Surestop Reviews 86

I'm a mechanical engineer who likes to do DIY. I fitted a Surestop valve in my kitchen myself about 4 years ago after having a water leak in my house. My brass valve had seized and had to be replaced.
I have had to use my Surestop over this time and found it to be a godsend. I purchased a second one 2 years ago and fitted it outside as a garden tap. Although its supposed to be used indoors its working fine. Some slight discoloration as its in direct sunlight.
To be fair I only purchased my first after calling Surestop and speaking to customer service to find out a little more about the product. The fact each valve was pressure tested to 10 Bar before it leaves Surestop gave me confidence.

Great product thumbs up from me!

There was a Surestop fitted in our bungalow when we moved in and we thought it was a brilliant idea until it leaked and water came through the ceiling and damaged the walls.
Little daunted we had the plumber replace it and 8 months later it has stopped working. It turned the water off, then on and now won't turn it off again so water is pouring out of the shower. Guess what? No reply on the Surestop phone number.

I had a Surestop fitted as my old stopcock was failing to turn off fully. It took my plumber about half an hour to fit. Not only do I not have to empty the cupboard under the sink to get to the stop cock, all I do is switch off the water, but when I go on holiday I can turn off the water so I don't return to a flood if there is a leak. This is a brilliant piece of kit and every home should have one. I read on Money Saving Expert about preparing my home for winter and one of the things they say is know where your stopcock is and does it turn off the water, well I do and can!

Excellent product and excellent staff especially Alfie & Sian

Great unit easy to fit easy to tell customers how it works

I had this surestop fitted just over 7 years ago and now its been leaking from the switch as well as from the mains where the black connection goes. Whoever's idea was to put this sort of stuff in dissable and vulnerable peoples homes, should have tried in their own homes for atleast 7years first. I had to take the switch from under the sink and put it on a big container on floor behind the washing machine so I can collect water, everytime I switch it on from mains to flush toilet or use washing machine. One plumber said he will charge just over £100 just to replace it. Another said this stuff is sold to housing association and to city council to install in the elderly and disables peoples houses. Every plumber I spoke to has given me a quotation of just over £100 to either replace with new one or remove the whole thing. Surestop is rubbish and targeted to the vulnerables only. My advice is NOT to get this fitted in your property.

Seemed like a great idea to have them in retirement apartments where residents may not be able to turn conventional brass stopcocks BUT my late mothers apartment has just flooded due to failure and I am now told 4 other apartments in the same building have had the same problem. Great idea but not worth the risk.

Our experience with Sure Stop is not good. Fitted device eight years ago used on two occasions while changing tap washers but this, the third time of switching off the water disastrous. We have had only a trickle of water since last Friday and now on Monday no water at all.
Alfie at Sure Stop has been no help whatsoever

Hi. I have a SureStop remote water switch fitted to my mains water supply. I have just returned from holiday and was welcomed in by a dreadful musty smell.
The switch for the control is at skirting level in my boiler room. I normally shut the water off at the meter. The switch was installed to make it easier than fiddling with a brass gate valve or sticking your arm down a wet hole to the main. The valve has been fitted for a long time and unfortunately failed the FIRST time we used it !!!
However, I called Alfie at Surestop and he was very helpful ...explained the fitting could be 10+ years old.
I'm sending my address and hopefully he'll be able to send a switch to get me out of trouble..
Fingers crossed ....
Watch this space..
Response was fast and courteous.
** Update **
Within 24 hours new part arrived to replace original.
You CANNOT get better service than that. For a company to send out replacement parts at NO cost after ten years plus ,says a lot !
If you have a problem with your sure stop, simply ring them up and explain whats happened.
Thanks to EVERYONE at Surestop for such professional help...

After just over a year this thing failed, causing terrible problems with supply which have only just been diagnosed. Whilst the idea is good, the quailty of these things is terrible - the water company say they are always getting call outs caused by them. Avoid!

ETA: Thanks for your reply Surestop but it's been thrown away.

Have fitted many of these devices without issue, very reliable IF FITTED CORRECTLY!
The device is WRAS approved subsequent to hundreds of hours of stringent testing.
The units are simple to fit yet so many “bodgers” seem to blame the units!
Happy to recommend provided they are fitted by a competent person.

We’ve had one fitted in my parents property following a water leak, bit like shutting the door when the horse has bolted! However, they use this every time they go away and turn their water off, it works perfectly when they get back and turn their water on again! Highly recommended.

Turned off the sure stop, to change dishwasher, would not turn on again. Now have to take this expensive device, out of the system, and chuck it in the bin!

I am a distribution technician in the water industry with 34 years service. Please do not fit these they are a disaster. Have been called out so many times for no water even flooding. Water is heavy and water under pressure is powerful, these things are made of cheese. They fail often.

Had one fitted almost 2 years ago, today I found water pouring out of the switch housing, plus the water would not shut off using the air switch. Not the connections but the body of the thing. I don't test it at all, so it might have been defective for months. Considering the price, the parts are real shoddy. Won't be buying another one.

After installing Surestop to replace a very old stopcock, I was impressed with the product. But after 18 months of installation, I started getting issues with the water supply. Water pressure could go down to almost zero. After a while water pressure restored and back to normal. I have been living in the same house for almost 30 years without any water pressure issue before Surstop was installed. Once the stopcock gone back to the traditional one, issue of water pressure goes away. I dismantled the Surestop and was not impressed as it definitely need servicing from time to time to make it work properly. I would not think it is practical to take it down every year to have it serviced. So the product is not fit for the purpose it has been designed for. Just a fancy piece of product not for the long run in practical terms. I don't think it is common practice to have your stopcock taken out from time to time! So avoid this product!

I bought the Surestop as my stopcock was in a difficult place for the family to access in an emergency being behind the bottom of 300mm wide kitchen cabinet I thought one of these would be a good idea but of course to be effective I would also have to fit the Surestop close to it but they suggest in their details it can be fitted in existing pipework without problem but I didn't do my normal critical evaluation of this until I came to fit it.
You need to cut a 34mm section in your pipework but you also need a gap more than double that to be able to fit it into existing pipework. Take a look at the videos available on the net and they are all using new pipe work then look at the one I viewed under Sure stop youtube , How To Install A Surestop Remote Stopcock - Tutorial Video on youtube. The location situation is almost identical to what I faced except I was in tighter space and if you watch the video it shows a 34mm cut out for a push fit unit being made but does not mention that it can't be fitted unless you can move one side of the pipework away from the other, the video shows the Surestop being offered up to the pipework and 34mm gap then as if by magic the film cuts to the Surestop already fitted, outrageous!
I rang Surestop a little confused at this Magic trick and spoke to a person there who couldn't explain how it was fitted but they got their engineer to call me back and he confirmed that it couldn't be fitted unless the fitting space could be achieved. The fitting figures don't seem to be available until you've bought the Surestop and are not on the download for plumbers on their website.
Just to be clear I've fitted enough pipework to have spotted this problem before I started the job and I got round it with a flexible copper pipe but was miffed at the lack of information on their website and their blatantly misleading video.
As far as the product all I can say is it's fitted and working, if I have the kitchen cold tap on the water switches off quickly not instantly but no complaints. I'm wary of the poor reviews on the net about failures and of course as the valve is out of sight I just have to hope it does the job but it's easier to see and use than our Stopcock . We have lost a little water pressure but this could be to the smooth but tight bends I had to make with the flexi pipe to get the Surestop fitted. Time will tell.

Does exactly what is says. Turns my water off and on with a switch. have one at home and had one put in at my fathers.

Had a SureStop fitted for a few years.

Came home last week to find the main body (not the pushfit ends) had come apart and flooded the whole house.

Ironic given the fact that if I had not had it fitted the house would not now need new flooring throughout not to mention everything else!

Given the damage water can do then even if these devices work 99% of the time it is not worth the risk.

After receiving a call from my father inlaw with worried sound in his voice saying,"I've got leak coming from the mains water isolation switch". I hurried round to find he'd installed a mechanised water isolation valve to front of his property. On inspection of the switch, I could see two blue hoses which were connected to a central valve, this valve obviously was to close and open when you operated the switch. Looking at the hose pipe they are about 3-4mm in diameter and plastic much like a cocktail straw. Very flimsy for something which should be taking main water pressure to flow through it . Also working with water supply's on different levels in construction and engineering projects. I can safely say that materials which have be used in the manufacturing of this product, are not robust enough and the likelihood of a problem occurring is extremely high and a almost certain. I would advise anyone looking in purchasing this product to have a little word with yourself first. My father in law is now making insurance claim to renew all his newly laid floor and having the trouble of dealing with a horrendous damp smell.

My father in law is a British gas engineer has been for 40years installation was conducted correctly.