Moving a water meter

[anthony3053]

I am wanting to move my water meter appx 1 - 2 m along my front boundary so I can widen my driveway.

Knowing very well this is a job for a plumber I am wanting to know what i should expect in terms of:

Appx Cost?
Council Approvals(Boroondara)?
How will the plumber actually move the meter?
Has anyone actually had this done/and or can you recommend someone?

[ozwinner]

I cant see any problem, all the plumber has to do is move the pipe the meter is attatched too. As in, run some more pipe.

Permits for what?
Go for it..


Al

[journeyman Mick]

Al,
yeah, but in order to do so he'll have to either:
a) have the pipe frozen so the meter can be disconnected
b) turn the water off to the whole street so meter can be disconnected
c) open a few hydrants on the street so the meter can be disconnected (maybe)

at any rate, the council will probably need to inspect the work/issue permit to make sure that you're not stealing water and because the plumber will be playing around with their piping.

Mick (carpenter wearing his plumber's cap )

[Tools]

I am not sure you will be allowed to do it as the meter is supposed to be in line with the tapping from the main.If you are allowed to do it (no council approval required),they will either freeze the pipe (as Mick said) which is common place now,or if that won't work they would have to dig up the road and turn the tapping off.You may find that you have to get a new tapping and seal the old one.

Just looked at the South East Water website ,if that is who you are covered by.It says if a meter needs to be offset by more than 2 metres,then a seal and retap is necessary.

To freeze the pipe and move a couple of metres should only cost a few hundred.Not a big job really.

Tools

[Tools]

If you need a good plumber,I can give you a contact.

Tools

[chromis]

Friends had it done for about 200 and I'll ask him how the plumber did it. I remember him saying that anymore then 1.5m and it would get expensive.

I dont think the water corp care where it is outside or inside the boundary (as long as it's close to) as long as it's easy to get to and visable.

The council certainly dont need to be told

(IN Perth that is)

[Sturdee]

Appx Cost?
Council Approvals(Boroondara)?
How will the plumber actually move the meter?
Has anyone actually had this done/and or can you recommend someone?

I wanted to do that about 20 years ago and found out the following:

1. It has nothing to do with the council but the water supply authority.

2. At the time it was the MMBW and they insisted that the mains be tapped again at the new spot and the old tapping sealed. ( I only wanted it shifted a metre :mad: ).

3. Cost for the plumber was nil, I worked for a builder at the time , but MMBW fees for the new tapping and sealing of old was $ 250 at the time. No need to freeze the mains or turn it of, all they do is clamp on the sleeve and drill the hole and screw in the tapping. Normally takes about 20 minutes but must be done under the supervision of their inspector.

Needless to say I decided that I didn't need to move it after all.

Peter.

[journeyman Mick]

Sorry, my mistake. Living in a small area (well, actually Mareeba shire council is probably larger in square kilometers than some countries) our local council provides the water, or at least it does to those who actually get town water, the rest of us take care of our own water. Well anyway for "council" in my above post please substitute your local water supply authority.

Mick

[Tools]

Maybe I should clarify about the pipe freezing.The pipe that would be frozen is the inlet side of the meter,not the main in the street.You can buy a pipe freeze kit from plumbing suppliers,and it consists of a special bandage to put around the pipe,and a pressure pack of freeze (whatever it may be!).The bandage is wrapped around the pipe where you want to freeze it,and the freeze is sprayed in to it through a straw.A plug forms in the pipe,and away you go.Sturdee is right about tappings.They are done with the mains live and self seal as thehole is drilled in to the pipe.Pretty impressive to see really!

Tools

[anthony3053]

That is great. Thanks for the posts. Will let you know how it all turns out.

[rrich]

Anthony,
A couple of thoughts.

Here there are shut off valves in the street for each home. They may be burried under the asphalt but they are there.

Why move the meter? Our meters are surrounded by a concrete box w/o top or bottom. Then the meter box has a cover placed in a grove in the concrete. Whoever you get to do the driveway, probably knows of the appropriate enclosure to use when the meter is surrounded by driveway.

[Tools]

Rich,

the tapping in to the mains over here also have a valve,but you have to open up the road to get to it.That means permits and road closures etc.It is possible to do what you suggest,but that would only work if the meter was low enough to suit the levels of the driveway.Otherwise you would still have to freeze the pipe or turn it off to shorten it.

Tools

[durwood]

I moved ours about 5 years ago. The tap was on the water main side before the meter. So I just turned off the tap disconnected the meter as I was raising the ground level and the meter would have been too low.

I got a new tap and added pipe from the old tap connected the new tap put the meter back connected to my supply pipe to the house, turned on the first tap buryed it and now the meter has a tap next to it to turn it on and off and no one has noticed its no where near where it as before.

All it cost was a bit of copper pipe and a new tap about $15 from memery.