Want a water meter fitted but water company cannot find stop !!!!

pipsta

As subject says I want a water meter fitted but the water company cant find my stop !!!! and have just said i will have to stay on rates. This is not on as I am on my own and will be cheaper for me to have a meter fitted.

What can I do here?

Surely they should have records of the stop cocks location?

1984ReturnsForReal_2

I take it this is the external stop c*ck?

Kiran

I would assume that they will just dig down and pinch the pipe as the gas board do. Was it a subcontracted firm or direct from the company? I'm assuming the meter was going to be located in a driveway or similar so the excavation would have to take place anyway?

pipsta

it was with the water company directly, and yes they cannot find the external stop c*ck

1984ReturnsForReal_2

pipsta wrote: »

it was with the water company directly, and yes they cannot find the external stop c*ck

How long have you lived there?

How about tracking down the old owners to see if they know?


Have you had a look around yourself?

WestonDave

Have a look around and see if you can find any nearby stop c0cks - ours is in a grass strip that seperates our boundary from the pavement - its possible that others situated in the same way might have got overgrown. If you can establish a rough line that the other stops are on, then it might be possible to work out where yours ought to be by comparison.

The other option is that it is somewhere in your garden and has been paved etc over at some point in the past - in which case it'll be down to you to find it. Again if you can find where the water comes into the house (the internal stock c0ck is a good guide to this) you should be able to guess the route from there to the street.

ormus

best way is to check with the neighbours. almost all houses in any given street will have the same route/location.

ps
despite public perception, the utilty companies have very poor records of their systems and equipment.
they were not recorded as a matter of course. esp with older properties.

ginvzt

What company are you with? I am sure that some put you on 'assessed charges' where they cannot fit meter. Maybe yu could argue that point instead of staying on rateable value?

Single person household has £244.19 charge for a year on assessed charges with united utilities, for example

boyse7en

We investigated this a few years ago, and our stopcock turns out to be one of three in the road about 100yds from our property. Water Co. don't know which one is which, and said the only way to find out would be to turn them off one by one and to wait and see which neighbor complains about having no water.

pipsta

The previous owner is dead, the neibours have no idea where it is and is not inline with theirs, I have a valve in my kitchen which comes from a pipe that goes to next door and doesnt turn off my water, my direct neighbour is nowhere to be seen, house has been empty for a year. I need to rip my bathroom out also and cannot turn the water off and there is no internal stop co(k either

ormus

get a freezing kit.
freeeze the pipe where it enters your house, and then fit a stopcock.
assuming its 15mm copper pipe?

10 quid can (screwfix), to 100 quid kit.