Do you know where to turn off your water?
This is a life skill that’s far easier to learn before you need it. I've lost count of the number of homes I've been to where the customer doesn’t know how to turn water off in an emergency.
Looking for the stop tap for the first time while water is pouring out can be extremely stressful.
Most people who tell me they know where their Stop Tap is, only found out when they had an emergency. They didn't go looking for it, just in case.
Table of Contents
Does your Stop Tap work?
Can you actually turn it on or off? There’s not much point in finding it if it doesn’t work when you need it.
Please test it.
In fact, we recommend that you start a routine of checking regularly, just in case. Check out our post on Regular Home Maintenance.
If you already regularly practice for just such a scenario, give yourself a congratulatory pat on the back and move onto another topic, (although I might not believe you)
If you’re not sure, or only have a vague idea, it might be worth reading a little bit further.
External Stop taps
There should be an external Stop Tap on your pavement. This belongs to your local Water Supply Company. if it doesn't work, then you contact them to sort it out.
Where will you find an External Stop tap?
Look on the street outside your house
If you’re lucky, you can turn your water off in the street outside your house. There’s usually a small metal or plastic cover on the pavement.
There’s often a clue stamped on the top.
If it says “GAS”, it’s not the water stop tap.
You may need a flat-headed screwdriver (or improvised tool) to prise the lid up.
Sometimes the lid has been glued down during pavement resurfacing Not something you want to discover in an emergency.
Occasionally you’ll find a type that twists rather than lifts. If prising fails, try twisting anti-clockwise (direction you’d turn a tap on) using a screwdriver blade.
What you'll see inside
You're either going to find an old-style brass tap, or a newer plastic tap
Old Brass Stop Tap
If you haven't used this for a while, there's a strong chance that it won't turn when you try to turn it off. If it is seized up, try turning it both ways. Wiggling it both ways may help to loosen it.
If the stop tap is a long way down, you may need a stopcock key (and that’s not something you want to be trying to buy in a hurry).
New Plastic Tap
Much more likely to be able to turn this. If you can't see anything that looks like a tap. there may be a detachable plastic key lying in the bottom of the hole. If there isn't one, it might be worth checking in a neighbour's stop tap. That may explain why yours is missing.
Plastic taps can be hard to fully turn off. It can feel like the key will break before it stops the final dribble.
If you already have a meter, then you will have a plastic Stop Tap, and it should turn off easily.
Stop Tap Plastic Key
External Meter with Stop tap
Your local Water supplier is responsible for the External Stop Tap. If it isn’t working, or is leaking, it is their responsibility to come out and repair it. Bristol Water have some useful information on their site about what do in this eventuality.
TOP TIP
If your stop tap is an old brass tap, open it fully when you turn the water back on, then turn it back a ¼ turn.
This gives “wriggle room” if it starts to seize in future.
Action: Leave your Stop Tap slightly closed
At this point you should give yourself a pat on the back. You may have saved yourself a lot of money.
- If you're in the middle of a Plumbing Emergency, you've prevented any more damage being caused
- If you’re being proactive and preparing yourself for an emergency situation, you now know that your External Stop tap does (or doesn’t) turn off.
Internal Stop Taps
Some people have some idea about where their Stop Tap is inside their house.
A good place to start looking is under the Kitchen Sink. Usually, in my experience, this means pulling out an odd assortment of cleaning products, congealed packets of washing powder and cleaning cloths in order to actually reach it. However, when you get there, it may look like this:
Where Else to look...
If it isn't there, then these are other possible places to start looking:
- Just inside your front door – how lucky you are – in a box marked “Water Stop Tap” – Ok, we can all dream.
- Maybe in an outhouse, the old lean-to toilet in the back garden, in the garage…..
- Under the floorboards – I’m not joking. I have found many stop taps hidden away under the floor – what were they thinking? Wobbly floorboards, not screwed down can be a bit of a giveaway for this particular scenario. (Our original Stop Tap was just out of reach if you took up the loose floorboards in the porch, laid on your front and stretched as far as possible. I can only assume they sent small children down there in the old days.)
Old Brass Stop Tap Above Ground
This stop tap is coming up out of a solid floor
Stop Tap hidden under the floor
This is more common than you would think. I find this most often in old Edwardian/Victorian Terraced Houses.
You’re not going to get to this in a hurry, and when you do, there's not a lot of chance of it working
TOP TIP
If you can't find your Stop tap on the obvious places, ask your neighbours. Its quite likely that Stop Taps will have been installed in the same places in similar houses
Action: Check with your Neighbours
If it isn’t in one of these places, then you can assume that either you don’t have one (not unusual), or that you may have one in an obscure position which nobody has know about for decades. If that is the case, even if yo do find it, the chances of it still being able to turn are pretty obscure.
Do you need an Internal Stop tap?
In a word: no, but…
There’s no requirement to have one. If your external stop tap works well and is easy to access, you may not need an internal one.
However, in the event of an emergency, for instance a plumbing fitting failing in the first floor bathroom, the time it takes for you to run down the stairs, find a flat-headed implement (to prise off the cover), locate a headtorch, put your slippers on and get out to the external stop tap, several litres of water may have flooded through your Kitchen ceiling (and light fittings).
Alternative types of Stop Tap
There are alternatives to the traditional Tap-like Stop-tap, which can be awkward and stiff to use. They require a degree of force and dexterity, and as we have discussed can be in inaccessible places.
One option is a Lever-style tap, such as this. They have a very definite action, are easy to operate and are less likely to seize up.
Lever-style Stop tap Closed
Lever-style Stop tap Open
Surestop Stop tap
Another alternative is the Surestop Stoptap. This can be installed at a distance from the pipework. It is operated by what looks like a large Lightswitch. It employs a pressure switch, which means there is a very slight delay between pressing the switch, and the water flow stopping, but is still very quick and is extremely easy to operate.
It is recommended that Surestop is installed as an additional means of isolating the water supply. Ideally you should still have an external Stop-tap. It really should not be your only means of turning off the supply.
TOP TIP
If you can't find a Stop Tap, or your Stop Tap won't move, contact a Plumber at the earliest opportunity to have one installed
Action: Get a Stop Tap installed ASAP
