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| © Eugene Brennan |
The
amount of tools required to try and work a miracle and do keyhole
plumbing to get the top off a leaking stopcock underground. The
alternative is to dig up the concrete. It's just for the workshop
luckily.
Edit.
Managed to get the rusted red handwheel off the valve, wringing the
retaining nut, just as expected (WD40 sprayed on the night before didn't
work). I used scrap valves when doing the original plumbing, rather
than a proper stopcock that takes a key. I couldn't get the whole
spindle out of the valve, I think these are bonded, but got the packing
nut off and packed around the stem with PTFE tape, which took forever
because the tape had to be rolled on with one hand. (It was a foot down
under the ground below one of those horseshoe-shaped covers, so could
only get one hand into the chamber). Seems to be no leaks now. I'll keep
the new handwheel indoors and just put it on if the water needs to be
turned off. The second photo is what the inside of a gate valve looks
like (the ones with red handles that you might have in your hot press).
The gate is the cylindrical brass disc.
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| Dismantled gate valve for water. © Eugene Brennan |