Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 19

Thread: new water meter

  1. #1
    Suspended
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Posts
    2,346
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 254 Times in 209 Posts

    new water meter

    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.
    Last edited by murdock; 29-Jul-10 at 02:23 AM.

  2. #2
    Suspended
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Posts
    2,346
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 254 Times in 209 Posts
    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?

  3. #3
    Suspended
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Posts
    2,346
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 254 Times in 209 Posts
    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.
    Last edited by murdock; 29-Jul-10 at 09:29 AM.

  4. #4
    Suspended
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Posts
    2,346
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 254 Times in 209 Posts
    my attempt to shut off the water by squashing the pipe...unsuccessful
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

Name:	pipe squashed.JPG 
Views:	517 
Size:	97.6 KB 
ID:	1304  

  5. #5
    Suspended
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Posts
    2,346
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 254 Times in 209 Posts
    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.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

Name:	temp fix.jpg 
Views:	548 
Size:	24.4 KB 
ID:	1305  

  6. #6
    Suspended
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Posts
    2,346
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 254 Times in 209 Posts
    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.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

Name:	no tap.jpg 
Views:	975 
Size:	55.4 KB 
ID:	1307  

  7. #7
    Email problem daveob's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Amanzimtoti
    Posts
    655
    Thanks
    107
    Thanked 118 Times in 103 Posts
    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
    Watching the ships passing by.

  8. #8
    Suspended
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Posts
    2,346
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 254 Times in 209 Posts
    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

  9. #9
    Suspended
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Posts
    2,346
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 254 Times in 209 Posts
    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

  10. #10
    Gold Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Johannesburg
    Posts
    843
    Thanks
    181
    Thanked 177 Times in 146 Posts
    Aren't they going on strike now? Or is that just Joburg.

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Similar Threads

  1. Removing iron from borehole water
    By Eugene in forum General Chat Forum
    Replies: 54
    Last Post: 29-Oct-18, 07:26 PM
  2. Reducing Costs-Any tips?
    By sterne.law@gmail.com in forum Energy and Resource Conservation Forum
    Replies: 16
    Last Post: 23-Sep-10, 01:36 PM
  3. Replies: 3
    Last Post: 09-Jul-09, 01:46 PM
  4. Pre-Paid electrical meter
    By rohor in forum Electrical Contracting Industry Forum
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 30-Dec-08, 11:42 AM

Did you like this article? Share it with your favourite social network.

Did you like this article? Share it with your favourite social network.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •