new water meter

[murdock]

this morning at 1.30 am i got up to assist my daughter...once she settled i went to the bathroom to wash my hands and drink some water...my luck as i closed the tap the tap washer broke...

no problem to me i go to the garage get a pair of pliers and head to the water meter where the stop cock is to switch off the water....so i can switch off the water...well to my horror i found that my old brass water meter is gone and a new plastic meter is in its place and the old stop cock i have used for as long as i can remeber is no longer there either...and there is no replacement...so here i sit water p*sssing out the tap and no way to switch it off...

let this be a warning to anyone who lives in durban and has recently had people replacing the water pipes on the road...you no longer have a stop cock next the meter so best you get hold of a plumber to get one fitted on your property other wise you might just have the same i have at the moment...water pouring out the tap and no way to switich it off.

you would think that the water department would advise you of this change...yeah right.

[murdock]

the other question i ask is what has the municipality done with all the old brass meters and taps...worth millions which we have paid for?

[murdock]

well after a rather challenging morning...i have managed to get to the bottom of the story.

the tap was stolen by the contractor who did the new installation...well thats the way i see it...the tap has been there for as long as the water supply...what gave them te right to remove it....so if you live in the pinetown area and have had your water pipes replaced recentely best you check if you still have a tap to isolate the water to your house.

but here is the catch...

i now have to pay the council a disconnection fee to have the water switched off...so that i can get a private plumber at my cost to replace the tap to isolate the water to my property...or the council will replace it at an additional fee...or they will fit a temp. tap for 3 months so i can get a plumber to fit one yip thats what i said you got to be kidding me...

my first question was when did they send out the notice...email...or poster to notify us of there intention to remove the tap...they said they will get back to me...because the way i see it if they had notified me before they removed the tap i could have switched the water off myself and got a plumber to fit a tap on the sid eof my house to isloate the water.

so my advice to anyone who has had water contractors replacing the pipes on the road and you now have a white box in front of your house now...best you check your tap is still there..otherwise the next time you have a tap washer to replace you could be in for a little surprise and a fee to have the tap which i believe belongs to me replaced but they dont seem to think so because it is outside my property....i was also told by one of the water department people its not responsibilty to replace the tap because i should ahve household insurance...so my question was how to i stop people from stealing something outside my property...if that is the case then they need to fit the meter inside my property...which is fully fenced with alarms big dogs and a very trigger happy unstable owner at the moment due to the increase in violent crime in our area...to protect my family and belongings...(just to indicate the type of crime 2 people where savagely murdered in their house last week behind my house and a nieghbour was shot last week during a hijacking)

i verified my story with the water department this morning...before i posted this thread.

the plumber who has just left made an interesting point...we are a 24 hours service why did we only get the request this morning at 7 am to attend to the water leak...the fault was reported at 1.30 this morning.

another interesting point...i was told this morning...i am not not covered by water loss insurance because the water wasted was above the ground...the water loss insurance only cover for water leaks under ground...which i find rather strange...and disturbing because the water leak at the water meter is also above the ground and has been leaking probably since they installed the new meter.

the other people who i notified this morning about this issue have the same problem...so they are please dthey dont get caught like i did in the early hours of the morning.

just as a safety precaution i will be having additional taps fitted to my entire plumbing system each bathroom...kitchen outbuilding...you name it...so i dont have a another morning like this again

hers a pic of my first attempt to flatten the copper pipe to try stop the water...and you wonder why this fool was stressing so much...firstly my daughter was coughing and getting sick from the injections she had today and the basin fills faster than it drains...and we have wooden floors.

[murdock]

my attempt to shut off the water by squashing the pipe...unsuccessful

[murdock]

fianlly around 3 this morning i managed to slow it down...found a piece of pipe in my garage....a hose pipe clamp and some tape.

[murdock]

as you can see from this picture taken this morning after i closed the holes...i had been digging around the meter at 1.30 am hoping to find a tap buried in the ground with no success...

a tip for anyone who experieces this problem and gets into the sh*t like i did...

at the top left hand side of the meter there is a yellow cap with an off round shape...you take a bolt which uses a 17 sapnner fits in that shape then you loosen the top off...then take a 10 allen key and push it into the hole which fits the allen key then tighten it...this is how the council switch off your water.

time to go to work so i can make some money to pay for this whole fiasco...thanks to e thekweni water


well done fellas your 24 hour service works great...so long as you only call them between 7.00am and 16.00 office hours.

maybe they should have someone check the installations....carried out by private contractors to prevent this type of embarressment.

i am not gona let this slide....time to start one of those forward this email to everyone in your email address book so they dont get caught like this.

[daveob]

We moved into our house 16 months ago. Before we moved, I had new basins in the bathroom fitted, and at the same time added, for every tap in the house, a small ball valve where the pipe comes out the wall, and I have a large lever ball valve on the back wall (outside) that controls the main water pipe into the house.

This makes it easy to isolate the house / room / individual tap in the event of a problem.

There are also very handy to reduce the water flow in the kids bathroom basin - a 4 year old can take as many minutes to wash his hands, and not having water gushing out at full pressure does save a bit.

Yes, I also have a new water meter ( white plastic cover ) on the pavement.

My shut off tap is still there as it is just inside my property. Only thing was, when the aR$eholes laid concrete for the sliding gate track, it got buried

[murdock]

it was my intention to do this at a later stage...one of the projects on my list which i just hadnt got to yet.

the joys of the new highly skilled labour of south africa

[murdock]

you got to give them credit for their excellent speedy service and commitment to the customer...here is a copy of the speedy reply to my email requesting some answers in writting so i can go to the newspaper about this fiasco...

quote



Your Communication with eThekwini Engineering Services Contact Center has been received and is being attended to.

Please be advised, that all services/fault reports are logged promptly. However, the Service Level standard for correspondence requiring investigations is 7 working days to reply to correspondence.


wow i should hear from them in the next 7 working days so i can expect a reply by not this monday but the following monday

[BusFact]

Aren't they going on strike now? Or is that just Joburg.

[Dave A]

Normally if you switch on all the taps full bore, the pressure drops enough to be able to replace a washer. You'll get wet, but it does become physically possible to wrestle the tap top back on.

You had me wondering about the "no tap/stop valve" story. Would have thought that's like supplying an electricity meter without an isolator to cut the supply for non-payment.

[murdock]

dave at 1.30 am after a long night of cleaning up vomit and having to change the little one and then get her settled again and only having an hours sleep... the last thing i felt like doing is running around the house turning on my taps to change a washer...thats why the ball valve at each tap is a good option...just isolate and sort out in the morning.

i got no problem changing washers...a spare wheel on the car...i have all the tools and eqipment to do that type of thing...i even have an impact driver to take off my vans wheels if i get a flat...the problem i had was that they had removed my tap/stop cock what ever you call it next to the water meter so there was no way of switching off/isolating the water...without notifying me...my argument was at what stage did they send out a notice/email/letter telling us that they intended removing the tap when the new system was installed.

then telling me that i have to apply to them to have the water switched off at a fee so i can get a plumber to replace the tap that they removed which has been there since year dot...or they will put the tap back for a fee...that just got my blood boiling.


the other problem is where i live the pressure is high because the tank is on the top of the hill and i live at the bottom of the hill...thats why the tap washers keep breaking...so i think even if i had to switch on all the taps it wouldnt be sufficient to drop the pressure...thats also why the basins fill up faster than they drain...and thats another thing i will be installing is a pressure reducing valve on the supply line...why do i always have to learn everything the hard way.

when they disconnect your water supply for non payment they turn off the water on that black plastic unit on the left hand side of the meter...i made a point of watching what tools they used and where they isolated the water this morning then went and made a set of tools to do they same thing...you take a bolt which uses a 17 spanner weld a t bar on to the bolt then push the head into the yellow plastic cap then remove the cap...then once the cap is removed you take a 10 allen key fitted onto a socket power bar close off the water by screwing it down...(beware not to loosen it too far other wise the allen will come out and therewill be water everywhere...dont go past the lip) take off the pipe and insert a round plate with a small hole in it...this allows a small quantity of water to flow just enough to fill the geyser so that it doesnt burn out...i take it they have been nailed for that issue hence the plate with the hole...i now have the tools to switch off the water that route in case of an emergency or if i need to remove the plate if they switch off my water at a time which doesnt suit me...having a small child in the house requires all these type of precautions...i dont like getting caught off gaurd like this morning.

another joke when i was put through to management this morning to get some answers they could not answer my question only tell me they would look into the matter and get back to me...i am still waiting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i would like to appologise to the poor lady who was so helpfull this morning and put up with my foul language and bad temper...and still smiled at the end and said she understands my frustration...and just warned me not to swear at the manager otherwise he would just put the phone down...respect to you my dear for having to put up with telphone calls like that all day long...as they say dont shoot the messenger.

[Dave A]

dave at 1.30 am after a long night of cleaning up vomit and having to change the little one and then get her settled again and only having an hours sleep... the last thing i felt like doing...

I'm not too smooth with that sort of thing at that time of the night/morning myself even at the best of times. With that sort of added aggravation...

Seriously, you have my sympathy and empathy. But shoot, it's the kind of story that's gonna be good for a giggle around the braai one day.

[murdock]

i agree i have already gotten over it...taken corrective action made the tools required to prevent it from happening again...and moved on until i get the account

[murdock]

they switch my water off again...i stripped the water meter and looked for the washer they fit to restrick the water...anyone wher ethey fit this washer...a picture would be even better.

anyone have any ideas on how to slow the meter down...without reducing the useage or removing the meter completely and putting a bridge too visible...send me a pm...thanks