Where's my water stop-cock?

[teddy...@hotmail.com]

I've just moved into my new house and I can't find where the water services come into the house - specifically, where the stop-cock is. The previous owner was a buy-to-letter and isn't taking my calls. How on earth do I find it, without employing a plumber (not that I've anything against plumbers, just against spending money unnecessarily!)?

It's not under the kitchen sink.

Thanks.

[John Rumm]

Well its possible there is no internal stopcock. However there usually
is. It may be in an adjacent cabinet in the kitchen - sometimes happens
when layouts change.

There may be an external stopcock under flap in the ground. If there is
a water meter, there may be one adjacent to that.

Can you follow the cold pipe back from the kitchen tap to the place it
enters the house?


--
Cheers,

John.

/=================================================================\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\=================================================================/

[polygonum]

On 27/11/2012 10:14, teddy...@hotmail.com wrote:

Probably somewhere on the ground floor (though if you have a cellar, it
could come in there).

You might be able to follow your ears when a tap is running or cistern
filling?

--
Rod

[Tim+]

teddy...@hotmail.com wrote:
> I've just moved into my new house and I can't find where the water
> services come into the house - specifically, where the stop-cock is.
> The previous owner was a buy-to-letter and isn't taking my calls.
> How on earth do I find it, without employing a plumber (not that I've
> anything against plumbers, just against spending money
> unnecessarily!)?

Just keep looking! ;-)

In many houses it's boxed in with the soil stack to look in your loos to see
if there's an access panel cut in the the boxed in stack in the corner of
the room (or wherever your stack is). Failing that check airing and all
other cupboards. It's remotely possible that it's under the floor with an
access panel covered by carpet. Do you have a "well" for a doormat or any
other possible underfloor access points?

Tim

>
> It's not under the kitchen sink.

Has the kitchen been moved? If it could have been, check the room where it
may have been moved from.

Tim

[newshound]

On 27/11/2012 10:14, teddy...@hotmail.com wrote:

Depending on the age of the house and whether it is on an estate you may
be able to deduce the incoming route. For late Victorian terraces with
front gardens, the supply normally runs along the road with tees off at
one side of the garden path, and an external stop tap hatch on the
property boundary, for example.

[teddy...@hotmail.com]

Thanks. I'll keep looking; the kitchen hasn't been moved, and there's no basement so that's two things I can discount. Nor is there a water meter.

[stuart noble]

Ring your water company. You need (and I'm pretty sure you are entitled
to) a stopcock in the road. How else could you deal with the failure of
your own internal one? Thames Water quote 60 days but usually drop round
a lot sooner to assess the situation. Most recently they came to my
son's house the following day and reinstated the original. I thought it
would be key operated but it turned out to be a conventional tap handle,
so I could easily have whacked that trying to dig a foot of soil out.
Turns very sweetly now and has a nice vintage flap too.

[Mentalguy2k8]

<teddy...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:ea897d0c-4cf3-402f...@googlegroups.com...

> Thanks. I'll keep looking; the kitchen hasn't been moved, and there's no
> basement so that's two things I can discount. Nor is there a >water
> meter.

Downstairs toilet? That's where mine is.

[teddy...@hotmail.com]

Thanks - I'll ring Severn Trent directly.

[John Rumm]

also do you know where the water main in the street runs - it may give a
clue at least as to which wall to expect the pipe to come in under.

[Lobster]

On 27/11/2012 10:14, teddy...@hotmail.com wrote:

> I've just moved into my new house and I can't find where the water services come into the house - specifically, where the stop-cock is. The previous owner was a buy-to-letter and isn't taking my calls. How on earth do I find it, without employing a plumber (not that I've anything against plumbers, just against spending money unnecessarily!)?

Are there nearby houses of the same type and age? You could take the
opportunity to say hi to your new neighbours and ask where theirs are

David

[teddy...@hotmail.com]

On Tuesday, November 27, 2012 12:18:23 PM UTC, Lobster wrote:

> Are there nearby houses of the same type and age? You could take the
>
> opportunity to say hi to your new neighbours and ask where theirs are
>
>
>
> David

Good point! I'll do that tonight.

[Brian Gaff]

Cupboard under the stairs, or some are still either in the front garden or
even in the road.
Brian

--
Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email: bri...@blueyonder.co.uk
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________


<teddy...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:61fb04d6-4ce9-42f9...@googlegroups.com...

[Brian Gaff]

How old is the property?

Brian

--
Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email: bri...@blueyonder.co.uk
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"polygonum" <rmoud...@vrod.co.uk> wrote in message
news:ahjjgj...@mid.individual.net...

[Brian Gaff]

Ask a neighbour?

Brian

--
Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email: bri...@blueyonder.co.uk
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"stuart noble" <stuart...@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:Tc1ts.333096$Xv....@fx07.am4...

[Dave Plowman (News)]

In article <61fb04d6-4ce9-42f9...@googlegroups.com>,

Is the ground floor solid? If so, that restricts where it could be. If a
suspended floor, is there an easy way to get under it?

--
*It sounds like English, but I can't understand a word you're saying.

Dave Plowman da...@davenoise.co.uk London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

[charles]

In article <61fb04d6-4ce9-42f9...@googlegroups.com>,
<teddy...@hotmail.com> wrote:

when we moved into this house, the water stopcock was under the kitchen
floor. You had to move the cooker out of the way and then unsrew a panel in
the floor. Needless to say, its not there now (especially as our cooker is
now in a built-in unit).

--
From KT24

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.18

[The Medway Handyman]

On 27/11/2012 10:14, teddy...@hotmail.com wrote:

Common places;

Cellar if there is one, cupboard under stairs, under floor board near
front door, boxed in with access flap/hole (with luck) - or turn it off
outside.

I would estimate that 40% of my customers have no idea either.

--
Dave - The Medway Handyman www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

[harry]

There should be a stopcock on the boundary of the property/pavement
outside..
Everything downstream of that is yours.
This has been so for around a hundred years.
(If you have a neighbour, it may be close to theirs.)
It's practice for there be an additional one in the house or under the
floor
The outside one may have been covered with soil, paviours or similar.
What you need is a metal detector & then start digging on the place
where it crosses the boundary.

Important you do this, you need a stopcock if there is a pipe leak.
Could wreck the place.

You need to put one in if you can't find it.

[stuart noble]

On 27/11/2012 16:46, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
> In article <61fb04d6-4ce9-42f9...@googlegroups.com>,
> <teddy...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> I've just moved into my new house and I can't find where the water
>> services come into the house - specifically, where the stop-cock is.
>> The previous owner was a buy-to-letter and isn't taking my calls. How
>> on earth do I find it, without employing a plumber (not that I've
>> anything against plumbers, just against spending money unnecessarily!)?
>
>> It's not under the kitchen sink.
>
> Is the ground floor solid? If so, that restricts where it could be. If a
> suspended floor, is there an easy way to get under it?
>

You can't beat having your own in the street, especially one of the new
plastic variety. About half the internal stopcocks I've encountered over
the years don't work for one reason or another

[charles]

In article
<88c7f5c7-8330-43d6...@ib4g2000vbb.googlegroups.com>, harry

<harry...@btinternet.com> wrote:
> On Nov 27, 10:14 am, teddysn...@hotmail.com wrote:
> > I've just moved into my new house and I can't find where the water
> > services come into the house - specifically, where the stop-cock is.
> > The previous owner was a buy-to-letter and isn't taking my calls. How
> > on earth do I find it, without employing a plumber (not that I've
> > anything against plumbers, just against spending money unnecessarily!)?
> >
> > It's not under the kitchen sink.
> >
> > Thanks.

> There should be a stopcock on the boundary of the property/pavement
> outside.. Everything downstream of that is yours. This has been so for
> around a hundred years.

Mine was about 2ft into the road. When we had a meter fitted a new one was
fitted by the water company beside the meter. The meter is just inside our
bounbary.

> (If you have a neighbour, it may be close to
> theirs.) It's practice for there be an additional one in the house or
> under the floor The outside one may have been covered with soil, paviours
> or similar. What you need is a metal detector & then start digging on the
> place where it crosses the boundary.

Plastic water pipes don't give a reading. they have plastic taps too.

Ask your water co where the external one is. They should know.

[stuart noble]

On 27/11/2012 17:38, harry wrote:
> On Nov 27, 10:14 am, teddysn...@hotmail.com wrote:
>> I've just moved into my new house and I can't find where the water
>> services come into the house - specifically, where the stop-cock
>> is. The previous owner was a buy-to-letter and isn't taking my
>> calls. How on earth do I find it, without employing a plumber (not
>> that I've anything against plumbers, just against spending money
>> unnecessarily!)?
>>
>> It's not under the kitchen sink.
>>
>> Thanks.
>
> There should be a stopcock on the boundary of the property/pavement
> outside.. Everything downstream of that is yours. This has been so
> for around a hundred years. (If you have a neighbour, it may be close
> to theirs.) It's practice for there be an additional one in the house
> or under the floor The outside one may have been covered with soil,
> paviours or similar. What you need is a metal detector & then start
> digging on the place where it crosses the boundary.
>

Why would you do any of that without first calling the water co? It's
what they do all day, they're better at it than you, and they don't
charge. I must have missed something.

[ARW]

harry wrote:
> On Nov 27, 10:14 am, teddysn...@hotmail.com wrote:
> > I've just moved into my new house and I can't find where the water
> > services come into the house - specifically, where the stop-cock
> > is. The previous owner was a buy-to-letter and isn't taking my
> > calls. How on earth do I find it, without employing a plumber (not
> > that I've anything against plumbers, just against spending money
> > unnecessarily!)?
> >
> > It's not under the kitchen sink.
> >
> > Thanks.
>
> There should be a stopcock on the boundary of the property/pavement
> outside..



> Everything downstream of that is yours.
> This has been so for around a hundred years.

What a load of bollocks harry:-) Many 1950's houses share one stopcock on
the street that supplies 4 houses. The usual run for semi detatched houses
is for the pipe to run between the pair of houses and split somewhere
between them.
--
Adam

[ARW]

That's a good start.

I have often found the stop cock under floorboards, and the best one ever
was in the landing wall behind a picture!

But the favourite bet is that it it just boxed in somewhere.


--
Adam

[Stephen H]

Have you tried looking between your legs? :-)

[dochol...@gmail.com]

On Tuesday, November 27, 2012 5:42:14 PM UTC, stuart noble wrote:
<snip>

>
> You can't beat having your own in the street, especially one of the new
> plastic variety. About half the internal stopcocks I've encountered over
> the years don't work for one reason or another

Oh yes - the first time I needed to use the one in my present house I found it turned the water nearly, but not quite off. I can live with that for replacing a tap washer, I thought...
What I wasn't prepared for was the fact that when I tried to turn it on again the flow didn't increase - turned out that the little brass jumper inside was so worn that after I disturbed it it migrated around to the outlet of the stopcock and stayed there...

[SteveW]

On 27/11/2012 11:07, teddy...@hotmail.com wrote:
> Thanks. I'll keep looking; the kitchen hasn't been moved, and there's no basement so that's two things I can discount. Nor is there a water meter.

Ours is not immediately obvious - the pipe comes about six feet into the
house, pops up to the stop-cock in the gas meter cupboard under the
stairs and then turns 180° to drop back under the floor and continue
onwards.

My parents' is plastered into the wall in the kitchen, with just the
gland and stem sticking out, behind the fridge under a worktop.

It's worth checking in/behind every cupboard and appliance.

SteveW

[SteveW]

They only found ours *(completely paved over, under the public footpath)
when it sprung a leak and water started coming up through the pavement.

I was rather glad as it gave me the chance to replace our own faulty,
internal stop-tap.

SteveW

[PeterC]

That's true! I've refurbished mine, those in the adjacent houses (before
starting work!) and replaced one in a girl-friends flat (had to have
everything ready as this meant cutting off the whole block). Makes things a
lot easier on subsequent jobs.
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway

[The Other Mike]

On Tue, 27 Nov 2012 18:13:42 +0000, stuart noble <stuart...@ntlworld.com>
wrote:

>Why would you do any of that without first calling the water co? It's
>what they do all day, they're better at it than you, and they don't
>charge. I must have missed something.

Are you sure that they will respond to a random 'I can't find my stop cock
telephone call' and send a man or two out in van and not charge you?

In the days before privatisation I could see that happening but these days?


--

[harry]

However the stopcock is on the boundary. Water company does not come
on to your premises.
They may or may not know where it is. Many old plans get chucked out.

[Halmyre]

On Nov 27, 10:14 am, teddysn...@hotmail.com wrote:
> I've just moved into my new house and I can't find where the water services come into the house - specifically, where the stop-cock is.  The previous owner was a buy-to-letter and isn't taking my calls.  How on earth do I find it, without employing a plumber (not that I've anything against plumbers, just against spending money unnecessarily!)?
>
> It's not under the kitchen sink.
>

It might not be a big obvious tap - ours is one of those in-line
things that you turn with a screwdriver. You've just reminded me that
I don't know where the external stop-cock is - I should go and
investigate...

--
Halmyre

[stuart noble]

I know of three instances in the last couple of years where Thames Water
have done just that. You are entitled to a working valve outside the
house, although this might cover more than one property. It's then up to
you to sort the internal stopcock out.

[polygonum]

Bollocks. Out stop cock is about two metres from the house in the
direction of the road - with another twelve metres (I estimate) to the
actual boundary. Next level up controls a number of houses (5, 10,
possibly a few more?) and is under a road. All built in 1970s on former
farmland.

--
Rod

[Tim W]

On 27/11/2012 18:44, ARW wrote:
> Lobster wrote:
>> On 27/11/2012 10:14, teddy...@hotmail.com wrote:
>>> I've just moved into my new house and I can't find where the water
>>> services come into the house - specifically, where the stop-cock

>>> is. [...]

>
> But the favourite bet is that it it just boxed in somewhere.
>
>

Definitely. On the floor underneath the kitchen base units is a good
place to lose it, in the 6"h of void behind the plinth.

Tim W

[Bill Wright]

When I moved in here the stop cock just inside the front door couldn't
be turned. The water board came and eventually discovered that the one
in the street was under a little metal lid that itself was three feet
underground. The verge had been built up that much over the years.

My dad's house was discovered (after 50 years of occupation) to have two
stop cocks and two water supplies, one from one street and the other
from the adjoining street.

Bill

[SteveW]

He should have called them out and had the water cut off, told them to
stop billing them for the water (and the associated sewerage) and then
carried on using the other supply! Or maybe a meter on one supply and
just kept using the other!

SteveW

[BruceB]

In article <9Kjts.523045$Bz2....@fx11.am4>, stuart...@ntlworld.com
says...

>
> >
> I know of three instances in the last couple of years where Thames Water
> have done just that. You are entitled to a working valve outside the
> house, although this might cover more than one property. It's then up to
> you to sort the internal stopcock out.

I am not convinced there is any 'entitlement' to a stop cock. I asked
Bristol Water to look for mine (thinking of having a water meter) and
the bloke spent half a day here with electronic detectors and signal
injector but could not work out where it was. Even called another
Bristol Water man in a van who got his divining rods out, but no
success. They said out here in the country the pipes were sometimes
just tapped straight off the main.

[stuart noble]

You may be right that it's not an absolute entitlement, but certainly in
heavily populated areas it seems to be the norm. I noticed a whole line
of new plastic valves outside a large Victorian house divided into
flats. More practical for the occupants and the water co I expect.

[stuart noble]

Not having a supply doesn't stop them billing you for water! If you have
reasonable access to someone else's water, that's enough apparently

[Frank Erskine]

On Thu, 29 Nov 2012 09:31:28 -0000, BruceB <n...@nul.com> wrote:


>I am not convinced there is any 'entitlement' to a stop cock.

The stop cock is the interface between the water company's
communication pipe and your service pipe.

The actual stop cock is the property of the water company, on the same
lines as BT's master socket.

--
Frank Erskine

[stuart noble]

But if the first part of your service pipe lies under the public
highway, you cannot access it and therefore, to all intents and
purposes, it isn't yours. IME common sense usually prevails, and the
nearest convenient point inside your property counts as the start.

[Frank Erskine]

I should imagine that most water companies (at least in the UK!) have
similar policies to my local one, Northumbria Water :

http://www.nwl.co.uk/_assets/documents/NW_Dealing_with_leaks_2010.pdf


--
Frank Erskine

[stuart noble]

+1

[Tim+]

teddy...@hotmail.com wrote:
> I've just moved into my new house and I can't find where the water
> services come into the house - specifically, where the stop-cock is.

> The previous owner was a buy-to-letter and isn't taking my calls.
> How on earth do I find it, without employing a plumber (not that I've
> anything against plumbers, just against spending money
> unnecessarily!)?
>
> It's not under the kitchen sink.
>
> Thanks.

Come on then, you've checked the neighbours' houses now presumably. So
where is it?? Don't keep us in suspense! ;-)

Tim

[d...@gglz.com]

My previous very rural property had some dodgy pipework inside the house just before the stopcock and no sign of an external stopcock.

Phoned Anglian Water and within a couple of weeks or so they tried the pipe scanner, then the more sophisticated pipe scanner where a transmitter is clipped onto exposed metal pipework and the ground then scanned with the receiver. All to no avail.

They then said they would come back, but didn't know when, with the sonar version. This injects pressure pulses into the water in the pipe (in my case from a garden tap), and the scanner picks up the audio signature.

Then one day, maybe 3 months later, I came home from work to spot a new 200mm circular inspection cover by the edge of the lawn - and low and behold - beautifully installed all-plastic tunnel under the rubberised inspection cover down to a plastic tap. They had replaced the turf so neatly it wasn't immediately obvious that it was new work.

All at no charge to me.

[stuart noble]

Love it!
As TMH says, most people have no idea where their stopcock is, or what
they would do in an emergency. I'm ashamed to say that I didn't know
either in my first house but, once the "what if" anxiety germinates in
your head, you can't rest till it's sorted.

[Dave Liquorice]

On Tue, 27 Nov 2012 22:37:26 +0000, The Other Mike wrote:

>> Why would you do any of that without first calling the water co? It's
>> what they do all day, they're better at it than you, and they don't
>> charge. I must have missed something.
>
> Are you sure that they will respond to a random 'I can't find my stop
> cock telephone call' and send a man or two out in van and not charge
> you?

Because without out a working water company stop cock they may well
become liable for damage from a leak that cannot be controlled because of
their negligence.

--
Cheers
Dave.

[d...@gglz.com]

That's also my understanding. Likewise with my current place I called them to say my inside stopcock was dripping and required replacement, and the outside one was frozen and non-operational. Again Anglian Water sorted the outside stopcock at no charge.

[The Other Mike]

Yes, that I appreciate, and that is where their responsibility ends, but the OP
was originally asking about finding a stop cock inside a property which will
almost certainly be nothing to do with the water company.

I would have viewed it similarly to ringing up BT to get them to locate a
privately installed extension socket, yes we'll do it, but it will cost £xxx.


--

[Frank Erskine]

Northumbrian Water will locate a stop tap free of charge (during
normal working hours).

http://www.nwl.co.uk/your-home/your-services/getting-water-to-your-home.aspx

btw - I have no connection with the company, except as a customer!

--
Frank Erskine

[m...@privacy.net]

On 30 Nov,

Frank Erskine <frank....@btinternet.com> wrote:

> Northumbrian Water will locate a stop tap free of charge (during
> normal working hours).
>
> http://www.nwl.co.uk/your-home/your-services/getting-water-to-your-home.aspx
>
> btw - I have no connection with the company, except as a customer!
>

They located ours all right. Turned us off to fit next door's water meter
without a bye you leave. Next door's water remained on (for a short while).


Why would the builders fit two stop taps side by side, but link them the the
houses the wrong way round? Answers via a helicopter with a picture of an oak
tree on the side!


--
B Thumbs
Change lycos to yahoo to reply