"Nick Brooks" wrote in message
...

Well the water company man came round and said that they wouldn't bore a
tunnel for me at all, I'd have to dig a trench and he wants to inspect
it before they connect it up.

Well, no surprises there then! :-)

Also he want to inspect the pipework internally as it passes under a
wooden floor. Am I right in thinking that it is only their
responsibility up to a stopcock so if I fit one in the porch, then what
happens after that is none of his business?

In terms of replacing or installing an incoming water main, all they will
inspect is as far as the internal stopcock (which needs to either have an
integral drain cock, or one fitted immediately above the stop cock - he'll
want to see that). In my case, there was no internal plumbing on the
property at the time; the inspector approved my installation and then the
digging team came round later with their hydraulic mole to connect it to the
water supply. There are no more inspections; so presumably they just trust
the internal plumbing to be done correctly?

PS don't forget to leave your stopcock in the 'off' position, as the diggers
don't need access to inside the property and could come and connect it up
when nobody's in, and flood the place (no it didn't happen to me!!)

In my situation where the water company stopcock is in the road and the
supply then passes under all the gardens in the terrace to individual
internal stopcocks, is it true that what happens after the stopcock in
the road is also not their concern?

Not sure. I mean, obviously there are rules and bylaws about what you can
and can't do with your internal plumbing, and you have to adhere to them;
but I've never heard of anyone getting a visit from their water supplier to
be checked out.

By the way have you got full details of the water co requirements; mine was
incredibly fussy, specifying depth, ducting, special insulation for the blue
PTFE pipe etc; all of which had to be complied with to the letter. When the
inspector looked at my installation (2nd visit), he said 'Hey wow, looks
like I can pass one!' which implied it was a fairly rare event in his life.
Love 'em.

David