My neighbour turned off our shared stopcock now we have trickle of water..?

[Dannyboyuk]

Hi all,

Happy Easter everyone,

Im new here and plumbers are expensive but here is my story.

I live in a shared maisonette, we have 1 pipe from the street stopcock on street and a blue thing next to it. comes through my ground floor, to a stopcock under my boiler, then up to my neighbours.

For some reason he he turned the stopcock off in the street, properly because our stopcocks are very tight, I cant even shift mine, looks like original pipe work with is half and inch lead pipes, property was built in 1920`s.

Our water pressure and flow was fine, only a bit poor if upstairs were using theres too.

since they have turned the stopcock on and off we have little water just a poor flow, not enough to light our boiler or heat shower etc...


we have had essex and suffolk water out and they done a text to show that the stopcock is working on the street and they are providing good flow past the boundary.

What could be the problem? could sediment have shifted and got stuck? they are experiencing the same problem upstairs too.

Im going to get my internal stopcock replaced but any thoughts or other remedy's? airlock?

thanks and regards,

Dan

 

[SafeGasInstall]

undo the front of your tap where you have filters and wash them down ! get plumber to change your internal stopcock as this is were you could have some dirt too.

 

[PlumbBobBob]

i agree sediment could have been shifted when turning the outside stopcock off and on. club together with your neighbour and get a plumber to change both internal stopcocks and investigate further if needed. if you put a request in the plumber wanted section giving your general location and there may be a member near to you who could come and do it for you.

 

[mountainman]

I don't think DannyBoy is going to get a plumber in mate, as he says in his post 'plumbers are expensive'.

 

[Puddle]

Is up stair water flow and presser back to what it was ?,what did they turn the water off for?

 

[Guest123]

Plumbers may seem expensive to you mate, but you're paying for our experience and being able to properly solve your problem. Asking about it on here is not the cheaper option as I doubt anyone can offer a real solution without actually seeing the job and investigating it fully.

Try phoning around and get 3 or so quotes, you may in fact be pleasantly surprised.

If I were you, I'd "bite the bullet" and get a pro in. Either that you could fluff around for long enough and still have no water to your property.

Why not post up your area location and ask one of the forum guys to pop round and have a look?

Best of luck with your problem and I hope that a permanent solution is found for you. Please let us all know how you get on.

 

[Dannyboyuk]

Yes will be getting a plumber in. Upstairs have the same poor water pressure.

What is this blue thing on the street next to the stopcock ?

 

[kay-jay]

Yes will be getting a plumber in. Upstairs have the same poor water pressure.

What is this blue thing on the street next to the stopcock ?

in my experience usually an empty bag of walkers cheese and onion. (other brands available)

or it could be the stop tap itself, some of the new ones are blue plastic handled jobbies

 

[M.Joshi]

What is this blue thing on the street next to the stopcock ?

Is it round with number dials on it? Could be a water meter. Can you take a picture of it and post it on here?

 

[Dannyboyuk]

We have a metre post our internal stop tap/cock. This could be an old meter?

Here is picture of the water mains on street:-


and our internal stopcock. I will get a plumber out but want other advice as well to get a varied range of responses.




Thank you all.

ps. our combi boiler does now not iginite so no hot water and our electric shower does not get hot.

As we ae the leaseholder of the property, if there is a problem with the pipe work PRE our internal stopcock, does this mean its the freeholders responsiblity?


thanks
Dan

 

[M.Joshi]

I think that blue cap is to allow a water meter to be fitted there if required.

 

[Dannyboyuk]

could it be that the blue thing is clogged up with stuff?

 

[Dannyboyuk]

Anyone have anymore thoughts on this? As my plumber is not available untill next wednesday?

My thoughts to what have happened:-

1. Builders upstairs have removed their internal stoptap and replaced this, therefore had to turn off the outside stoptap and back on again.

2. The water flow through my pipes are now terrible our boiler does not fire up and we have no hot water/heating.

3. Could there be an airlock/or sediment stuck somwhere?

4. I cannot move my internal stoptap. Am due to get this replaced.


thanks
Dan

2.

 

[PlumbBobBob]

it's possible that the external stopcock isn't turned on fully

 

[WaterTight]

Waterboard said flow fine from external stopcock yeah? It looks like it's leaking to me! Maybe get them back and get a second opinion on the flow while they're there.

 

[stevetheplumber]

it's possible that the external stopcock isn't turned on fully

or possibly the washer has come of the outside stopcock and is blocking the pipework i doubt very much if the freeholder has any responsibility for this usually its a shared resonsibility of the lease holders like the roof and drains

 

[WaterTight]

Oh and it doesn't look like your internal stopcock is on a lead pipe. Copper one side. Either copper or steel other side. If it wasn't fully open previously, perhaps because of high pressure, it could have been where muck got stuck. Since you can't move it changing it would be a good first place to start regardless.

 

[Guest123]

Sorry to ask the obvious, but are you sure that the stopcock has been turned FULLY on?

 

[tamz]

The valve in the street is not a 1/4 turn toby valve, it is like a stopcock. Stick your hand down and check it is turned on fully (anticlockwise).
Don't believe the water board guy. He would have had a look down and though new service nothing wrong with it and shut the lid.

I've probably just done a brother out of £40 or 50 quid :lol:

 

[Dannyboyuk]

Thanks for all your responses.

When looking at the outside stopcock, apprenently the water board checked the water flow/pressure post the stopcock. By putting like a long pipe attachment onto the blue thing. Could it be that the blue thing needs to be cleaned?

Can I open this and try to backflush our system? So that it leaks out onto the street out of our pipes.


The fact that our neighbours have a very poor water flow aswell seems that the problem lies between the street and both our internal stopcocks.

Is there a test that I can do? or can I heat up the pipes with a flame would this remove sediment/dirt.

The fact that it was fine before upstairs changed their stopcock (internal) and shut of the external. Indicates to me sediment has been blasted through and got lodged somewhere.

There is no evidence of any leaks.

From what my neighbour told me, when the essex and suffolk man came over, there was lots of muck in his hands when he opened this blue thing. Is this a filter? or old metre? any way I can clean it myself?

Thanks for all your help here.

My girlfirend is pregnant and really gonna try to get this fixed. I have a plumber coming next wednesday as he is on holiday, and I trust him.

Could I try to find a plumber on here?

 

[WaterTight]

You haven't made reference to the last two posts. Both asking if you'd made 100% sure the stopcock in the street is fully on. Easiest thing to start with.

After that you're looking at a bogus diagnosis of correct flow by the waterboard or a blockage. What I'd do is take off your old internal stopcock (since it needs replacing anyway), rig up a new one with a hose on it and flush it through. It'll either work or there's a problem between the external and internal.

A stopcock replacement isn't a difficult job and if you post your area we'll probably be able to recommend somewhere near you. Don't go putting flames on anything, it'll end in tears.

 

[WaterTight]

Oh and the leak I mentioned was because the external stopcock box appears to be full of water. If it is leaking the waterboard will need to look at it which is why I thought you could kill two birds with one stone and get a second opinion on whether it's open/working.

 

[WaterTight]

Oh and if the waterboard guy had loads of muck on his hands he might have had to dig it out. Happens all the time but wouldn't necessarily indicate there was muck inside the pipework. Might also explain the water.

 

[Guest123]

Could I try to find a plumber on here?

If you post your general location, e.g town or area, I'm sure that one of the forum members will take you up on this and PM you to arrange it.

 

[Dannyboyuk]

Oh and if the waterboard guy had loads of muck on his hands he might have had to dig it out. Happens all the time but wouldn't necessarily indicate there was muck inside the pipework. Might also explain the water.

thank you water tight for the information.

I am due to get a plumber in next wednesday he will replace internal stoptap etc...

The essex and suffolk guy did test the water supply post external stoptap, so this could explain why it is still wet in there.


As they are old pipes can they still be blasted? maybe only 4 bars of pressure?

 

[Dannyboyuk]

Hi all,

Here is an update just wanted to run it past you all.

The problem has been confirmed it is inbetween the boundary and our internal stopcocks.

We are going to run 25ml polypipe from the street under our front garden and into our neighbours up their corridor into their loft, will then come down into their kitchen and split of to ours .


My question is do you think there will be enough pressure to push the water from the street up 2 stories?

The pressure from the street looks very good. We are mainly suffering from old lead half an inch 80 year old lead pipes which have poor flow due to a blockage, the pressure is fine though.

 

[PlumbBobBob]

pressure should be fine to do this. after all you need mains pressure to feed water cisterns in the loft which is often two stories up