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Mate has a new ground floor flat and wev've hunted low and high for the cold water mains shut off.
Looked at front door under mat, under kitchen sink and all usual places still can't find it. We have located a cold water pipe following it back it appears to run under his nice wooden floor. Reluctant just now rip that up.
He has to change the bathroom basin as it has a massive chip in it, plan is to try one of the pipe freezing kits on the copper pipe and pop on a 15mm isolating valve.
Do these kits work as advertised? or will [s]he[/s] I get wet?
Is there no isolation valves on the feeds to the taps? Valve for main may be in the hallway.
Anyway to answer your question, yes they can be good but you need to work quickly and have all other taps open so the pressure is dropped on the pipe you're working on.
I've used them before, but it's a two person job and you have a very short time frame. When I used them I used two kits, one to freeze near the cut you're making and one to freeze further along the pipe.
But on a new flat I would expect valves to be easily accessible.
Use the external stop tap.
where's his water meter?
In blocks there is often stopcock home-side of the meter.
No isolation on feed to taps, no quite enough space to get under floor in the hatch we found in a cupboard. Have asked the previous owner but I suspect a reply won't be forthcoming soon.
Its an old granite flat with many many hidden issues I suspect.
Concern with street stop is that it will isolate all flats.
No water meter
Concern with street stop is that it will isolate all flats.
Not a massive issue really.
Just let them know, it's only a five minute job to fit a stoptap inside.
Just pop round and tell everyone the water will/may be off for five minutes and crack on.
Yes, I've used them, they work.
You'll have plenty of time, and you normally hear the click as the water freezes. Just have the tools and materials layed out, the area you're going to cut prepped in advance(old paint stripped, other fittings moved out of the way to let you swing your spanners, and any compression joint you're going to fit lined up and ready to go). I find the jackets supplied with them need a bit more help staying closed so have used gaffer tape and the like to make better seals.
[quote=nealglover ]Concern with street stop is that it will isolate all flats.
Not a massive issue really.
Just let them know, it's only a five minute job to fit a stoptap inside.
Just pop round and tell everyone the water will/may be off for five minutes and crack on.
also not looked in there to see if the valve is accessible or pit is filled with crap.
Think we'll give the kit a bash
[url= http://www.screwfix.com/p/arctic-products-pipe-freezing-kit-425ml/20183#_=p ]This one[/url]
also not looked in there to see if the valve is accessible [b]or pit is filled with crap.[/b]
Phone the local water board, they will be there within the day to sort it out. Doesn't cost anything.
Try the neighbours. We have a stopcock under our sink that shuts off the neighbours water....impressive considering their house is about 50meters away!
If the copper pipe is clean, sufficiently accessible for you to use a pipe cutter, and has enough movement in it to pull the ends apart a few cm after cutting, then slapping on a push-fit stopcock would be possible in (literally) a couple of minutes. Clearly there are a few "ifs" in that 8)
works well on 15 less so on 22mm where I had to use nearly two cans
Like -m-, I'd try freezing it then putting in an isolation valve or just a temporary end cap so you could do the work at your leisure.
Our sinks have tap tails with valves built in, you could stick a couple of those on quickly...
Hire an electric one, I own one and it is brilliant compared to the gas ones.
Got the kit from screwfix today and it was a doddle.
Pipe frozen and isolation valve on in under 10mins