After Turning Off The Water At The Stopcock Under The Sink ...

[ladybirder]

how long before water should no longer come out of the taps?

[Bazile]

A minute or so for any water in the pipes to clear , I would have thought

[KARL]

If you turn off the cold water supply then you would expect no water to come from the cold water taps beyond possible partial emptying of the pipes - this should be perhaps a litre or so. Hot water taps will release more water unless you turn off the hot water supply wherever any valve is located. If your house has what is referred to as a header tank and hot water cylinder and there is no way to close the supply from the cylinder (warning: closing the supply to the cylinder and not from it can cause the cylinder to collapse) then water will run from any hot water tap until both tanks are empty.

[bhg481]

The other thing to be aware of is that flushing the toilet can cause a release of water. KARL points out that pipes can empty but they might not unless you let air in, so I always turn on the cold taps to make sure they're drained. The same can be true of the toilet - a toilet fed from the mains is obvious but one filled from the header tank is not so obvious and I once fell for this. I'd turned off the cold supply, opened up a pipe and then my daughter flushed the toilet; this started to refill from the header tank which, in turn, tried to fill from the rising main as the ball-cock opened and let air in. The whole cold feed from the stop-cock to the header tank emptied onto the kitchen floor. Motto; after you've turned off the water FLUSH THE BOG.

[ladybirder]

Thanks guys. It's now been an hour and 50 mins. Water still comes from all taps and I have just flushed the loo and it has filled up again. Flat is 10 years old.

[Mamyalynne]

Are you sure that what you have turned off is the mains water stopcock?

[Mamyalynne]

Check if there's a stopcock in the toilet area.

[Zacs-Master]

What is it you're wanting to do?

[bhg481]

Most loos are filled from the header tank, so will refill even if the water is turned off; my problem was the header tank trying to refill itself and letting air into the mains pipe. Water should cease to flow from the cold taps within minutes and the flow should be slow because it will not be at mains pressure. If you have a good flow after a few minutes it means you have not turned off the stop-cock sufficiently. Hot taps will continue to run for a long time as they are fed via the loft tank.

[ladybirder]

It has a label hanging from it mamya, with Mains Water written on it so even I couldn't get that wrong.
Zacs I am still trying to get to rid of the gurgling noise coming from the wall behind my shower, 24/7, for months. Two plumbers can't even agree if the fault is in my flat and therefore my responsibility as the flat owner or is a Fabric of the Building job and therefore the freeholder/management's responsibility. At this moment another resident is having a look and asked me to turn the water off to see what happens. Hence this question.

https://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/How-it-Works/Question1711998-2.html

[youngmafbog]

In flats I have worked on there is usually a valve in the riser cupboard.

It's quite possible that the 'tap under the sink' has got a knackered washer so is not shutting off properly so one would normally go back to the one in the road or the riser cupboard.

The main kitchen tap should be connected directly to the mains - are you getting any water out of that?

[TonyV]

Lady not sure you will know the answer but do you have a cold water tank in your loft that is still filling, should have stopped when you turned your water stop cock of.

[youngmafbog]

It's a flat, very rare to have tanks in flats unless an older one or a convert. Most use Combi's.

[Baldric]

Do flats have lofts?

[Mamyalynne]

Apologies for the stupid question of the thread LB.

I live in a flat, my loo fills from the mains and the stopcock is in there too.

Must be a problem with the stopcock as others have said.

[youngmafbog]

"Do flats have lofts?"

Generally:

Flat roofers no, although they may have air-con and things on the roof. Not water though as Legionaries is a problem.

Those with a pitched roof also dont tend to have anything in them. The only time I have seen lofts used is for the top flat in a conversion. Thats probably more down to laziness than anything else.

Modern flats tend to utilise the pitch roof with another flat or two.

[TonyV]

Balders you need to describe how your set up is for more advice. Do you have a combi boiler?

[Baldric]

Tony, yes I do have a combi boiler,
but I haven't asked for any advice.

[ladybirder]

The stopcock seems fine. It's only ten years old. It was at the 6.30 position and I turned it comfortably clockwise to the 6.45 position where it stops.
I give up.

[ladybirder]

Sorry yes I do have a combi boiler and I am on the ground floor.

[youngmafbog]

OK, so you have one of the newer stop cocks, good.

Now, if you turn on the Kitchen cold tap do you get water? If you do then turn off the stop cock fully while the tap runs. Does the flow from the kitchen cold tap change at all?