Leaking mains water stopcock
Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 11:36 am
by scroogemonster
I will rephrase my last post another way.
One of the compression nuts on my mains water stopcock is leaking. It is the one on the water IN side (next to the blue MDPE pipe.)
I have tried to tighten it but it still weeps. Do I need to replace the olive or wrap PTFE around the thread to stop it weeping.
Kevin
Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 5:18 pm
by plumbbob
Turn the water off outside, and undo the joint and wrap ptfe around the olive. Don't over tighten the nut as this can cause the pipe to fail as the olive crushes the pipe.
Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 8:27 pm
by htg engineer
Turn the mains off from outside, there should be an outside stop tap, if there isn't or if you're unsure about where it is contact your local water board.
Once the water is off, drain all the pipework, there may be a drain off near the internal stop tap, if not open the cold water taps and be prepared for abit of water in the pipework.
Undo the nuts and remove the stop tap, check the olive if there's any movement it'll be best to either cut it off or they do normally come off with some grips, and replace the olive. If there's no movement on the olive, wrap PTFE around the olive (not around the threads - pointless exercise) in a clockwise direction 3 or 4 revolutions will do - re-assemble the pipework and stop tap.
Do not overtighten the nuts. Alot of people do, If there's a weep you will be able to tighten a touch more to seal. If you fully tighten the nuts and it leaks then what do you do ?? start again.
htg