No mains water stop valve on street query

[User62651]

1. Is it normal that if one house has it that every house on a street will also have an accessible stop valve on the street to turn their mains water on and off?
2. Is it also typical to have that access point next to a gate? In my limited experience it is.
3. Would you ever get 2 valves for separate properties in one access point?
4. Is any access point likely to have been tarred over by utilities workers by mistake, maybe if it got covered by dirt so was hidden?

I ask as i have one on the street edge near my gate under a small old iron lid, the quarter turn type (with a toby key) which I've used on occasion as I dont have a stop valve in the house, however my neighbour doesn't or can't find his street one.
Houses are 50s built so I'd guess the pipes are from then too.

I have mains water and waste water plans I obtained from the council a while ago which shows the mains water pipe location about the same distance into the street from the property boundaries for each nearby house as it is mine.

Our street like so many is now as much patched tar as original tar from historic cable and pipe works as well as potholing hence question 4. There is a newish sizeable patch of tar by his gate where I would expect to see any stop valve cover located.

Tried a metal detector but a cheap kids one and i guess it wouldn't find something metal under thick road tar.

Anyone know much about water services from yesteryear?

 

[Deleted member 1740]

Dont be surprised if "your" mains stop tap actually feeds and stops other homes too. A shared main isnt uncommon.

 

[Neilds]

Dont be surprised if "your" mains stop tap actually feeds and stops other homes too. A shared main isnt uncommon.

Same with our house, one stop tap for us and next door. Caused a lot of head scratching for Wessex Water when they came to fit a meter

 

[jim8flog]

My mother in law lived in the middle of one of three cottages the water feed was the same to all three cottages with just one stop cock in the street.

I would expect there to be one for every house for a house built in the 50s. The house I lived which was built in the 50 had the stop cock immediately outside of the kitchen where the water came in which was at the back of the house.

If you look where the water comes in to house you have to work in all three directions from that point.

If there are any hedges check to see if it is being hidden them.

PS What is shown on the plans does not always agree with what the builder put in . My house is mid 70s built and I know some of the drains and also the electric is not what is shown.

 

[Blue in Munich]

1. Is it normal that if one house has it that every house on a street will also have an accessible stop valve on the street to turn their mains water on and off?
2. Is it also typical to have that access point next to a gate? In my limited experience it is.
3. Would you ever get 2 valves for separate properties in one access point?
4. Is any access point likely to have been tarred over by utilities workers by mistake, maybe if it got covered by dirt so was hidden?

I ask as i have one on the street edge near my gate under a small old iron lid, the quarter turn type (with a toby key) which I've used on occasion as I dont have a stop valve in the house, however my neighbour doesn't or can't find his street one.
Houses are 50s built so I'd guess the pipes are from then too.

I have mains water and waste water plans I obtained from the council a while ago which shows the mains water pipe location about the same distance into the street from the property boundaries for each nearby house as it is mine.

Our street like so many is now as much patched tar as original tar from historic cable and pipe works as well as potholing hence question 4. There is a newish sizeable patch of tar by his gate where I would expect to see any stop valve cover located.

Tried a metal detector but a cheap kids one and i guess it wouldn't find something metal under thick road tar.

Anyone know much about water services from yesteryear?

1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Not common in my experience, but not unusual depending on the set up.
4. Oh Christ, very yes.

 

[User62651]

thanks for the quick replies, very helpful, thought lockdown might help me there.
I took a quick wander but didn't see any other access points nearby but the verges have crept in with soil/vegetation over the years as well as hedges so they could be hidden.
Can at least suggest he tries the one by my gate as a first try in a process of elimination.

 

[SocketRocket]

thanks for the quick replies, very helpful, thought lockdown might help me there.
I took a quick wander but didn't see any other access points nearby but the verges have crept in with soil/vegetation over the years as well as hedges so they could be hidden.
Can at least suggest he tries the one by my gate as a first try in a process of elimination.

Your Water Board may have stoptap plans. I guess you dont have water meters.

 

[User62651]

Your Water Board may have stoptap plans. I guess you dont have water meters.

No meters for us, like to think therefore it's free but water cost is lost inside the council tax payment. It is unlimited usage for us but it is Argyll so unlikely to ever run short. Saying that it's been dry for weeks now.
The council plan only shows the hydrants on the mains lines.
They have zero info on what is contained within gardens unfortunately on mains or waste water arrangements, just what's on their land.

 

[Blue in Munich]

If you are looking, the convention down here is that it will be roughly on a corridor that the path to your front door would follow, and most services seenm to enter around the front door area. Not sure if it is the same up your way, but might be of some help, as might this;

https://www.thameswater.co.uk/help-...n/how-to-find-and-use-your-outside-stop-valve

 

[SocketRocket]

No meters for us, like to think therefore it's free but water cost is lost inside the council tax payment. It is unlimited usage for us but it is Argyll so unlikely to ever run short. Saying that it's been dry for weeks now.
The council plan only shows the hydrants on the mains lines.
They have zero info on what is contained within gardens unfortunately on mains or waste water arrangements, just what's on their land.

He could look at fitting a stop valve just inside the house using a freeze pack to close off the pipe.
Or even easier one of these:

 

[bigslice]

Metal,coat hanger and try tracing the pipework, it does work

 

[Deleted member 1740]

thanks for the quick replies, very helpful, thought lockdown might help me there.
I took a quick wander but didn't see any other access points nearby but the verges have crept in with soil/vegetation over the years as well as hedges so they could be hidden.
Can at least suggest he tries the one by my gate as a first try in a process of elimination.

Id bet my last penny you’re on a shared main. Try isolating yours and ask him to run his cold tap??

 

[Bunkermagnet]

He could look at fitting a stop valve just inside the house using a freeze pack to close off the pipe.
Or even easier one of these:

I'd be a little concerned if the incomming mains was on 15mm copper

 

[SocketRocket]

I'd be a little concerned if the incomming mains was on 15mm copper

It will be when it's inside the house, also they come in different bore sizes including 22mm.

 

[jim8flog]

I'd be a little concerned if the incomming mains was on 15mm copper

I know mine comes in on 22mm but immediately after the internal stopcock it goes to 15 but I live in a area with good pressure. The guy who fitted my boiler wanted to change it all to 22m but then I pointed I have the stopcock turned down to stop to reduce the flow anyway.