Can't find the water valve in the street. Any ideas?

[evildrome]

OK.. the very nice man from Scottish Water just turned up.

Apparently the unmarked cover IS my shut off.

The two "W" marked ones are both (WTF?) for the property across the road.

Apparently having two is good because if you need to work on the normal shut off you can shut that off at the main.

Which doesn't shut my water off so if my normal shut off goes I guess I'm just f****d then.

 

[cowtown_eric]

Oh ya...I'm looking at this, and kinda envision that the leak is around the stem of the valve, , and with my guestimated age of that valve, I would not be suprised if the packing around the valve stem is old/worn-out and needs replacement, which is an easily done and inexpensive fix....

Sometimes even tightening the nut around the valve shaft will compress the packing and stop the leak.

BUT, you still gotta call yer water dept and locate the shut off., and find out the particulars of an emergency shut off just in case things go sour.

Better yet, ask them nicely if they will take a look at the pix, and maybe even replace the packing for you.

But frankly, I 'm only sharing my best guess from past experience

Eric in the colonies!

 

[DavidConnelly]

The OP says he's turned it off in the past and made a special key to fit so it's a bit presumptuous IMO to suggest he doesn't know what he's talking about by saying that's not where his stopcock was located. It's pretty clear from the photograph that the access point shown IS located in the road, the cover is clearly marked as such is it not and it's just as stupid to put a test point in the road as a shut off valve. There is also clear evidence that it has been excavated at some point in the past as the tarmac around it is different which would not be the case otherwise.

Ours is in the pavement very close to the road but don't presume the water boards or builders of the time have commonsense as I've seen a number of access points in rather stupid locations when I had my building company. Our houses are only around 50 years old and our water company doesn't even have an accurate map of the drainage systems, I know this because they were employing students to knock on doors to ask if they knew which manholes were surface and which were foul systems, I spent an hour with two of them explaining while they drew the points on a map. BT are the same, instead of trunking for the telephone wires they were just buried so although full fibre is now only 50 yards from us I can't get it without them shoving a mole through instead of just pulling cables.

As far as water meters are concerned, unless a big family in a low band rated property or you're constantly watering the garden or have a car wash business on the side you would usually save, our bills were halved and we've had one for years now

https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/help-and-resources/video-library/how-to-find-your-stop-valve

 

[XTiffy]

One issue with a metered supply for water is that the sewage charge is a percentage of the water reading (In our area we have different water companies and the percentage is around 85%). I twice had underground leaks on my side of the company stopcock/meter (200 metres away). This resulted in a claim for sewerage charges of around £1,000. That took a hell of a battle to have it corrected. So if you have a meter installed make sure all of the pipework on your side is perfect.

 

[evildrome]

Oh ya...I'm looking at this, and kinda envision that the leak is around the stem of the valve, , and with my guestimated age of that valve, I would not be suprised if the packing around the valve stem is old/worn-out and needs replacement, which is an easily done and inexpensive fix....

Sometimes even tightening the nut around the valve shaft will compress the packing and stop the leak.

BUT, you still gotta call yer water dept and locate the shut off., and find out the particulars of an emergency shut off just in case things go sour.

Better yet, ask them nicely if they will take a look at the pix, and maybe even replace the packing for you.

But frankly, I 'm only sharing my best guess from past experience

Eric in the colonies!

Agreed.

The packing is likely 70yo and I guess, looking at it, replacement is probably quite easy.

I have found the shut off so I might try replacing the packing myself.

 

[BearTricks]

I can’t access my outside water shut off. The cover has seized and neither me nor the plumber could get it up without destroying about two square feet of pavement.

I tried to get the water company to come out and look at it but they said they don’t maintain it, and also that I’m not allowed to mess with it. I said it can’t be both, and what would I do if the pipe burst directly below my inside stop tap, but they weren’t having it. They also told me to tell the plumber how to do his job i.e. freeze the lead pipe so he could fix my stop tap which he didn’t appreciate.

They did say there’s likely enough limescale in the lead pipe to mean I don’t have to worry about lead poisoning, but I run the tap for a bit in the morning and try not to use hot water for cooking or drinking.

 

[Niall Church]

OK.. the very nice man from Scottish Water just turned up.

Apparently the unmarked cover IS my shut off.

The two "W" marked ones are both (WTF?) for the property across the road.

View attachment 176316


Apparently having two is good because if you need to work on the normal shut off you can shut that off at the main.

Which doesn't shut my water off so if my normal shut off goes I guess I'm just f****d then.

Good title for a song!..... You did say any ideas!!

 

[Lons]

https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/help-and-resources/video-library/how-to-find-your-stop-valve

That's a very basic video which tells anyone with even a modicum of experience absolutely nothing.
Why did you link that to my comment? I owned a small building company before I retired so have encountered the many variious and weird configurations of the utility companies

 

[newbiegirl]

Not just in Scotland, mines the same. The stop cock at the top of my drive cuts off the next three houses in the road as well!

If all else fails contact the company who supply your water, thats how we found ours !