freezing pipes

[David Martin]

How well do those pipe freezing kits work? The eejits who did the kitchen many moons ago (before we bought the house) omitted to fit a stopcock to the rising main. The easy thing will be to freeze the pipe, undo one compression joint and insert a stop cock, then tidy up all the bits to fit.

If these freezing kits work.

The pipe is vertical and lead.

..d

[Woofage]

Can't you turn it off at the meter outside?

[David Martin]

Can't you turn it off at the meter outside?

An interesting idea. The water supply for our house and next door runs round the back of the nextdoor house where it splits.

The stopcock in the street works but cuts off water to both houses.

The stopcock in the neighbours back yard doesn't turn and is currently inaccessible due to a paving slab on top of it.

If I turn the water off in the street then I have all the water in his rising main, my other rising main (the water comes in in two places..) to deal with. Just freezing the pipe gives me a small amount of 15mm pipe (to the dishwasher and sink) to deal with.

So freezing appears to be the better option.

..d

[rogerzilla]

If it's a plastic pipe you may be out of luck.

I'd ask the water authority for advice.

[Slim]

They do work. I used one when disconnecting an old shower that didn't have a service valve. It has to be said, I was very nervous when cutting through the pipe.

I'm not sure if the difference in pressure at the base of the house would be so much higher than the pressure in the loft as to cause problems with the freezing kit.


HTH

[Jaded]

I've used one for a heating pipe.

With the pressure of the mains round here I'd be nervous with one on the mains. Maybe you use a freezing kit AND turn the mains off?

[FatBloke]

They work well on copper. Not too sure about lead. 

[Martin109]

I'd negotiate with the neighbour for 30mins no mains water, if I were you.

[Air Dancer]

If it's a plastic pipe you may be out of luck.

I'd ask the water authority for advice.

Second that, I had a shared external stopcock which was stuffed, they came round and sorted it within a week. Nigh on rebuilt the entire thing. I believe they own it and therefore are responsible for it's maintainance.

Pipe freezing kits do work and provide plenty of time to do any work that need doing. But £10-£15 can be saved in buying one if going along the route with the Water Authority and shutting off your supply from outside.

[David Martin]

I now have a stopcock on my mains in to the kitchen. It worked just fine, and I could test it had worked by seeing whether the kitchen tap worked.

So I have finally sorted one of the minor niggles prior to swapping the entire sink (a larger task.)

..d