Leaking stopcock- lead supply

[_Jonesy_]

Tried to turn the water off with the old stopcock in the kitchen - big mistake...

It's now leaking quite badly from the gland, and the gland nut is rusted, rounded and seized solid. It looks like it's been chewed up quite a bit over the years, and every time I touch it the leak gets worse and I can't get it to budge at all.

The supply is the original lead (house built early 50s) - there's only a tiny amount of lead pipe protruding through the floor and the stopcock is welded (wiped?) straight on.

I can't work out any way of stopping the leak, other than shutting the water off in the street (which also turns my neighbours' off). I'm reluctant to apply too much force to the gland nut in case I twist/break the lead pipe.

Any suggestions? It's currently filling up a pint cup every half hour or so.

[JoshSm]

You might slow it with self amalgamating tape or something else you can tightly add to reduce the leak, but that's just the short term fix for the flood.

Probably time to replace the lot, have a look what the water company might offer for free as it varies.

[shtu]

As a repair that can be done quickly, a lead-loc fitting, a little copper pipe and a new stopcock will have you sorted.

https://www.melimatic.com/lead-loc/

try to avoid the assorted inferior copies.

[Simpo Two]

In my limited experience of such things, stopcocks always fail when you need them. I now use lever ball valves.

[D_G]

We had a leak in the ground under our driveway with original lead pipes, fortunately we are solely supplied so turned it off in the road and ended up replacing the entire pipe into the house. The stopcock was impossible to shift and destroyed it trying so ended up cutting it off and fitting new plastic fittings with a new one.
If this is remotely an option the difference in pressure is huge, the shower especially is massively better. It's not answering your question but if you can't get the tap off you might be forced to.

[cliffords]

Simpo Two said:

In my limited experience of such things, stopcocks always fail when you need them. I now use lever ball valves.

Such a help for the fellow with the leak right now .

[.:ian:.]

Is it definitely rust? Shouldn't it all be brass or copper?

If it is all brass and copper, whizz all the crust off with a wire brush, then solder the shaft and nut to make seal, then fit a new shutoff valve in the copper bit.

Sadists that fit valves in these stupid tight locations, inches from the floor and tight up against walls will be first off to the gulag when I'm in charge

Edited by .:ian:. on Monday 19th October 22:20

[_Jonesy_]

JoshSm said:

You might slow it with self amalgamating tape or something else you can tightly add to reduce the leak, but that's just the short term fix for the flood.

Probably time to replace the lot, have a look what the water company might offer for free as it varies.

Thanks, yeah we have actually applied for the replacement scheme already - been waiting to hear back

[_Jonesy_]

shtu said:

As a repair that can be done quickly, a lead-loc fitting, a little copper pipe and a new stopcock will have you sorted.

https://www.melimatic.com/lead-loc/

try to avoid the assorted inferior copies.

Thanks. I've been looking at Lead Locs, I'm worried I don't have enough room to get one in but will have a better look tomorrow morning. The pipe coming out the floor is so short that there's hardly any straight length before the bulbous bit

[_Jonesy_]

D_G said:

We had a leak in the ground under our driveway with original lead pipes, fortunately we are solely supplied so turned it off in the road and ended up replacing the entire pipe into the house. The stopcock was impossible to shift and destroyed it trying so ended up cutting it off and fitting new plastic fittings with a new one.
If this is remotely an option the difference in pressure is huge, the shower especially is massively better. It's not answering your question but if you can't get the tap off you might be forced to.

Thank you, yeah I suspect this will probably happen at some point! Maybe sooner than I thought

[_Jonesy_]

.:ian:. said:

Is it definitely rust? Shouldn't it all be brass or copper?

If it is all brass and copper, whizz all the crust off with a wire brush, then solder the shaft and nut to make seal, then fit a new shutoff valve in the copper bit.

Sadists that fit valves in these stupid tight locations, inches from the floor and tight up against walls will be first off to the gulag when I'm in charge

Edited by .:ian:. on Monday 19th October 22:20

Ah interesting, hadn't thought about soldering it up. I'll look into that, cheers

[Belle427]

The lead loc should work, you may have to expose some more pipe though if its difficult to work on.
Used one many years ago to go from lead to copper as suggested.

[Andeh1]

Have you got home emergency cover on your house insurance?

[g7jtk]

Undo the gland nut, twist some PTFE tape to form a string.Wrap it around the spindle in a clockwise direction and push it down into the valve with a small flathead screwdriver the replace the gland nut, tightening it so it stops water leaking out of the gland but not so tight that you can’t turn the handle.
You may need to catch a dribble of water with a towel while you are doing this.

[K50 DEL]

I had the same thing earlier in the year, ended up paying to have an entirely new pipe moled in from the meter.
Cost £550, took a morning and you'd never know it had been done.