water meter or not?

EachPenny

Deleted_User wrote: »

Never known a water meter to be under the kitchen sink. They are usually at the property boundary where the supply stop valve is, not your under sink stop tap.

They are less common that property boundary meters, but in some situations (especially flats) there may be a common service pipe which splits internally to the different properties.

Also some water companies fitted (maybe still fit?) internal meters because it can be cheaper - the cost of digging a hole in the road or footway is surprisingly high, and cost saving by fitting internal meters may more than outweigh the losses through water theft potentially facilitated by an internal meter.

teddysmum

jack_pott wrote: »

Unlimited usage is not a blessing though.

Imagine how much food would cost if you just paid a flat annual subscription to Tesco, and then helped yourself to as much food as you want. It's like going Dutch in a restaurant: each individual has an incentive to order a more expensive meal than everyone else in order that they don't end up paying for more than they eat, but then everyone pays more, and the only one to benefit is the retailer.

Perhaps everyone should pay the same mortgage or rent regardless of house size too?

You got the wrong end of the stick, as I did not say that unlimited is a blessing, I said that not having to worry about what you are using is a blessing (assuming you are reasonable and a wasteful user).


In the case of internet having a limit has the worry of costing more than unlimited,should you go over the cap .


In our case the unlimited water use is no blessing as we use well under what we are paying for , but being priced per unit will make me think I have to cut down even more (eg,just let the car stay grubby or the plants wilt a little longer, so we save more money.)


However,on looking at prices,the unit 1000litres is quite large so watering my six ('self watering' container) pots when the plants look thirsty won't make much difference.

[Deleted User]

EachPenny wrote: »

They are less common that property boundary meters, but in some situations (especially flats) there may be a common service pipe which splits internally to the different properties.

Also some water companies fitted (maybe still fit?) internal meters because it can be cheaper - the cost of digging a hole in the road or footway is surprisingly high, and cost saving by fitting internal meters may more than outweigh the losses through water theft potentially facilitated by an internal meter.

This is what I thought. I could have a meter installed on my stop tap under the sink but then I could trace my supply pipe under the garden and attach a sneaky hose to it.

teddysmum

Deleted_User wrote: »

Never known a water meter to be under the kitchen sink. They are usually at the property boundary where the supply stop valve is, not your under sink stop tap.

When I used ST's online chat, yesterday, I was told the options are outside or indoors under the sink, so I was concerned about being stuck with a great lump of a thing in the cupboard.


Today's metering dept person said the same, but they prefer outside siting ,as it's less hassle for them to do maintenance. She sais they'd do their best to site outside, but sometimes there is no other option than indoors.


I rang the man at the kitchen centre ,to ask if a meter in would cause a problem (answer 'no'as I'd hoped), but he said he had one at his house last week and it was fitted outside, but he said he has noticed quite a few people seem to have opted for under the sink.

[Deleted User]

Still rather have it outside as it means one less meter reader having to come in to read it.

They read mine twice yearly without fail and issue bill based on the reading.

EachPenny

Deleted_User wrote: »

This is what I thought. I could have a meter installed on my stop tap under the sink but then I could trace my supply pipe under the garden and attach a sneaky hose to it.

Deleted_User wrote: »

Still rather have it outside as it means one less meter reader having to come in to read it.

I am aware of a situation a long time ago where someone owned a commercial site adjacent to their home. To avoid encouraging unlawful activity I'm not going to say exactly what they did, but you can probably make the connection. The penalties if you get caught would be severe though, so given the low cost of metered water it really isn't worth the risk.

The latest water meters have an electronic remote reading facility so the meter reader doesn't even need to open the cover. I would guess the range of these meters would allow an indoor one to be read from outside, unless it was far from the nearest point accessible to the meter reader.

Cardew

EachPenny wrote: »

The latest water meters have an electronic remote reading facility so the meter reader doesn't even need to open the cover. I would guess the range of these meters would allow an indoor one to be read from outside, unless it was far from the nearest point accessible to the meter reader.

My meter is under the sink and is read remotely by the meter reader. I have a long drive and he picks up a reading about 50 yards from the meter.

EachPenny

Cardew wrote: »

My meter is under the sink and is read remotely by the meter reader. I have a long drive and he picks up a reading about 50 yards from the meter.

Looks like my guess was right That's an impressive range - does yours have an external power supply, or is it like mine with internal batteries? I assumed the internal battery life would limit the range to a lot less than 50 yards.

[Deleted User]

EachPenny wrote: »

The latest water meters have an electronic remote reading facility so the meter reader doesn't even need to open the cover. I would guess the range of these meters would allow an indoor one to be read from outside, unless it was far from the nearest point accessible to the meter reader.

Cardew wrote: »

My meter is under the sink and is read remotely by the meter reader. I have a long drive and he picks up a reading about 50 yards from the meter.

EachPenny wrote: »

Looks like my guess was right That's an impressive range - does yours have an external power supply, or is it like mine with internal batteries? I assumed the internal battery life would limit the range to a lot less than 50 yards.

My meter was installed 4 years ago and I know for a fact they physically read it because the lid on the chamber is round and it's never replaced in exactly the same position.

If they installed an under sink meter and then asked me to run an extension lead to the nearest socket to power it I would just LOL.

EachPenny

Deleted_User wrote: »

My meter was installed 4 years ago and I know for a fact they physically read it because the lid on the chamber is round and it's never replaced in exactly the same position.

Yup, my original meter fitted about that time was manual reading only, but about 6 months ago they replaced it with a remote reading one.