Water Meter Valves

[kevinb]

I've heard from our administrators that the valves on my water meter on 4.2B have been replaced, good  news because neither valves were shutting the water off even when screwed firmly down, it would be worth everyone  checking their valves are working and shutting the water off.

[DaveG]

It's worth mentioning that the water meter and the taps / valves on the inlet and outlet are the property and responsibility of the water provider and as such any repair has to be done by them at their cost. If they're faulty therefore report them to be repaired, don't try to do it yourself, if you cause damage you'll be liable for repairs. A bit of oil on the gland nut if the tap is seized is ok but anything more involved is best avoided.

[kevinb]

Work was arranged by our administrators so should all be above board. We as house owners were asked to verify if the valves were working, neither of my two valves were shutting off the water, it wouldn't have been a good time to find them defective in an emergency. It seems the rubber disintegrates in the valves.

[DaveG]

Hi Kevin, I should have said that faults should be reported to the administrators in the first instance. I used to find the most common problem was the taps being seized open as mostly they are very rarely used. Perhaps they should be using fibre washers.

[kevinb]

I always shut both valves off when we vacate our house to ensure I don't get a continuous  loss of water in the event of a burst pipe after the meter while I'm not in residence, I can only think that the rubber washers that seal the valves down have broken up as the valves open and shut OK but water still flows full bore. Earlier in the year all owners on our phase got emails to check if the valves were working, mine weren't.  I routinely open and shut all the stop valves in the house and this year replaced four of them, quite a simple job.