Most people find out their stopcock is seized on the night they need it. It takes ninety seconds to find out in advance, and it is the single most useful thing you can do about a burst pipe.
Of the burst-pipe calls we took last winter, a little over half of them included
the sentence “I can’t turn it off.” Not because people do not know where the
stopcock is — most do — but because it has not been turned since the house was
built and it has seized in the open position.
The one outside
There is a second one in the pavement or the front path, under a small metal or
plastic lid, usually about a metre down. It needs a stop tap key — a long T
handle — and reaching it with a broom handle at midnight in the rain is not a
plan. A key is about eight pounds. Buy one, put it where the stopcock is, and
tell whoever else lives in the house where both are.
If you test it and it will not turn, that is a daytime job at the weekday rate,
not an emergency. It is on the rate card, it takes under an hour on most houses,
and it is the cheapest hour of plumbing you will ever buy.
Written up by the person who did the job. If your drain is doing what
this one did, the survey is £190 and it is £120 if we jet it the same
visit — both on the rate card.