Plumbing worries

My washbasin in the bathroom has a hot and a cold tap. I never use the hot tap. I don't think anyone would expect me to, but apart from me thinking you don't need to burn fossil fuels to get clean hands, it also takes quite a while for the boiler to kick into gear (if it is even switched on) and to get you your hot water. I am not going to let that much drinking water go to waste! But there are loads of people in the world who seem to instinctively reach for the hot water tap when they wash their hands.

When one day my cold water tap started to leak, I tried to do some plumbing. I stripped both taps, which wasn't easy; they were quite seized up, as most items with a screw thread in this house are. This situation didn't look good; in the long run, I need to get a professional sort it out. But what I basically did was switch the taps around, so the cold water tap with all its wear and tear would just swap places with the rarely used hot one. That was a fine temporary solution. And given that I never use the hot tap, things went fine for a while.

It tends to go wrong when I have visitors. They don't know what I've been doing with these taps, and just try to use the hot tap. I really should have put a notice on it saying "do not use" or something. So far I've always managed to squeeze it closed again after someone had used it and it started to leak, but this time it wasn't collaborating. It leaks now. And I need to act!

Not good

Many months ago I had already intended to start the process by doing what I thought was closing the stopcock. But the water kept going, so I clearly hadn't. It wasn't a question of there just being water left in the pipes! And then life got in the way and I never got around to picking that chore up again. But now I had to see if I could.

The stopcock is in a very awkward position. It is in the very narrow space next to a kitchen cabinet, removed from sight by a dummy kitchen cabinet door. It’s 56 cm into the gap, and I don’t have particularly long arms. So I basically have to open that door, push my shoulders in the opening, with my back to the wall, and then reach as far as I can into the narrow space. I can just about reach the stopcock! But in that position it is difficult to put full force on it. That stopcock really needs to move to a more practical location.

Notice some pipe work in the gap

Behind the pipe work is the stopcock! 

I contacted my plumber, but there was no reply. Through the grapevine I heard that he was quite busy. I need to see if I can book him in in the quite far future. And in the meantime, I need to summon the strength in my fingers to close that bloody stopcock, and see if I can change the washer on the hot tap. Once I've done that, I will certainly put a notice on it saying it is not in use. And if I can get the plumber to come by for the stopcock, I might ask him as well to replace the entire taps. It looks like the metalwork is at the end of its life. And then I will have been future-proofed! But first I need to get down to this smaller leaking issue myself.

I don't want to have a leaking tap! I really try to not be wasteful with drinking water. And now that silly tap is thwarting all my good progress. I know what I will have to do at the very first day off that presents itself…