Stop Cock On Drawings?

misty76

Can anyone tell me if the placement of your stop cock and your water supply are on deeds or drawings of a house?

Query is, before Irish Water came, my stop cock was outside my house under a lid down in the pavement, since IW installed the meters the stopcock for my water is outside my neighbours house, we are in terraced houses approx 100 years old.

A consequence of this was also that i would of been paying for my neighbor's water consumption had i not by total default found this problem.

I need proof that the stopcock was outside my house before they were tampered with. Dublin city council apparently cannot help me with this and Iw state they are put in at souse which is not true in this case.

Would it true that this is a very common problem since the meter installations that water supplies got switched, would it be easy for the lines to get crossed.

Any info on this i would appreciate, thanks all in advance.

K.Flyer

You raise a very good point.
On several occasions I have found stop-cocks on the footpath mixed up. On one occasion in Rialto the stop-cock for the house I was working in was in the neighbours driveway!
Fortunately the newer metered units are very easy to turn off (quarter turn clockwise) and you only need a screwdriver to lift the cover.
I would recommend to anyone who has had a new meter fitted to check that the one outside their own gate / property, is in fact the one for their house.

misty76

Thank you for your reply. Was this prior to Irish water putting in the meters you discovered the stop cock in the next house? yes i would advise everyone to check as i would of been paying for my neighbor's water only by accident i discovered the stop cock issue.

K.Flyer

In fairness, any of the stop-cocks that were mixed up were of the older type.
I don't think they have been changed to a meter yet, so cannot say if they were rectified.

misty76

So they were crossed from many years ago when water was first put into houses, our house is old too, but 99 percent sure stopcock was outside house as a family member remembers stopping the water to fix an issue in the attic but after meters put in its outside next door now. But wish there was some map or drawing that could verify this.. funnily enough i seen in the country I.W people out and they had metal detectors lol and they still couldn't find the water.. they asked the home owner to show them where the mains and stopcock were and they were just outside the gates yet they had been hoovering around with their metal detector for ages without success..

The council advised by a senior engineer to use google maps to see where my stop cock was.. got a great laugh, imagine from a senior engineer..

Dardania

misty76 wrote: »

So they were crossed from many years ago when water was first put into houses, our house is old too, but 99 percent sure stopcock was outside house as a family member remembers stopping the water to fix an issue in the attic but after meters put in its outside next door now. But wish there was some map or drawing that could verify this.. funnily enough i seen in the country I.W people out and they had metal detectors lol and they still couldn't find the water.. they asked the home owner to show them where the mains and stopcock were and they were just outside the gates yet they had been hoovering around with their metal detector for ages without success..

The council advised by a senior engineer to use google maps to see where my stop cock was.. got a great laugh, imagine from a senior engineer..

not such a bad suggestion to use google maps - photographic proof, and if you use google earth you can even choose which image (with dates indicated)

misty76

Dardania wrote: »

not such a bad suggestion to use google maps - photographic proof, and if you use google earth you can even choose which image (with dates indicated)

How can google maps go under two lids outside two houses, its all happened under the pavement and road, water lines crossed, no evidence above ground, all this was explained before the suggestion.

misty76

Dardania wrote: »

not such a bad suggestion to use google maps - photographic proof, and if you use google earth you can even choose which image (with dates indicated)

How can google maps go under two lids outside two houses, its all happened under the pavement and road, water lines crossed, no evidence above ground, all this was explained before the suggestion.

Dardania

I understood from your original post that the stopcock location is changed versus the present?
Is there any stopcock outside your property? Or are both yours & your neighbours outside their house?
My reading of you original post is that the stop cocks are moved.

misty76

Dardania wrote: »

I understood from your original post that the stopcock location is changed versus the present?
Is there any stopcock outside your property? Or are both yours & your neighbours outside their house?
My reading of you original post is that the stop cocks are moved.

"Query is, before Irish Water came, my stop cock was outside my house under a lid down in the pavement, since IW installed the meters the stopcock for my water is outside my neighbours house"

In my opening post i stated under a lid in the pavement.. so google would not help. its ok you didnt notice that, you are probably a senior engineer too lol

If i wanted to turn off my water i went outside my house on the pavement and lifted the lid and turned the stopcock.

Yes one stopcock outside each house.

Since meters put in, my stopcock under the pavement turns off my neighbor's water supply and the one outside my neighbours turns off mine, so technically it has moved albeit by the fact the water supply has been crossed during the works.

Dardania

misty76 wrote: »

"Query is, before Irish Water came, my stop cock was outside my house under a lid down in the pavement, since IW installed the meters the stopcock for my water is outside my neighbours house"

In my opening post i stated under a lid in the pavement.. so google would not help. its ok you didnt notice that, you are probably a senior engineer too lol

If i wanted to turn off my water i went outside my house on the pavement and lifted the lid and turned the stopcock.

Yes one stopcock outside each house.

Since meters put in, my stopcock under the pavement turns off my neighbor's water supply and the one outside my neighbours turns off mine, so technically it has moved albeit by the fact the water supply has been crossed during the works.

I actually am a senior engineer, and if you used the same method of explaining to the council's senior engineer they probably understood same as me.

I don't know if the miscommunication occurred in the way engineers brains are wired to parse info, or how it was explained, but either way, your clarification now makes more sense. And you're right, google maps is of no use in this instance (as it will show a stopcock outside each dwelling)

TO get back to the heart of your query: I don't think the stop cock for the water service is shown on the deeds / registry drawings. I;'ve had a look at the boundary drawing for my house, no sign of stop cock.

And in the past when I got drawings from various councils for their water services int he street, they never show the "service" to each house - they only show the mains running along the street. Same with BGE (or whatever they're calling themselves now)

Now that you know your meter is outside your neighbours dwelling, and vice versa, whats the issue? Have IW recognised this in their billing system?

misty76

I did explain in great simple detail like i did to you, it went on for weeks, shocking for such a basic question and getting paid for same all that education and the basics go over their heads.

Issue is everything was fine till I.W came and they are denying they caused this swap, so was looking for written proof but our word will have to do.

Also when anyone goes to sell a house in the future this information has to be passed down for the foreseeable to future buyers or renters etc, an unnecessary twist from Irish waters contractors.

It took months to get my bill sorted, hours on the phone, another knock on from the contractors.. Imagine if i hadnt discovered for years trying to sort the mess with the bills, it took months after only one bill.

Apparently when the meters were installed someone was to check the water supply of each house, this never happened.

A very big THANK YOU, for checking your boundary drawing and explaining about drawings etc.. Thats all i wanted to know that there wasn't any physical proof but my god it was like pulling teeth ha.

Like above said, everyone with Meters installed should make sure that they are paying for their own water and not someone else's..

Sorry another senior engineer tried to give ye all a bad name : ) : )