Leaking stopcock

[Louisbean]

Hi all

My stopcock is leaking from the gland nut. I think I can fix this but it looks a bit crusted up and wondered if this will likely need replacing, or can this be cleaned up?

The forum won't let me post an image but you can paste this into a browser to see it I think?

HTTPS://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07/30/2c8ffb84a8f961b567fff54d70328879.jpg

Thanks!

Louis

 

[MSM]

Cant see any water but you can try tightening the gland 9 times out of 10 its enough to stop the leak. Just be gentle with it.

 

[Stigster]

As MSM says, the gland can be tightened as it doesn't actually look too bad. If it still weeps, turn off the stopcock, undo the gland and scrape any crud off, wrap 3 or 4 turns of white PTFE tape not too tight around the spindle and re-tighten the gland and open the stopcock.

Remember to turn the stopcock back half a turn closed after it's fully opened. It'll help it from sticking too bad in future.

 

[Louisbean]

Brilliant, thanks guys. Should I turn off the main water supply first? I'm guessing it's probably not necessary?

 

[Plumbstar Tom]

no, should be fine. just turn the stopcock off

 

[Louisbean]

Thank you everyone - this forum is so helpful