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water meters

Printed From: Chalfont St Peter
Category: Chalfont St Peter
Forum Name: News and Gossip
Forum Description: News and info on whats up in Chalfont St Peter
URL: https://www.chalfontstpeter.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=8328
Printed Date: 29 March 2024 at 6:29am
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Topic: water meters
Posted By: Libtek
Subject: water meters
Date Posted: 31 July 2017 at 1:15pm
The engineer from Affinity water was unable to locate our external mains stopcock so they could fit a water meter to our house. We have their plumber coming tomorrow to see if they can fit a meter on the stop cock inside the house. But this doesn't deal with the missing stopcock in the road. Has anyone else had to deal with this situation and  what did you do please. I would have thought these things would have been mapped by whoever Affinity took over from, but apparently not. Thanks very much in advance


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Weekends are a bit like rainbows. They look good from a distance but disappear when you get up close to them.



Replies:
Posted By: Sunray
Date Posted: 31 July 2017 at 3:50pm
Our house was built in the 1920s, we had a water meter fitted at the stopcock about 15 years ago.

The guy turned up with a rough map of the road with approximate location of stopcocks, the drawing was donkey's years old. Once in the approximate area he found the metal stopcock cover with a metal detector, it was under about 6 inches of grass and soil. He only disturbed about 2 feet x 2 feet of grass.

They fitted the meter about 10 days later, all still works well and we pay far less for water.


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Sunray


Posted By: Libtek
Date Posted: 31 July 2017 at 5:54pm
Thanks Sunray, I hadn't thought of a metal detector, although my husband has got one so we'll give it a go tonight. I really don't want to have to pay for a new stopcock to be installed which is the other option.


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Weekends are a bit like rainbows. They look good from a distance but disappear when you get up close to them.


Posted By: MV Owner
Date Posted: 31 July 2017 at 6:19pm
you may want to bear in mind that having the meter in your property means they need access to your property to read it whereas in the path they dont need access


Posted By: ma0nps
Date Posted: 31 July 2017 at 6:39pm
Have they ever actually taken a reading? Only moved to the area 15 months ago or so. House already has a meter, next to the pavement, but after giving an opening meter reading they don't seem to have ever taken one themselves and just charge me a standard amount of money... not sure if I'm missing something I should do- are we supposed to take readings ourselves?


Posted By: Sunray
Date Posted: 31 July 2017 at 8:12pm
our meter is read about every 6 months, we never see anone, just notice that the grass around the lid has been disturbed.


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Sunray


Posted By: MV Owner
Date Posted: 31 July 2017 at 8:38pm
its also a good isolation point and easier than going to the stopcock


Posted By: Paul_G
Date Posted: 01 August 2017 at 12:44pm
We had a significant leak about 6 months ago inside our house about six inches before the stopcock. So closing the stopcock had no effect on the leak. We were able to cut off the supply in the street, thereby stopping the flow of water and  significantly reducing the overall damage to the property. The area by the internal stopcock is still open and exposed to the air to dry out - repairs/redecoration not yet possible.

Libtek, I suggest you seriously think about getting a stopcock at the border of your property (you're responsible for leaks after that point.) I've no idea if Affinty or you pick up the cost.

HTH,  Paul


Posted By: GODDESS
Date Posted: 01 August 2017 at 2:59pm
regarding costs, british gas  are going ahead with their costs and , 'justifiable'  , bills increase, according to today's news

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who needs "friends" when divine JESUS Says 'n' SHOWS HE LOVES ME


Posted By: MV Owner
Date Posted: 01 August 2017 at 5:42pm
thats the point I was making Paul g


Posted By: Libtek
Date Posted: 02 August 2017 at 5:34pm
Thanks Paul G. The danger of leaks is what has been worrying me since we were called out at 10.00 at night by my elderly in laws who had a leak that needed the mains switched off outside the house. The man from Affinity said our insurance would cover us in the event of a leak but then our premiums would go up! We may well have to bite the bullet



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Weekends are a bit like rainbows. They look good from a distance but disappear when you get up close to them.


Posted By: MV Owner
Date Posted: 02 August 2017 at 7:00pm
When we go on holiday we even drain the hot and cold water tanks to avoid any catastrophic damage!


Posted By: Paul_G
Date Posted: 04 August 2017 at 2:40pm
Libtek.

Maybe have a look at:
http://www.ofwat.gov.uk/households/supply-and-standards/supply-pipes/" rel="nofollow - http://www.ofwat.gov.uk/households/supply-and-standards/supply-pipes/
http://www.ofwat.gov.uk/households/supply-and-standards/leakage/" rel="nofollow - http://www.ofwat.gov.uk/households/supply-and-standards/leakage/
https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/prs_lft_101117meters.pdf" rel="nofollow - https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/prs_lft_101117meters.pdf

Quote from the start of the 1st article: "Water companies keep up to date maps of sewers and water mains for which they are responsible."  Not quite in line with your 1st post!

If it were me I'd pay to have a stopcock put in where the pipe entered my property. Fitting a meter there would then be easy.

P


Posted By: Libtek
Date Posted: 09 August 2017 at 8:25pm
Just to say thanks to everyone for their advice. I went on the Affinity web site and filled in the details in the "where's my stop tap" section. I then had to ring them to make an appointment for someone to come to my house. A nice man turned up (in torrential rain) and having actually looked at the original records (yay!!) found the  stop cock. It was in our newly laid drive 😕. Apparently the water company will need to take up part of the drive but say they will replace it after. We'll see what happens!


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Weekends are a bit like rainbows. They look good from a distance but disappear when you get up close to them.


Posted By: ian
Date Posted: 10 August 2017 at 9:16am
surprised the people who laid your new drive didn't find it and ensure it remained accessible. 


Posted By: Rod
Date Posted: 10 August 2017 at 8:12pm
I like to drain my tanks when I'm away on holiday too.


Posted By: Libtek
Date Posted: 10 August 2017 at 8:26pm
our drive was concreted over when we bought our house, with a massively deep cover, and I think the stopcock was buried quite deep under it so the drive people probably didn't notice it. Draining the tanks is a good idea too


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Weekends are a bit like rainbows. They look good from a distance but disappear when you get up close to them.


Posted By: MV Owner
Date Posted: 10 August 2017 at 10:42pm
Yes I do drain the tanks, both the hot and cold water.  Its nice to  have an easy to access isolation point at the meter for this very purpose


Posted By: Nikblik
Date Posted: 20 August 2017 at 11:37am
I think its unfortunate that the water company have spray painted blue in so many places on pavements in the village. If a member of the public did it they would be pulled up for graffitti. We have our own blue mark which I thought was pretty unsightly. I then realised there were lots of them when I went for a walk.Will they wear off?


Posted By: MV Owner
Date Posted: 20 August 2017 at 6:14pm
Id agree Nik, they look awful all sprayed in the blue paint.  really horrible.  I hope they have been sprayed with a paint that wears off soon


Posted By: Libtek
Date Posted: 21 August 2017 at 8:47am
Our blue marks were put on our drive last week prior to Affinity coming. Not surprisingly they never turned up (twice😤) and now the rain seems to be doing a good job of washing the marks off. Affinity are supposed to be coming today, but I'm not holding my breath. I do agree with Nik though that some other way of marking the pavements could have been found



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Weekends are a bit like rainbows. They look good from a distance but disappear when you get up close to them.



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