Weeping joint to internal mains water stopcock

[Dickon Reed]

I noticed that the main water inlet to my house, as it enters a 1970s brass stop c*ck and drain tap assembly is weeping slightly. I can get a reasonable grip on the nut with a wrench and support the stopcock, and the pipe below it is embedded in grout then concrete about an inch from the stopcock.

How much brute force and ignorance would it be wise to apply when tightening up this nut? What other approaches are there?

I have easy access to an external stopcock upstream of the pipe. The obvious failure mode is to break the pipe and/or stopcock assembly, in which case if I was doing it under pressure I'd expect a reasonable amount of spillage which shouldn't be too much of a disaster.

Thanks,

Dickon

[BigWallop]

Dickon Reed wrote in news:Nbc* [e-mail]:

You should feel if the nut tightens, and the weeping water will stop when it is tight enough. Probably a quarter turn on the nut will stop the leak. If it goes any more than that, I'd call the plumber back in to check the rest of his fittings.

But, before you start tightening your nuts. Is it actually a weeping joint or is it condensation on the outside of the pipe? When the cold water enters into the house, the warm air inside the building can carry moisture onto the surface of the cold pipe and condense. This can look like a pipe joint is leaking. Feel the back of the stopcock to make sure it isn't wet as well. In fact, if you can feel along the length of the pipework downstream from the stopcock, to make sure that it is not condensation gathering on pipes.

I know when you see or feel damp patches close to plumbing fittings, it is a natural reaction to suspect a leak. When nine times out of ten it is actually condensation on un-lagged pipework that you feel.

Check to make sure first.

[meow2222]

chiark.greenend.org.uk:

Also I've known stopcocks that appeared to be doing just that, but it turned out to be the stopcock itself weeping. Turn the tap/handle a bit and often it stops. So worth trying first.

NT

[ARWadsworth]

I would guess that even if the plumber is still in business he would tell you to "f*ck off" if you asked him to come back and check on a compression joint he made in the 1970s.

Adam