In article ,
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?

Made myself a wooden 'tool' to turn my outside stopcock - just 2 x 1" with
a 'v' cut in the end and a handle screwed on. When I tried to turn off
the water I was too gentle and despite thinking I'd closed the stopcock,
water still flowed very fast. I had to snug it down a bit more to turn it
off. No problems.

I replaced my under sink stopcock with a plastic compression model from
bes.co.uk. It was 25 mm MDPE (the blue tubing) to 222 mm copper, and very
easy to fit.

Neil