I have a new water supply and a new meter which is installed outside of the property. Still, the old water supply is active and I can't remove it without shutting the old stopcock which is communal and sited on the pavement outside of the property - so it's responsibility of United Utilities.
United Utilities agreed to send someone and remove the old internal water meter (it's their property - I can't remove it)....but then I was asked to sign a paper stating that I was going to remove the piping myself...ok, but who is going to shut the supply (for a few hours?) and notify the neighbours about that?
I've contacted UU and they told me I wasn't supposed to shut the stopcock by myself and that someone from UU was going to do that...then a week later I received another call from a guy from UU telling me that it was my responsibility to remove the piping inside my property and that it was perfectly normal for anyone to shut the communal water supply? This contradicted the message I received earlier on (which in turn contradicted the one left by the guy who asked my to sign a piece of paper...which also contradicted the initial instructions).
Surely, something isn't quite right at UU...
Common sense tells me the external stopcock should be operated by UU ...but maybe it's common practice to allow privates plumbers to shut the supply for the occasional maintenance work....surely, to suggest that anyone can shut a communal water supply sited on the road at any time is a gross overstatement. If so, why UU doesn't give us privates a proper written authorization? (rather than a vague and risky suggestion).
Bearing in mind that some neighbours might not be that cooperative sometimes...in this specific case there are 8 properties involved - just one no is enough to give me some hassles...at least UU is the authority - they can ignore any objection (after all it's their piping).
Any ideas?
btw: is there a way to cap a lead pipe with water running inside it? So I wont have to bother with that external stopcock nor my neighbours?
United Utilities agreed to send someone and remove the old internal water meter (it's their property - I can't remove it)....but then I was asked to sign a paper stating that I was going to remove the piping myself...ok, but who is going to shut the supply (for a few hours?) and notify the neighbours about that?
I've contacted UU and they told me I wasn't supposed to shut the stopcock by myself and that someone from UU was going to do that...then a week later I received another call from a guy from UU telling me that it was my responsibility to remove the piping inside my property and that it was perfectly normal for anyone to shut the communal water supply? This contradicted the message I received earlier on (which in turn contradicted the one left by the guy who asked my to sign a piece of paper...which also contradicted the initial instructions).
Surely, something isn't quite right at UU...
Common sense tells me the external stopcock should be operated by UU ...but maybe it's common practice to allow privates plumbers to shut the supply for the occasional maintenance work....surely, to suggest that anyone can shut a communal water supply sited on the road at any time is a gross overstatement. If so, why UU doesn't give us privates a proper written authorization? (rather than a vague and risky suggestion).
Bearing in mind that some neighbours might not be that cooperative sometimes...in this specific case there are 8 properties involved - just one no is enough to give me some hassles...at least UU is the authority - they can ignore any objection (after all it's their piping).
Any ideas?
btw: is there a way to cap a lead pipe with water running inside it? So I wont have to bother with that external stopcock nor my neighbours?