Problems with my waterworks. Stopcock cover and soil pipe.

[Clive]

Hi,

Having had a small bit of paving relaid, young lad found the water stop c*ck - I would have got around to looking for it, I was just busy. Anyway, I decided to try to lift the cover in order to open and close the stopcock, prior to having some plumbing work done. Well, rather than the stopcock being seized, I couldn't even lift the "lid" of the cover. I used a pressure hose and removed a fair amount of grit and debris between the top and the "body" of the cover. However, one broken old chisel later, the top won't budge and give me access to the stop c*ck. I guess that as the cover was underneath soil for years it has rusted up - there is a fair amount of visible rust on the cover. Also, where the "key-shaped" eyelet is on the cover some rod is jammed in there - I guess someone tried to open it and snapped the rod or key they used. Now, the whole cover itself feels "loose" in the ground. So, should I just chip away at the mortar around the cover and lift it out wholesale? I'm guessing it is in someway separate from the stop c*ck? Can the cover be replaced with a plastic / polypropylene version?

I'm guessing if the cover is rusted, the stop c*ck will be completely seized and might need replacing. That would mean I would need the water shut off further "up stream" before the the old "house (residential?) stopcock" cut out and replaced?? So I went looking for the water company's "stop c*ck" that supplies my house. I had a look out the front of the house and found the (broken) plastic cover of the water meter, but I don't know what to look for for the water company's stop c*ck from the water main that services the whole street. So, will I need the water shut off in the street before I can have the stop c*ck on my property replaced? Let's hope it doesn't come to that - but hope is limited at this time.

Finally, going a bit crazy with the pressure hose, I cleaned around the inspection cover for the drains. I hosed down the brickwork and mortar and "probed" with the water jet inside the various ceramic pipes emptying into this common drain that services bath and sink waste water as well as the "output" from the toilet. Now, into this common drain empties an old cast iron soil pipe running up the whole side of the house - uncapped at the top. This soil pipe is not currently used. The current toilet in the bathroom at the back empties "directly" into the common drain. Now, I am moving the bathroom upstairs and there is a conveniently situated "branch" into the soil pipe from the room to be used. Now, when I was flushing the bottom of the soil pipe a lot, and I mean 5 minutes worth, of "grit" came from the old soil pipe. I am guessing that is rust. Am I taking a chance reusing this soil pipe for the new toilet upstairs or can I test it in someway to avoid a blockage in future? Should I just have the old pipe removed and replaced with plastic as the other work is being done? If the old iron soil pipe is fine for the job, can I have a "rodding" point drilled into it somehow in case of future blockages?

Thanks for any (useful) answers,

Clive

[Clive]

On 19 Sep, 18:25, Clive wrote:

Thanks to a very useful diagram on the Scottish Water website and a helpful chap in Three Water operations department (yes they exist) I discovered that there is a stoptap attached to the water meter on the property boundary. However, the water meter servicing my property was "embedded" in a load of "muck". So I donned a rubber glove, used an old spoon and dug away around the water meter to clear the muck. There is a "grid" underneath the meter where any water that ingresses should flow away. This small location beneath the water meter but above the grid was full of clay, some flints and a bit of sand. I cleared enough to see the "grill" then power hosed the whole lot and removed the remaining flints by hand. This only took a few seconds as the clay just dissolved away The power washer caused a merry dance on the water meter :-) It appears that the blue plastic (polypropylene?) pipe that surrounds and protects the meter was installed not far enough down and there is a gap of about 4cm (??) between the bottom of the pipe and this grill, big enough for clay from the surrounding soil to move around the water meter and cover the stoptap. Anyway, the stoptap is now visible and accessible. and I can shut off the water to the house at the meter without worrying about the inaccessible tap outside the kitchen (which may be bypassed anyway when the meter was installed). I now need to start pulling away the back of the sink unit to find the internal stoptap. Why, of why do people block access to these things?

Clive