Mains stop cock.

[entirelyuseless]

Thanks for the latest replies, especially the last two.
We do not have a water meter fitted. As I say the stop cock is the original one fitted in about 1939. With a bit of WD40 and the stop cock key, hopefully after a good soaking with oil I may be able to turn it.

Opening it up a bit more would that increase the water flow into the house ? As mentioned mains plastic pipes were installed 2-3 yrs back, and that is when our low water pressure problem began.

 

[honda]

If you manage to get the stopcock free to turn and find it's not fully open then yes it would increase the flow as you would then have full mains pressure through the pipe into your house. Same as filling your kitchen sink I suppose with tap not wide open. Good luck with it.

 

[entirelyuseless]

honda, Thanks for your info. I too live in Yorkshire. Unable to free the outside stopcock after soaking it with WD40. Yorks Water technician came last Friday, very helpful, but he told me the stopcock was related to the gas inlet pipe 4 feet away on the wall !! Anyhow, I contacted the local plumbing firm, whose name was on the top of the stopcock cover, and they confirmed it was the water s.cock; as in the 1930's they did not deal with gas.
Technician assured us on Friday, that a team would be here today, Monday, to dig at the stopcock, but we are still waiting.
I now find that 2 of our neighbours are having the same problem, but not as severe as we experience, and they have done nothing about it !
A third neighbour had brown water coming from the cold tap last Wed. It now looks to me, as a complete layman, that the problem is connected with the mains pipework, rather than within my property.

 

[entirelyuseless]

All's well that ends well. Similar to your predicament, Honda, Yorkshire Water eventually returned this Wed. The outside stop cock was opened up, and brown sandy sediment ran through the kitchen tap for 11 mins. He suspected that was a result of the mains water pipes being replaced about 2 years ago, although they were not done in our cul-de-sac.
The engineer also managed to break the stopcock, so they have fitted a new one outside, free of charge. Water pressure all around the house now back to normal.

 

[honda]

Pleased you got it sorted at last mate