Hi All

I've done a lot of small plumbing jobs this week, just changing taps, sinks
etc.

In each case I've had to turn the water off at the mains & drain the cold
water tank to get the hot & cold off.

None of the tap feeds had service valves. If they had it would have saved
time, but think about the waste of water. I reckon I've just poured away
600 litres of perfectly good water - in an area subject to hosepipe bans.

One customer saw the sense & got me to fit service valves, the rest said no.

Is it required under building regs to fit them on new builds?

I wonder why it isn't a requirement to fit them to all new installs & all
alterations?

How much water do we waste every year doing stuff like this?


--
Dave
The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

The Medway Handyman wrote:

In each case I've had to turn the water off at the mains & drain the cold
water tank to get the hot & cold off.

I once bought a small kit that contained a couple of rubber cone shaped
"bungs", that has proved ideal for this type of job. You simply reach
into the water tank and stuff one into the exit pipe. No need to drain
down, or tie up the ballcock.


--
Cheers,

John.

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

"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message
...
Hi All

I've done a lot of small plumbing jobs this week, just changing taps,
sinks etc.

In each case I've had to turn the water off at the mains & drain the cold
water tank to get the hot & cold off.

None of the tap feeds had service valves. If they had it would have saved
time, but think about the waste of water. I reckon I've just poured away
600 litres of perfectly good water - in an area subject to hosepipe bans.

One customer saw the sense & got me to fit service valves, the rest said
no.

Is it required under building regs to fit them on new builds?

It is now a requirement to fit isolating valves where pipes leave the
cistern.

Personally, I don't like conventional service valves near taps. I often find
the bore restriction affects the flow. Wherever practical, I use full bore
Tee handle valves instead. They are also a lot easier to use when reaching
under a bath.

Colin Bignell

"John Rumm" wrote in message
...
The Medway Handyman wrote:

In each case I've had to turn the water off at the mains & drain
the cold
water tank to get the hot & cold off.

I once bought a small kit that contained a couple of rubber cone
shaped
"bungs", that has proved ideal for this type of job. You simply
reach
into the water tank and stuff one into the exit pipe. No need to
drain
down, or tie up the ballcock.


--
Cheers,

John.

In years past, I've heard of a carrot being used in the same way !

AWEM

On Fri, 17 Nov 2006 00:31:50 GMT, "The Medway Handyman"
wrote:

|Hi All
|
|I've done a lot of small plumbing jobs this week, just changing taps, sinks
|etc.
|
|In each case I've had to turn the water off at the mains & drain the cold
|water tank to get the hot & cold off.
|
|None of the tap feeds had service valves. If they had it would have saved
|time, but think about the waste of water. I reckon I've just poured away
|600 litres of perfectly good water - in an area subject to hosepipe bans.
|
|One customer saw the sense & got me to fit service valves, the rest said no.
|
|Is it required under building regs to fit them on new builds?
|
|I wonder why it isn't a requirement to fit them to all new installs & all
|alterations?
|
|How much water do we waste every year doing stuff like this?

Water is *cheap* in fact each extra gal^h^h^hlitre used costs me *nothing*.
Despite this I fit Service valves in appropriate places every time I drain
things down.
--
Dave Fawthrop dave hyphenologist co uk Google Groups is IME the *worst*
method of accessing usenet. GG subscribers would be well advised get a
newsreader, say Agent, and a newsserver, say news.individual.net. These
will allow them: to see only *new* posts, a killfile, and other goodies.

Dave Fawthrop wrote:
On Fri, 17 Nov 2006 00:31:50 GMT, "The Medway Handyman"
wrote:


|None of the tap feeds had service valves. If they had it would have saved
|time, but think about the waste of water. I reckon I've just poured away
|600 litres of perfectly good water - in an area subject to hosepipe bans.
|
|One customer saw the sense & got me to fit service valves, the rest said no.
|
|Is it required under building regs to fit them on new builds?
|
|I wonder why it isn't a requirement to fit them to all new installs & all
|alterations?
|
|How much water do we waste every year doing stuff like this?

Water is *cheap* in fact each extra gal^h^h^hlitre used costs me *nothing*.
Despite this I fit Service valves in appropriate places every time I drain
things down.

Yes, for your average punter I would have thought that the selling point
of these devices would be time and cost saved next time they need the
tap or its washer replacing, rather than the cost of the water lost
(which as DF says, is zero anyway to them unless they are metered).

David

"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message
...
Hi All

I've done a lot of small plumbing jobs this week, just changing taps,
sinks etc.

In each case I've had to turn the water off at the mains & drain the cold
water tank to get the hot & cold off.

None of the tap feeds had service valves. If they had it would have saved
time, but think about the waste of water. I reckon I've just poured away
600 litres of perfectly good water - in an area subject to hosepipe bans.


If you are that worried you could buy a pipe freezing kit. ;-)

"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message
...
Hi All

I've done a lot of small plumbing jobs this week, just changing taps,
sinks etc.

In each case I've had to turn the water off at the mains & drain the cold
water tank to get the hot & cold off.

None of the tap feeds had service valves. If they had it would have saved
time, but think about the waste of water. I reckon I've just poured away
600 litres of perfectly good water - in an area subject to hosepipe bans.

One customer saw the sense & got me to fit service valves, the rest said
no.

Is it required under building regs to fit them on new builds?

I wonder why it isn't a requirement to fit them to all new installs & all
alterations?

How much water do we waste every year doing stuff like this?


--
Dave
The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

freeze the pipe and fit a service valve. I wouldn't even mention that the
job is ok without one. the tiny extra cost (less than a pound for a cheap
one) is nothing compared to the labour saved, not to mention the water. if
you haven't got freezing gear then the rubber bung in the tank outlet is the
way to go.

In article , The Medway
Handyman wrote:
In each case I've had to turn the water off at the mains & drain the cold
water tank to get the hot & cold off.

None of the tap feeds had service valves.

I take it that by "service valves" you mean isolation valves that can
shut off some parts of the system from mains pressure (or whatever
intermediate tankage you're using), so that you can maintain service to some
parts of the water system while working on other parts.
EVERY time that I've had to work on part of my home system, I've
stuck in another isolation valve to separate the relevant parts of the
system. I figure that I'll be here for long enough that I'll draw some
benefit from it, if only by explaining over the phone to the missus what to
do to stop water gushing out of a leaking tap, or something. (I spend a lot
of time on other continents, with sporadic satellite phone connection at
$7/minute ; it pays to think of these things).
I guess a lot of people like the horrors of house hunting and moving
sooooooo mmmmmuuuuuucccchhhhhhh that they don't want to hang around to draw
the benefits from such installations.
As for new-build/ major rebuild ... surely it would make life so much
easier if you're DIYing to be able to maintain at least a couple of taps,
the CH system and a working toilet while you're doing whatever other work
you're doing.

Whenever I've built plumbing systems into our explosion-proofed metal
portakabins at work, I've never had any of the technicians object to
throwing in a couple of extra isolation valves, as long as they go into the
"as built" drawings for the "unit". And it's saved hassle when we've got to
site and found that some of the pipes have split between it leaving the yard
on a lorry and getting to the rig a thousand km away on a boat.

--
Aidan
Aberdeen, Scotland
Written at Fri, 17 Nov 2006 12:59 GMT, but posted later.

On Fri, 17 Nov 2006 00:31:50 GMT, "The Medway Handyman"
wrote:

How much water do we waste every year doing stuff like this?

What about people throwing microwaves away because they can't/won't
fix a blown oven lamp?

cheers,
Pete.

"Pete C" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 17 Nov 2006 00:31:50 GMT, "The Medway Handyman"
wrote:

How much water do we waste every year doing stuff like this?

What about people throwing microwaves away because they can't/won't
fix a blown oven lamp?

cheers,
Pete.

Most people think we live in a world where anything is readily disposable.
_______________________________
The Grim Reaper

The message
from "The Grim Reaper" contains
these words:

Most people think we live in a world where anything is readily disposable.

Like the bloke who threw out what is now my Dyson 'cos the cable going
into the plug was broken.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

On Fri, 17 Nov 2006 02:22:44 -0000, "nightjar".uk.com wrote:

Wherever practical, I use full bore Tee handle valves instead. They are
also a lot easier to use when reaching under a bath.

Can you get them in 22mm flavour? Screwfix only had them in 15mm, so I've
got 22mm full bore lever valves to put under the bath and for the shower,
they'll be behind the panel so the "industrial" look isn't a worry.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message
ll.com...
On Fri, 17 Nov 2006 02:22:44 -0000, "nightjar".uk.com wrote:

Wherever practical, I use full bore Tee handle valves instead. They are
also a lot easier to use when reaching under a bath.

Can you get them in 22mm flavour? Screwfix only had them in 15mm, so I've
got 22mm full bore lever valves to put under the bath and for the shower,
they'll be behind the panel so the "industrial" look isn't a worry.


I got a pair of these one 15mm (Blue)

http://www.thetoolbag.com/Pegler-Bra...anticon=170900

and one 22mm (Red)

http://www.thetoolbag.com/Pegler-Bra...anticon=170903

HTH

John

"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message
ll.com...
On Fri, 17 Nov 2006 02:22:44 -0000, "nightjar".uk.com wrote:

Wherever practical, I use full bore Tee handle valves instead. They are
also a lot easier to use when reaching under a bath.

Can you get them in 22mm flavour? Screwfix only had them in 15mm, so I've
got 22mm full bore lever valves to put under the bath and for the shower,
they'll be behind the panel so the "industrial" look isn't a worry.

The ones under my bath are 22mm, which I got from RS Components.

Colin Bignell

"Guy King" wrote in message
...
The message
from "The Grim Reaper" contains
these words:

Most people think we live in a world where anything is readily
disposable.

Like the bloke who threw out what is now my Dyson 'cos the cable going
into the plug was broken.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

lol! Well...... their loss, our gain
______________________________________
The Grim Reaper

The message
from "The Grim Reaper" contains
these words:

Like the bloke who threw out what is now my Dyson 'cos the cable going
into the plug was broken.

lol! Well...... their loss, our gain

http://www.skipweasel.pwp.blueyonder...mages/flex.jpg

Lucky it's all he lost.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

On Sat, 18 Nov 2006 07:00:19 -0000, "John"
wrote:

I got a pair of these one 15mm (Blue)

http://www.thetoolbag.com/Pegler-Bra...anticon=170900

and one 22mm (Red)

http://www.thetoolbag.com/Pegler-Bra...anticon=170903


Do those have plastic levers or metal ones?


--

"Matt" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 18 Nov 2006 07:00:19 -0000, "John"
wrote:

I got a pair of these one 15mm (Blue)

http://www.thetoolbag.com/Pegler-Bra...anticon=170900

and one 22mm (Red)

http://www.thetoolbag.com/Pegler-Bra...anticon=170903


Do those have plastic levers or metal ones?

Plastic

HTH

John

On Sat, 18 Nov 2006 17:30:35 -0000, "John"
wrote:

Do those have plastic levers or metal ones?

Plastic

HTH

Bugger! I'd love to find compact ball valves with all metal parts. I
hate plastic in apllications like this.


--