Hi all,
I've realised that our 2nd floor flat doesn't have a stopcock where the rising main comes into the flat or it is under a floor or something. We have gate valves or stop cocks in front of kitchen sink and cold water cistern for bathroom for servicing, however all of them are either seized or don't close fully. This is not a great situation to be in when there are 2 flats below you. Ideally I think we should be able to cut the water off as close to where the water comes into the flat as is reasonably accessible without having to resort to cutting off all the flats down at the street level stop valve. Doesn't seem like a lot to ask!
I have traced the old lead rising main to the corner of the kitchen where it comes down parallel to the outer stone wall and then runs under the tiled kitchen floor (see attached image). As this pipe is still lead at the point it disappears under the floor I assume somewhere the lead pipe has been connected to copper either by wiping? or if it is more modern a lead-lock (this room was made the kitchen back in 1988) but I don't know where this lead-copper change over is.
My feeling is that we should install a stopcock perhaps on the lead main coming down the wall as you can see on the image. As this is behind a fridge normally and not very accessible I'm thinking of getting a SureStop stopcock with remote switch fitted.
I guess my question is does this seem like a sensible idea? My main issue with this is that to fit the Surestop this has to be connected to copper or plastic pipe I think on either side of it. So currently this would look like lead to copper to surestop to copper to lead then running under the tiled floor, somewhere connecting back to copper. The arguably better but more invasive option is to pull up the kitchen floor, find where the lead connects to copper and cut the lead back as far as possible to the corner of the kitchen (attached image) but then you still have lead to copper to surestop but then its at least copper thought the property. I'd get a plumber in to do all this but would like to get some general advice first. The water is coming on lead pipe anyway so perhaps having some in the flat is not a big issue and at least we would be able to cut the water off!
I've realised that our 2nd floor flat doesn't have a stopcock where the rising main comes into the flat or it is under a floor or something. We have gate valves or stop cocks in front of kitchen sink and cold water cistern for bathroom for servicing, however all of them are either seized or don't close fully. This is not a great situation to be in when there are 2 flats below you. Ideally I think we should be able to cut the water off as close to where the water comes into the flat as is reasonably accessible without having to resort to cutting off all the flats down at the street level stop valve. Doesn't seem like a lot to ask!
I have traced the old lead rising main to the corner of the kitchen where it comes down parallel to the outer stone wall and then runs under the tiled kitchen floor (see attached image). As this pipe is still lead at the point it disappears under the floor I assume somewhere the lead pipe has been connected to copper either by wiping? or if it is more modern a lead-lock (this room was made the kitchen back in 1988) but I don't know where this lead-copper change over is.
My feeling is that we should install a stopcock perhaps on the lead main coming down the wall as you can see on the image. As this is behind a fridge normally and not very accessible I'm thinking of getting a SureStop stopcock with remote switch fitted.
I guess my question is does this seem like a sensible idea? My main issue with this is that to fit the Surestop this has to be connected to copper or plastic pipe I think on either side of it. So currently this would look like lead to copper to surestop to copper to lead then running under the tiled floor, somewhere connecting back to copper. The arguably better but more invasive option is to pull up the kitchen floor, find where the lead connects to copper and cut the lead back as far as possible to the corner of the kitchen (attached image) but then you still have lead to copper to surestop but then its at least copper thought the property. I'd get a plumber in to do all this but would like to get some general advice first. The water is coming on lead pipe anyway so perhaps having some in the flat is not a big issue and at least we would be able to cut the water off!
