the taps both upstairs and downstairs run.

I guess we left it for a good 30-40 minutes, so assume we would have drained any tank.

The other thing is the noise increases dramatically in the pipe leading up from the main stopcock, which feeds the kitchen sink and then vanishes upstairs.

Any suggestions.

A bit loath to call a plumber out as we simply cannot afford it, but at the same time the hot tap on the sink has stopped running completely, so needs to be replaced.

Thanks in advance.

try turning the external stop valve off,thats the one in the street

 

[buff]

try turning off the external stop valve,the one in the street
bob

 

[Paulplumb]

It will end in tears.

 

[traineedrip]

It will end in tears.

floods of them

 

[IanW]

It will end in tears.

floods of them

Any suggestions then?

 

[traineedrip]

Any suggestions then?

A plumber? Youve started draining down a system without understanding it, adjusted various valves without understanding them, even if you do manage to drain down, have you got the right tools to remove and install taps? You will probably find its airlocked after youve done it. Fingers crossed it will all go right for you . Have you tried turning off from the street?

 

[Dannypipe]

£50 job for a plumber. If not affordable, Turn it off in the street, check at the kitchen cold tap if water is switched off, then drain your hot taps until the flow stops. Change your taps, and turn the water back on.

Potential pitfuls, air lock (likely), possibly a problem with the ball float valve (unlikely), leak on your tap connection (very likely!)

If you do call a plumber, get him to change your stopcock while he's there - an extra £50 in my money. Good luck.

 

[secret squirrel]

I charge a bit more than £50 to change a set of basin taps and a bit more to change a stopcock. Neither job is particulary painful but can drag on a bit if access is a problem etc.

Can't undo the nuts, putting on iso valves blah blah etc.

 

[IanW]

I think the issue is finding plumbers that do not rip us off in South Essex. Been ripped off one too many times by other trades (not plumbers, I would hasten to add - hence the desire and need to do it myself)

Will start trawling the internet / yellow pages etc.

Thanks.

 

[Bernie2]

Hmm!

Sounds like a problem with your internal main stopcock. Usually positioned under the sink or low down somewhere in the house. Its supposed to be placed as close as practicable to the point where the incoming main enters the property. Its so you can in theory drain all the water in the water main down in case of frost. Saying that of course its supposed to have a drain off cock directly above the stopcock to drain down with.

In practise you often can't get all the mains water out. So then its a case of blowing it out or undoing couplers at the low points and catching it in a bowl.

Anyway, if its passing your internal stopcock then the next option other than freezing, is to turn the water off at the suppliers stopcock usually at the properties boundary. Some of these supplier stop cocks can have varying types of spindle top, some are ordinary bar taps, some are square shanked at the top, of varying different sizes of square. Some are quarter turn cocks and some raising spindle taps.

Anyway again, turn it off and check the sink unit cold tap. The reason you usually use this tap, is that for many many years it was the standard position for potable water or if you prefer drinking water.
The thinking was, everybody using a kitchen would probably require fresh water and so if we made the tap in the same position everywhere you went, people would automatically know where to find clean drinking water.

But the jumpers and washer on stop taps do wear and need replacing from time to time. Straight forward job, have a go. But don't give it a gorilla wrench take it easy, try to hold the tap body with a wrench, set footprints or similar opposite to the way you are trying to undo the tap top, it stops the tap from straining the pipework. If you undo it and they can be very tight then its usually obvious what needs replacing inside.
I would though suggest getting hold of a 1/2" jumper and washer before you start though. Some of the jumper washer retaining nuts fall off or corrode. A jumper and washer should cost about 50p.

Another tip is to run your finger inside and check the tap seating is smooth. If not you can either recut it with a reseating tool or buy a new stop tap if its easy to access. The stop tap is probably cheaper than the tool.

 

[stevetheplumber]

I think the issue is finding plumbers that do not rip us off in South Essex. Been ripped off one too many times by other trades (not plumbers, I would hasten to add - hence the desire and need to do it myself)

Will start trawling the internet / yellow pages etc.

Thanks.

id try your local paper first who do you think pays for those big ads in good old yellow pages

 

[WaterTight]

An airlock isn't that likely really. I'd say 49 times out of 50 it doesn't happen. I've had more ballvalves go on me on a drain down then airlocks. Maybe I'm just lucky! And I mean that literally since ball-valves are a good job, airlocks are a pain.