In article , JhnWil875
wrote:
The normal meter reader apparently found bypassed meters
periodically with varying degrees of competence including one which
had been bypassed using a piece of plastic/rubber hose with
Jubillee clips and gaffer tape for the seal.

In my early days at RB Kingston one tenant blew the back of his house
out (and so of course got given a nice new one!). The immersion
heater stat failed shut so his DHW would get too hot unless he
remembered to turn it off - but evidently he didn't always remember.
He couldn't get the council in to fix it because the meter had been
bridged by a mate. Unfortunately repeated overheating of the water
led to the vent pipe furring up, and on the feed there was a
screwdown stopcock which acted as a non return valve. One night when
he had forgotten to turn off the IH the vent pipe finally furred
solid. The cylinder, full of superheated water under pressure,
finally burst filling the house with steam. It blew the back of the
house out just as if a bomb had gone off.

--
Tony Bryer SDA UK 'Software to build on' http://www.sda.co.uk
Free SEDBUK boiler database browser http://www.sda.co.uk/qsedbuk.htm