Question 1

Where can I find my main water shut-off valve?

Accepted Answer

Your internal stopcock is most often under the kitchen sink. Failing that, look in the downstairs loo, an airing cupboard, under the stairs, or near where the mains pipe enters the house. It closes clockwise — "righty tighty". There's also an external stop tap, usually under a small metal cover in the path or pavement outside — and in Macclesfield's older terraces, that outside one is often in the pavement itself and shared with next door. Find it now, while nothing is wrong. Hunting through a cupboard with water coming through the ceiling is a bad time to learn that your stopcock is behind the cleaning products and seized solid. Once you've found it, turn it off and on again. Stopcocks that haven't moved in years have a habit of seizing, and one that won't close is the same as not having one at all. If it won't budge, or it weeps once you've turned it, get it replaced — it's a small job now and a big one during a flood. The external stop tap, under the metal cover outside, usually needs a stopcock key to reach. It's the one to use if the leak is between the boundary and the house, or if the internal one has failed. There's a wrinkle here that catches Macclesfield people out, and it's worth knowing before you need to know it. In the Victorian terraces — the silk-era cottages through the town centre, Hollands Place, the streets off Hurdsfield Road — one supply pipe quite often feeds two or more houses from a single shared stop tap. United Utilities call it a "common supply". It means the tap in the pavement may not be yours alone, and turning it off can shut your neighbour's water off with it. It also means a leak on that shared pipe is a conversation with the neighbours as well as with a plumber. So find out which kind you have while it's a curiosity rather than an emergency, and tell everyone in the house where it is. The person at home when a pipe goes is not always the person who reads the plumbing pages.

Question 2

Where is my stopcock?

Accepted Answer

Your internal stopcock is most often under the kitchen sink. Failing that, look in the downstairs loo, an airing cupboard, under the stairs, or near where the mains pipe enters the house. It closes clockwise — "righty tighty". There's also an external stop tap, usually under a small metal cover in the path or pavement outside — and in Macclesfield's older terraces, that outside one is often in the pavement itself and shared with next door. Find it now, while nothing is wrong. Hunting through a cupboard with water coming through the ceiling is a bad time to learn that your stopcock is behind the cleaning products and seized solid. Once you've found it, turn it off and on again. Stopcocks that haven't moved in years have a habit of seizing, and one that won't close is the same as not having one at all. If it won't budge, or it weeps once you've turned it, get it replaced — it's a small job now and a big one during a flood. The external stop tap, under the metal cover outside, usually needs a stopcock key to reach. It's the one to use if the leak is between the boundary and the house, or if the internal one has failed. There's a wrinkle here that catches Macclesfield people out, and it's worth knowing before you need to know it. In the Victorian terraces — the silk-era cottages through the town centre, Hollands Place, the streets off Hurdsfield Road — one supply pipe quite often feeds two or more houses from a single shared stop tap. United Utilities call it a "common supply". It means the tap in the pavement may not be yours alone, and turning it off can shut your neighbour's water off with it. It also means a leak on that shared pipe is a conversation with the neighbours as well as with a plumber. So find out which kind you have while it's a curiosity rather than an emergency, and tell everyone in the house where it is. The person at home when a pipe goes is not always the person who reads the plumbing pages.

Question 3

How do I turn the water off in my house?

Accepted Answer

Your internal stopcock is most often under the kitchen sink. Failing that, look in the downstairs loo, an airing cupboard, under the stairs, or near where the mains pipe enters the house. It closes clockwise — "righty tighty". There's also an external stop tap, usually under a small metal cover in the path or pavement outside — and in Macclesfield's older terraces, that outside one is often in the pavement itself and shared with next door. Find it now, while nothing is wrong. Hunting through a cupboard with water coming through the ceiling is a bad time to learn that your stopcock is behind the cleaning products and seized solid. Once you've found it, turn it off and on again. Stopcocks that haven't moved in years have a habit of seizing, and one that won't close is the same as not having one at all. If it won't budge, or it weeps once you've turned it, get it replaced — it's a small job now and a big one during a flood. The external stop tap, under the metal cover outside, usually needs a stopcock key to reach. It's the one to use if the leak is between the boundary and the house, or if the internal one has failed. There's a wrinkle here that catches Macclesfield people out, and it's worth knowing before you need to know it. In the Victorian terraces — the silk-era cottages through the town centre, Hollands Place, the streets off Hurdsfield Road — one supply pipe quite often feeds two or more houses from a single shared stop tap. United Utilities call it a "common supply". It means the tap in the pavement may not be yours alone, and turning it off can shut your neighbour's water off with it. It also means a leak on that shared pipe is a conversation with the neighbours as well as with a plumber. So find out which kind you have while it's a curiosity rather than an emergency, and tell everyone in the house where it is. The person at home when a pipe goes is not always the person who reads the plumbing pages.

Where can I find my main water shut-off valve?

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