Frank Erskine wrote:
On Fri, 10 Jul 2009 22:30:07 +0100, Dave
had this to say:

Frank Erskine wrote:
On Fri, 10 Jul 2009 20:51:44 +0100, Dave
had this to say:

We have applied to have a water meter and have got an appointment for an
inspection.

Our water comes under a piece of tarmac that forms a shared area for
access to 5 houses and our tap is just off our property in this shared area.

Thw water then runs undergound and comes out up what would be our
external wall, if it wasn't for the fact that we have an out building,
if that is the right way to describe it, that was built to house a meter
cupbord, a bin cuipboard and an L shaped shed that goes round the back
of the cupboards. The hose shut off valve is in this shed.
****

That should have read 'house' :-(



Now to my question.

Where would you think they would want to put the meter? It they wanted
to put it in the shed, they wouldn't get access to read it. They could
fit it after the external shut off valve, but I would not like to have
to pay for any water that leaks from the tap to the house shut off
valve. Even though I believe I am responsible for any leaked water

Do you think I could get them to run the supply into our meter cupboad
and then fit a meter in there?

I had a water meter fitted a few years ago and it was put in the house
'under the kitchen sink' next to the internal stoptap.
They then fitted an 'outreader' on an outside wall in the back garden
so they don't have to gain access to the house (I do have to leave the
side gate unlocked, unfortunately).
That sounds OK, they can fit the out reader in the meter cupboard then.

I suppose that depends on your local water company. My meter was
fitted by a company ("Kemac Services Ltd") wholly owned by my water
company, Northumbrian Water Ltd, together with Essex & Suffolk Water.
If you can arrange a (probably 2-wire) connection from the proposed
meter to your meter cupboard there shouldn't be a problem (so long as
they have a key for the meter cupboard!). My connection was more or
less straight through the wall (although the guy's SDS drill battery
was flat! - he used the holes in an airbrick to route his wire).

I think the "beauty" of my meter installation was that there was
little alteration to the plumbing, with less chance of freezing of
newly-external pipes. And of course, technically the feed pipe (from
the external stoptap to the meter) becomes the responsibility of the
water company as far as leaks are concerned... you are only being
charged from the meter onwards :-)

Water-wise, anyway...

From conversations today, it looks like they will dig a hole on the
access road and fit the meter there.

Dave