leaking pipe under sink, stop cock seized

[shaktiman]

Hey all, my first post here.

On the back of the house where I live, some workmen erected a conservatory. They were asked by the landlord to fit new taps in the bathroom. They tried to turn the "stop cock" which resides underneath the kitchen sink. the stop cock would not turn and the piping began to leak. They have since managed to put a temporary fix on the pipe. This has not done the job as the pipe is still leaking, only slowly but it is still leaking. We have filed a claim for insurance. We have been told that we need to fix the pipe befors the insurance people will begin work replacing the sink cabinet.


Deep breath.


The builders who put the conservatory up have told the landlord that we need to find the "boundry stop cock" for them to do any further work!

I phoned the water board, they advised it would be expensive for them to come out, they would charge us £40 for call out & more per hour after that. I infromed my landlord of this. The lady at the water board was helpfull and suggested that we need to use a "freeze" on the pipe, then we could replace the section of inferior piping including with it a new stop cock.

My landlord said that we need to find the boundry stop cock, could I phone the water board again, pleading my case. What am I to do?, if he wants to know more about locating the boundry stop cock he needs to phone the water board people indeed I expect.

Anyway I shouldn't be turning this into a rant against my landlord.

how can I get the piping fixed? can I fix it myself? should I call a plumber in? how much would I expect to pay?

would I need to solder? solder sounds scary, I am confident to attempt putting a freeze on the piping.

 

[Gary Swart]

I'll take a stab at this. I am assuming that a "boundary cock" is a valve that will shut off the entire house. You definitely need to know where that is in case of a serious leak anyway, but you can not do repairs to a water line that has water flowing, and to solder a joint, the water must be completly out of the pipes. I sounds as though you need a new shut off valve (stop cock) at the fixture. I do not understand the term, "freeze" as you use it, but I assume it is some way of stopping the water flow. I would suggest that with you lack of experience that you will be time and money ahead to have a plumber do the job, and have him show you how to shut the water off at the boundary cock.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Jimbo]

Not familiar with "over there"; but "over here" the main shut off belongs to the property owner, and the water company has nothing to do with it. There will always be a water company shut off , with the meter, often underground out near the street. Here in San Diego, the water company will come at no charge and shut off their valve. You can do you work and when finished you call to have it turned back on.

 

[shaktiman]

no no no no no no no no no no no no no for the thirteenth time!

well the boundry stop cock has probably been bricked over or cemented, tarred or somthing. They do it here quite a bit.

Yeah, well you can get a "freeze" here in the UK, it's carbon dioxide, freezes the pipe safely for about 40 minutes.

Anyway I called a plumber out, he managed to switch the stop cock off and fix the leek, cost me an arm and a leg......................................


Cheers anyway.