Water Meter installers issue

gutteruu

I moved into a house about 18 months ago. I couldn't find the main valve for the water in the garden/drive. I have a valve just as it enters the house which is fine for me. But...

The water meter installers were around last week looking for valves. Where do I stand about them ripping up my garden, driveway to try find the meter ? I had a leak detection guy try find it a year ago, but he came on a wet day and had no luck and I never bothered getting him back.

I don't mind the meter or lads doing the job, but I am guessing the day will come where I find half my garden/tarmac ripped up and want to know where I stand.

sydthebeat

How old is the house?

Its not the end of the world if they can't Find the stopcock.

Supertech

gutteruu wrote: »

I don't mind the meter or lads doing the job, but I am guessing the day will come where I find half my garden/tarmac ripped up and want to know where I stand.

They won't be trying to find the meter, they'll be trying to the find the pipe on which to put it.
As far as I'm aware, the meter has to go in the public road, and they can work around the installation without access to a stopcock. Either way they're highly unlikely to dig up your garden.

Slightly off topic, but I spoke to an engineer in the local authority about it as our place is similar - stopcock couldn't be found when the original survey was done. We finally located it but it's in our front garden and the mains supply comes in through a ditch at the front boundary which is about three feet deep and therefore leaves no option for placing the meter. I was told that the 'easy' meters will be placed first, i.e. straightforward installations. Everything else will be dealt with afterwards, as there's no procedure for dealing with non-standard installations. What will likely happen is that these houses will be given a choice between an estimated reading or a quotation from the installers for a site specific meter installation. All of this is speculation on the engineer's part, but there are anomalies like this all over the country where people have water supplies carried along private lanes serving more than one dwelling.

gutteruu

That's good to hear. I was just presuming they needed to isolate at the stopcock.

I can only imagine the hassle they will have trying to find the pipes as I couldn't imagine too many estates have 'as built' drawings.

My house is about 10 years old in an estate. How they will find where the pipe enters my property I have no idea. Big money on leak detection I presume..

Supertech

Yep. But in fairness they seem to be managing fairly well. In an estate situation, if they can find the main in the footpath or the public road outside your house, they can isolate as necessary from there.

mfceiling

Supertech wrote: »

They won't be trying to find the meter, they'll be trying to the find the pipe on which to put it.
As far as I'm aware, the meter has to go in the public road, and they can work around the installation without access to a stopcock. Either way they're highly unlikely to dig up your garden.

Slightly off topic, but I spoke to an engineer in the local authority about it as our place is similar - stopcock couldn't be found when the original survey was done. We finally located it but it's in our front garden and the mains supply comes in through a ditch at the front boundary which is about three feet deep and therefore leaves no option for placing the meter. I was told that the 'easy' meters will be placed first, i.e. straightforward installations. Everything else will be dealt with afterwards, as there's no procedure for dealing with non-standard installations. What will likely happen is that these houses will be given a choice between an estimated reading or a quotation from the installers for a site specific meter installation. All of this is speculation on the engineer's part, but there are anomalies like this all over the country where people have water supplies carried along private lanes serving more than one dwelling.

So is this a "we will tell you how much to pay" or "you can pay for your own meter, so we can charge you the correct amount"?

Supertech

That seemed to be what the idea was. The installers are under massive pressure to deliver on targets. They have no interest in dealing with something off standard at present as it will delay them. The impression I got was 'we'll plough on with this and work out the details later'. Has Big Phil written all over it.