Hi! Our main stopcock is weeping. I phoned the water company, first-person thought it was their problem as it was on the 'outside' of the water meter. Then another person called me to schedule a visit and they told me that its not their problem as both the water meter and the leaky stopcock are inside the house.
Its just a big old valve and I'd be happy to swap it out, if I could turn off the water in the street. There is an isolation valve in the road at the end of my drive. But the lid is jammed and the guy from the water company who came to visit us to test the flow when we moved in (apparently 1.1bar and 7 liters a minute is just fine, I disagree, but what can I do?), he tried to isolate the water but couldn't get into the thing as the cover is jammed. Its pretty obviously the result of tree roots under the drive from the massive tree that the previous owners allowed to overgrow (they owned a nissan micra) to the point of it entering the drive and part of the road. I enquired with a tree surgeon and the first thing he said was that the local tree warden is a madman. I guessed he was bound to say that, so made inquiries, and yes apparently we are not allowed to do anything with that tree despite its trunk taking up 1 foot of a 9 foot wide road (devon...)
So anyway, I can't do anything about the tree. The water company guy said he'd 'put a note on the file' which I presume isn't really a thing as I just called them and there are no 'notes'. They say that isolation valves in the street are not a 'required' thing so there is no need for them to do anything.
So that means I need to swap the valve, without turning off the water. I presume this is something plumbers must have a solution for if its really true that isolating the water further up isn't 'required'. What do you do? Freeze the pipe or something? It seems to be some variety of plastic, couldn't that damage it?
And before you say it - yes, of course I will be paying a pro! I'll start calling round in the morning. I'm not going to try changing a valve on a live water pipe!! Its only that I thought someone here might know if its really true that isolation valves in the street can fall into disrepair and the water company just hold their hands up and say "not my problem mate".
Its just a big old valve and I'd be happy to swap it out, if I could turn off the water in the street. There is an isolation valve in the road at the end of my drive. But the lid is jammed and the guy from the water company who came to visit us to test the flow when we moved in (apparently 1.1bar and 7 liters a minute is just fine, I disagree, but what can I do?), he tried to isolate the water but couldn't get into the thing as the cover is jammed. Its pretty obviously the result of tree roots under the drive from the massive tree that the previous owners allowed to overgrow (they owned a nissan micra) to the point of it entering the drive and part of the road. I enquired with a tree surgeon and the first thing he said was that the local tree warden is a madman. I guessed he was bound to say that, so made inquiries, and yes apparently we are not allowed to do anything with that tree despite its trunk taking up 1 foot of a 9 foot wide road (devon...)
So anyway, I can't do anything about the tree. The water company guy said he'd 'put a note on the file' which I presume isn't really a thing as I just called them and there are no 'notes'. They say that isolation valves in the street are not a 'required' thing so there is no need for them to do anything.
So that means I need to swap the valve, without turning off the water. I presume this is something plumbers must have a solution for if its really true that isolating the water further up isn't 'required'. What do you do? Freeze the pipe or something? It seems to be some variety of plastic, couldn't that damage it?
And before you say it - yes, of course I will be paying a pro! I'll start calling round in the morning. I'm not going to try changing a valve on a live water pipe!! Its only that I thought someone here might know if its really true that isolation valves in the street can fall into disrepair and the water company just hold their hands up and say "not my problem mate".