water screwy thing

[tamborine]

the outside water for troughs is controlled by a screwy thing in the pipe....fitted to avoid freezing pipes. I can't manage the screw thing (not strong enuf) - what else can be fitted to switch the water on/off.

[gucciman]

the screwy thing sounds like a ballofix valve and it has prob worn or there is debris caught in it, why not replace it for another one of the same

[AlBags]

Who suggested a gate valve? Duhhhhh
Gate valves must not be used for mains water.

Go to plumbers merchants and ask for a lever full bore isolation valve. They are like this ..
http://www.screwfix.c...alve%2015mm&source=aw

If blue or black plastic, you will need adapter to suit. Just ask there.

[Canary42]

AlBags is of course quite right re gate valve, but my excuse is at the time I didn't appreciate it was mains, and I was only making multiple suggestions to get the feel of the problem.

AlBags's suggested fixture to replace your "screwy thing", is similar to my second post but would be a much better solution if there is room for it since it will give you much more leverage.

You still have the problem of the broken ballcock fitting - the item I illustrated for this was just an example adaptor (in plastic) - but they are available in copper as well as plastic, I just couldn't locate one at the time. They join old dimension pipe to modern, and any decent plumber's merchant should stock them (and as far as that goes, any decent plumber should be able to cope with joining modern fittings to old pipe because there's still plenty of it about).