Adding a stopcock

Feb 16, 2019 Last reply: 7 years ago 5 Replies

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JoeJoe 7 years ago

Water co stopcock is under the pavement in front of the driveway - easily accessible.

There is another one inside the house, but the lazy builders who did out extension a few years ago added several branches before it so now it only controls around half the house.

Now wanting to add one to cover everything.

The feed is 22mm I think - perhaps even bigger than that, but I never checked. The house was built in the mid 60's. It comes from the street and runs a 30-40cm under the floating wooden floor, right next to the hatch, so very easy access. My plan is to raise it above the floor into a little cupboard, add a tap, and then return it back under the floor. Something as in this diagram:

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Questions:

- The mains water pressure is not great around the house (sufficient though). What could be the impact on that with the added turns?

- What sort of tap would the panel recommend? Any specific type/product to go for/avoid?

Thanks a lot in advance.

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Roger Hayter 7 years ago

I don't think you'll notice any pressure drop. You could always use formed bends to reduce pressure loss for the bottom two if there's room under the floor, but as the min radius is huge I think you'd need to use elbows for the top ones to fit your cupboard. If it is underground pipe its likely MDPE or similar and 25mm (I think something to do with metrication and thicker walls). So something like:

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with 25mm adapters. Or the 22mm compression version if it is 22mm pipe. Not everyone likes ball valves (because of water hammer?) but they don't tend to seize up with disuse and are easy to operate.

A possible alternative is one of these remote button operated stopcocks, and this could actuall be put below the floor with the control above as long as ther was a trapdoor.

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JoeJoe 7 years ago

Thanks a lot - most reassuring (I was a little concerned about the pressure drop).

Forgot to mention that I cannot see it being used more than a handful of times a year - holidays, etc.

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Brian Gaff 7 years ago

Yes the one in my cupboard is very stiff, and as I its in lead pipe, its a bit of a worry if I ever need to use it, I have dreams of sheered tap, or fractures in the lead pipe even if I lubricate it and use two moles on it. Brian

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jgh 7 years ago

Could you not use one of those, but with some sort of extension to leave the tap under the floor and take the handle above floor level?

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Mathew Newton 7 years ago

[...]

I think I'd be tempted to use the water company's stopcock... That way, if/when it fails they'll sort it. ;-)

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