Plumbing Help and Advice

Help and advice from our team of experts

During the next weeks and months Plunge Bob Plumbing will be publishing a number articles designed to help you get to grips with some general household plumbing tasks. It's our aim to help you gain the skills to deal with some of the smaller jobs, and save you the expense of calling a plumber. That said, if you are at all in doubt, call an expert. To continue blindly in the hope that you will get it right in the end can end up with even more costs in the long run.

By the end of these lessons you should be able to complete all manner of household plumbing tasks, including identifying all manner of household plumbing pipes, their sizes materials and uses, cutting and joining pipes, fitting taps, sinks and baths, repair leaks, make repairs to WC valves, and much more.

Although each section can be viewed as a stand alone lesson, each also builds on knowledge taught in the previous section, and may assume a skill taught earlier. If you find that you are unsure of something that is being said it might be an idea to read back over previous sections to refresh on something you may have missed.

Some of the tools you may require to complete general plumbing tasks:

Hacksaw
Adjustable Spanners
Adjustable Plumbers Grips
Screwdrivers
Drill Driver
Hand Drill
Wood Saw
Blow Torch and Gas Bottle
Heat Proof Mat
Hammer (for when all else fails)

It may sound obvious, but having the right tools and the right parts for a job make everything a lot lot easier.

Although botching something may at first seem quicker and cheaper, I can tell you that in 99.9% of cases this is not true, and could lead to very costly repairs being necessary. So it's worth taking a bit of time before starting the work to make sure you have everything you need.

Make a list of all the tools and parts you will require to complete the work, and check that you have them. This can save a lot of time and frustration later on.

Stop Cocks / Water Isolation

Your Stop Cock is simply a tap which stops the water supply from outside your home coming in. It is used so that the water can be turned off for maintenance or changes to your household plumbing.

Most Stop Cocks are found beneath the kitchen or utility room sinks, and can often be accessed by a hole in the kitchen unit. Other places you may find the Stop Cock could be in a garage, in walk-in storage cupboards, or in some modern properties in a purpose made utility hatch on a wall or in a garage.

If you are unable to find your Stop Cock you could try asking a neighbour, if they live in a similar property, where theirs is.

If you are still unable to locate the Stop tap you should call a qualified plumber, who will be able to suggest the best course of action depending on the specific circumstances.

TIP: Some Stop Cocks can be very stiff if they have not been used often. If this is the case, use WD40 or similar to loosen the tap head, and if possible use grips to give extra leverage when trying to turn the tap head. It is VERY important not to force the tap too much. If you cannot turn the tap head the Stop Cock may need replacing.

Assuming that you can locate and use the Stop Cock, after turning the tap off there are two things you should check for.

Firstly that the cold water has been isolated, and that any water held in the pipes is drained out. The best way to do this is to turn the cold water tap at your kitchen sink on. At this point there will probably still be water coming out of the tap. In the same way that if you pull a drinking straw out of a drink with your finger over the top of the straw the drink stays in the straw and can't escape out of the bottom, the water in your pipes will not escape with only one tap turned on. Go upstairs and turn another cold tap on (preferably a basin tap in the bathroom). After a few seconds the water should stop flowing and reduce to a trickle before stopping completely.

If the water does not stop it could be that the Stop Cock is faulty, or that there is more than one Stop Cock in the property (this would mainly be found in older properties). Again, if this is the case, you should probably call for back-up before proceeding.

NOTE: Most good plumbers will probably be more than happy to spend a few minutes dispensing some free advice over the phone, however, remember that they are running a business, and they are unlikely to be happy to talk you through the full job.

Secondly, after isolating the cold water supply and draining down the pipes, you should then move on to the hot water taps.

In some cases the hot water will already be isolated (this is mainly in homes which have a combi-boiler, or a mains fed system). In others you will need to isolate the hot water separately. To test this, turn on the hot water tap at the kitchen sink. The same as with the cold turn on a basin tap upstairs. If the water stops you are ready to go, if not you'll need to isolate the hot before you carry on.

Turn off the taps. You will probably have a hot water storage tank in the property. Some people call it the cylinder, or airing cupboard. Go into there, and clear out any laundry so you are able to see all the components as clearly as you can.

NOTE: It will often look like spaghetti junction in there, and can be quite daunting. Don't worry, but do be careful. If you follow the procedure below carefully you should be fine. As always, if in doubt ask an expert. The first thing to understand is where to find the different components on your cylinder, and that it is actually set up upside down to how most people would first think. What I mean by that is that the water goes into the tank at the very bottom (number 1 on the diagram), and comes out of the tank and to the taps at the top (number 6 on the diagram).

Other pipes that may go in and out of the tank at various points are from the boiler, and should be left alone (numbers 7 and 8 on the diagram).

What you are looking for is a pipe which enters the tank at the very bottom, comes out of the tank, and is sent straight up to a gate valve, before heading into the attic space (numbers 1 and 2 on the diagram). It is this gate valve which should isolate the hot water supply, and it is usually found at a level above the top of the cylinder. Turn the valve fully off and test the hot water is turned off at the taps as you did previously.

NOTE: If the water does not stop or significantly slow within about ten seconds turn, off the taps, and make sure you turn the gate valve back on.

If the water is not isolated by this gate valve, turn it back on and repeat the process of tracing the pipe work back, it may be that you followed the wrong pipe. If you keep coming back to the same gate valve, it could be that the valve is faulty, or that your system has been set-up in a slightly different way. Both cases will require expert assistance.

If you find that the hot water has stopped flowing, make sure you drain the pipes in the same manner you did with the cold pipes, and you are ready to start.