Pete wrote:
Hello

The internal stopcock for isolating the water supply to our house is
leaking slightly and I'd like to open it up and replace the washer or
maybe even replace the tap itself. Of course to do that I need to
turn off the supply at the external stopcock.

After rooting around a bit I found what I presume is the external
stopcock under a small metal cover in the garden. The actual tap is
about 1-2 meters below the cover. I was going to get myself a long
tool for turning this tap off, but someone advised me to be very
careful since they can be completely seized up. Our house is 20 years
old and (afaik) the external stopcock has never been used in that
time.

I'm now worried that if I apply too much force to the tap then it
will shear or crack leaving me with an expensive bill. Does anyone
have any idea of how likely this is and any advice on the best course
of action?

Thanks
Pete

I was in a similar situation as youself. Called water company and they came
and cleaned out the muck on top of their stopcock and checked it worked.
They said I could buy special long key to operate it from plumbers merchant
but if I didn't want to do that they would turn off the water for me on
request and turn it back on again when I'd replaced my internal stopcock. I
went for the second option, no problem at all.