Low water pressure after external stopcock turned on/off

[hairykrishna]

Severn Trent came poking around leak finding last week. As part of the process they turned our water off for a short period. Ever since it's been back on our water pressure has been terrible. Bad enough that our combi is tripping itself off occasionally when running a hot tap.

I assumed that it was that they'd put a temporary repair in or something that was restricting flow but now they've filled their holes in and buggered off. I don't think it's air in the pipes as I've tried all taps on while I turn our internal stopcock on and off. The stopcock in the road immediately outside seems fully open, as best as I can tell.

Any ideas for other things to try? I've reported it to Severn Trent but they have a 21 day(!) response time.

The external plastic stop cock has a hex nut our side of it. Is this a filter? Or something else? I was reluctant to mess with it too much as it presumably is Severn Trent property.

My theory is that the external stopcock might be knackered and winding it in/out has left it partly closed. I'd like to be wrong though!

Immediate neighbours pressure is ok.

[BenS94]

We had this. The guys were great - our internal stopcock had triggered the safety, but as it had been untouched for ages, had seized. They managed to free it off, turn off, then back on again, and get presto, better water pressure than ever!

[hairykrishna]

Safety? As in an anti flooding cut off or similar? We don't have one unfortunately.

[OutInTheShed]

I had similar at a previous house.

The esteemed technicians had failed to turn the stopcock on proplerly.

[hairykrishna]

OutInTheShed said:

I had similar at a previous house.

The esteemed technicians had failed to turn the stopcock on proplerly.

That was my first thought. It's a plastic one and it's wound all the way anti clockwise, winding it all the way the other way cuts the water off. It did look at first like a quarter turn cut off despite being about 10 turns end to end but messing about with it in various positions while my wife watched the tap made no noticeable difference.

[Simpo Two]

I hate screw-action stopcocks; they invariably seize or fail just when you need them. If I need a water pipe open or shut I use lever ball valves.