Uncapped mains water supply

[vikkiplum]

I am in a bit of a pickle and I'm not sure where I stand. I also apologise if this is the wrong place to post this. My neighbours lost their water supply and an engineer came around on Saturday and turned some of the stopcocks on in the street outside. Only one he forgot to turn back to the way it was. This went through to a water mains pipe that opened up behind a plasterboard wall in my hallway, which I didn't know was there, my flat was converted in 1989 and I have a mains water supply. On Sunday evening the supply then flooded into my flat via the stopcock that he opened but did not close. I have a lot of damage to my property because of this and the engineer firmly said not his fault, even though he couldn't explain why he didn't shut the stopcock off once he knew it wasn't the answer to my neighbours problems. I feel he should of as he didn't know what it was for, but he just left it. I am really upset by this and I do not have much knowledge to know if he is right or if it should be standard practise that if you turn something one way you turn it back again. Also I do not understand why it took from Saturday until Sunday before the flood happened.... Any advice would be greatly received. (my neighbours still have no water! and I also found out Thames Water mixed up our meters and we've been paying each others bills)

Thanks in advance

 

[on31ll]

was the stopcock turned off when the engineer arrived ? otherwise if he turned it off then turned it back on why would he turn it off again ??

did the engineer warn you that he was going to turn your water on or off ?
the pipework after the stopcock belongs to you not the water undertaker. they wouldnt have any knowledge that there was a uncapped water supply in the home. the pipework must of been capped then the pressure in the line has built and maybe popped the stop end ?

have you spoke to the water undertaker ? they will be best to advise on your situation but i dont think your going to have much luck here. if i was to leave pipework with a stop end on and it blew off for some reason it would be my fault no the water undertaker

 

[Howsie]

I think this will sit with you I'm afraid. The pipe should of been capped.

 

[vikkiplum]

Thanks for your advice. He was there because of my neighbours, I didn't know about any of the other stuff until my flat flooded, therefore had not been warned. My mains are seperate, this is an unknown pipe left open behind a plaster board wall that I had to smash to find where the water was coming from. I don't why its there or where it was supposed to feed to. The stopcock was off and he turned it on to test for my neighbours water and then left it on, I don't know why he didn't turn it off thats why I am so upset, if he had like the other stopcocks he had played around with this wouldn't have happened.

I have contacted them make a complaint, I can understand why he says it's nothing to do with him, I think he was negilgent in not turning the stopcock back to how he found it.

I will see what the waterboard say but I am prepared that I am going to have to pay to get the damage fixed.

THanks again for your response

 

[Howsie]

I hope your household insurance would cover. Whoever built/converted the flat is really at fault but you've got two hopes there.

 

[on31ll]

i think its down to your insurence. why was your water turned off ? i agree that maybe he should of notified you that he was going to turn the water off but thats the difference between a 20 min job and a 3 hour job ? then what does he do to the people that are in work etc ? i think they are just going to say that after the stopcock belong to you. the stopcock is the property of the water undertaker so they are allowed to use it.

sorry that it happend to you but its down to the plumber that did it originally

 

[Avatar]

It sounds like when they converted the flat whoever did the work left this pipe there still attached to the water main in the street.

This should have been capped in the property as previously suggested - however I am afraid that the onus would lie with the guys who decided that it would be easier to isolate this hidden pipe by leaving the external stopcock closed, rather than actually taking the time to cap it off properly.

I don't think that the plumber can be blamed as the fault lies in your property. Unfortunately you have been left with a bit of a 'time bomb' there which was going to go off sooner or later!

Home insurance may help if you have it, however maybe you should consider looking for compensation from who you bought the property from as legally it would fall to them (having presumable sold you a property with a fault)

It may be quite hard to get compensation from this one I think .. . . It is a shame as whoever left that pipe there ought to be shot really!

I hope this helps somewhat.

 

[AWheating]

the way i see it is........... if the engineer had not touched the stop tap outside then you would have no damage to your property. So he/she is the cause of said damage. Any plumber should not be turning on and leaving on any outside stop tap without knowing what its doing.

I would speak to your insurance company and give them all the information including the plumbers details and let them sort it out.


as regards the open redundant main its a dead leg and need to be disconnected at the main end in the road ideally.

 

[vikkiplum]

Thanks to all of you that have answered my query. I have spent the last few days drying everything out and I am hoping the damage won't be too bad! Just the wall to fix I am hoping the floor will dry out without too many problems. I really cannot face taking on people at the moment and I think it would be best if I just put right the damage myself. The original engineer marked the stopcock outside to be capped off. I will make sure this is done. Seeing all the people who have really been flooded has put it in perspective for me I have been really lucky and it some ways I'm considering it as a warning shot, as it could have been so much worse!!

Thank you again