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I need to locate my stopcock / stop valve, but am not sure how to find it. I live in a flat the UK, within a house which has been converted into three flats. However, after looking at pictures of stopcocks on the web, I cannot find anything which resembles the "brass tap" design, which seems to be typical:

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So instead, I have been inspecting the back of my sink. This looks like:

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And on closer inspection:

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Then following it down and to the right:

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Could it be the red tap on the end?

And then following it round the back to the left:

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Those red and blue taps are the only taps I can see. Could these be my stockcocks? I would have thought that there is only one stopcock though, for cold water from the mains, rather than a separate one for hot water too since mains only supplies cold water.

If I follow this even further round to the left, after removing part of a cupboard, I've managed to capture a photo of this:

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There are some black taps in there, as well as a red tap. However, this is by no means an easy place to get to, and I would have thought that the stopcock would be in an easier place to reach? For example, I cannot even get my hand down to those black taps, without removing the entire cabinet.

I have also tried looking under by boiler, which is a combi-boiler located in my kitchen:

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But nothing there looks like a tap.

Other than these images, there really are no other places I can find in my flat which has any exposed plumbing where the stopcock might be found. Can somebody spot the stopcock in my photos, or advise how I should proceed?

Thanks!

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The Polypipe parts with red and blue taps look like heating manifolds (do you have underfloor heating?) and are not likely to be the stop tap.

You'll have to follow the two pipes to the right in the under-sink photo. One of those (the one that feeds the cold tap) will be fed from the stop tap. It will probably also connect a cold feed to the boiler and to any other sinks, bath, or shower too.

Do you have a bath? (It could be under there).

Is your flat on the ground floor or an upper floor?

Edit to add (one of your photos wasn't loading initially)... The stop tap is the one that has been painted white, next to the earth bonding (green and yellow wire) connection.

Also...For future reference, the black taps are on the filling loop for your boiler. If the pressure gauge shows too low pressure in the system, you'll need to let more water in to the required operating pressure.

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  • Hi John, thanks very much for your help. As for the white tap, could you let me know which one you mean in this image -- s10.postimg.io/m00o6vxt5/taps.png. The red, blue or green arrow?
    – Karnivaurus
    Aug 22, 2016 at 23:09
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    The bit you need to turn is the brass part that sticks out below the blue arrow in the photo (that's the bit that is at the top of your first "brass tap" photo). The red and green arrows are the nuts that hold the tap onto the pipes and the blue arrow is pointing to where the tap "mechanism" screws into the tap body. All 3 arrows are pointing to the tap... Compare the shape of it to the brass tap photo again and imagine the brass tap being painted white...
    – John
    Aug 22, 2016 at 23:21
  • Ah, I get you. My question about the arrows seems a bit daft now! It still puzzles me why the tap would be located in such an awkward place. I'm now going to have to entirely remove one of my kitchen cabinets in order to turn the tap. It is a brand new flat too, so designed purposefully in that way. It seems strange to me!
    – Karnivaurus
    Aug 22, 2016 at 23:28
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    Builders are often incredibly dense about how things are done in places they won't be living themselves. I would suggest cutting an access hole in the cabinet, and then cutting a cover a bit larger than the hole to put over the hole. Or you can buy an access door/panel and cut a hole to suit that, then install it.
    – Ecnerwal
    Aug 23, 2016 at 0:19

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