Clark Drain CD880 140mm x 115mm x 75mm Stop Tap Stopcock Cover/lid PVC Locking Surround Box

Product Information

You might not want to cut off water to your entire house, and with small jobs, like fixing a tap, it usually isn’t necessary – all you’ll need to do is to find the right isolation valve (also known as a service valve). To protect your home, you should always have a working inside stop valve.Use this as the main way to turn your water on and off. An isolation valve should be fitted to the water pipe that feeds each tap, and water-using device in your home, including washing machines, toilets, showers and dishwashers.

Septic tanks and cesspits are private sewage systems designed to collect wastewater from properties, and… Turning off an old-style stop tap from the street may also turn off the water to neighbouring properties. If this is the case, it’s only fair to let them know what’s going on and how long the water is likely to be off for. I think your Builder is right not to cover a stop tap, if you or others need this in an emergency it has to be visible. Mark told us: ‘An old-fashioned stop tap that hasn’t been turned for a couple of years is unlikely to work, in which case you’ll have to get the Water Board out. They will have to fix the stop tap in the road before you can do anything in the house.’I worked for a water company and have seen this very many times, customers always wanted to blame us until it was explained that the internal S/Tap or if they have installed an extra one in the garden it was theirs. If a stop tap has seized up, it’s probably scaled up and full of debris, rather than rusty. Plumbing parts are made of non-ferrous metals, such as brass or copper, so they corrode and scale up rather than rust. You have several options if you cannot find your inside stop valve or if it's faulty and needs to be repaired. Coastal Drains Ltd. All rights reserved. Unit 3, Wayside, 7 Commerce Way, Lancing Business Park, Lancing, BN15 8SW We all have a list of things to do around the home that we may or may not get round to. Filing paperwork, sorting out the linen cupboard and in all likelihood, testing your stop tap is on that list too. The problem is, while not being able to find a record of your accounts or your towels being in a mess might be annoying, failing to test your stop tap can be disastrous.

These covers are designed to protect meter boxes and other surface boxes from damage, whether the damage is caused by weather conditions, general wear and tear, or vandalism. Use thes surface meter box covers over meter boxes, fire hydrants and much more. At the end of your road. This is common if your house is old and you share a supply with your neighbours. See our Which? Trusted traders’ tips on how to deal with a burst pipe. Prevention is better than cure Build and Plumb Registered office JT Dove Ltd, Riversdale Way, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, NE15 8SF,United Kingdom, Registered in GBMark does not recommend using lubricating oil, WD40 or similar to try to loosen a stop tap. He explained: ‘Oil and WD40 work on rust, so on ferrous metals. There’s nothing worse than arriving to find a customer has sprayed the stop tap with WD40, as it just makes it slippery to work with.’

You can try gently using a spanner to get leverage, but it is easy to snap the spindle, at which point the stop tap will need replacing in its entirety. Mark cautioned: ‘Too much torque from a spanner can twist the spindle like toffee, as it’s made from brass.’

What does a stopcock look like?

In an emergency, your local water company guarantee to come out within 24 hours. However, this is more than long enough for a leak within your property to create some serious damage. You'll usually get to a point where you can’t turn it anymore. You shouldn’t use force to turn it further. The external valve controls the flow from the water main that serves your street to the supply pipe into your house. Even a simple plumbing job, such as changing a tap on a sink, becomes more complicated and more costly if you’re unable to shut off the water effectively within your home. Our builder isn't sure this is permitted as you're not allowed to cover with paving even though it will have an access key, but Thames Water say that provided it's accessible then it's fine (although they won't put this in writing). Anyone got any experience of this?

A gravity or low-pressure system, when there is a tank in the loft that supplies the toilets and basins, will have the mains stop tap that supplies water to the kitchen sink, plus a stop tap coming out of the tank for the hot-water flow and for the cold-water flow too. If you’ve got a water-meter, there’ll be a modern plastic tap next to the meter. Mark says: ‘A modern water-meter comes with a plastic stop tap, which doesn’t corrode.’ In other words, it should work and is relatively simple to turn off by hand or a universal stop tap key (available from any hardware store) if it’s too deep to reach. Can't count the times I have found these fully open customers have rung the top off then unable to shut off. If you’ve got a plumbing problem, you can find a Which? Trusted Traders endorsed plumber in your area. How many stop taps in your home?

Other ways to turn off your water

Using your inside stop valve should be easy and you should be able to operate the valve yourself. How to turn your water off using the inside stop valve Indirect systems utilise both a hot water and a cold-water storage vessel, which are usually located in the attic, loft, or an upstairs cupboard. A gate vale is located under each of these tanks. Here you'll find a range of surface box covers at Drainage Superstore, from popular and leading brands including Clark Drain, Wrekin and EJ, all at our famously competitive prices.