Blue & white water meters

[Mike Hoxbig]

My water meter has always been below ground. Today the fckers rock up and destroy the front of my house installing one of these. Most of the city doesn't have water but they're going around changing meters on the few houses that do.



Are these meters a good thing or a bad thing?

 

[Lupus]

My water meter has always been below ground. Today the fckers rock up and destroy the front of my house installing one of these. Most of the city doesn't have water but they're going around changing meters on the few houses that do.

View attachment 1889001

Are these meters a good thing or a bad thing?

Much of the muchness. Though when they put mine in I had low pressure.
They dug up part of my driveway claiming it was my problem. Turns out the meter had a blockage

 

[Sinbad]

All well and good until some vehicle attempts to use it as an emergency braking / steering appliance

 

[Lupus]

All well and good until some vehicle attempts to use it as an emergency braking / steering appliance

For my side they'd have to go through trees first and those trees aren't going anywhere.

 

[Mike Hoxbig]

Much of the muchness. Though when they put mine in I had low pressure.
They dug up part of my driveway claiming it was my problem. Turns out the meter had a blockage

Not really a muchness. Any random person on the street can now turn off your mains...

 

[SauRoNZA]

Not really a muchness. Any random person on the street can now turn off your mains...

But isn’t that always the case since you are meant to have a tap on your side of the meter right behind it?

If I just saw that randomly I would have thought that’s some kind of fibre junction box.

Is this only on your property or everyone around you as well?

 

[Mike Hoxbig]

But isn’t that always the case since you are meant to have a tap on your side of the meter right behind it?

If I just saw that randomly I would have thought that’s some kind of fibre junction box.

Is this only on your property or everyone around you as well?

A few houses did have them, but they came and did mine and one of my neighbor's today. Completely random how they even decide which houses to do.

The other neighbour still has his below-ground meter, you can see it near the top of the pic. Those are not really accessible, you need like an allen key thingy to open it, or a long nose pliers. It prevents kids from dicking around with your meter...

 

[jun_tao]

They changed mine about two years ago, asked them why, and they said it’s cos they meter reading guys struggled to find my meter, although it had a yellow cover.
Old one was installed in 1983.

It has worked out for me though, my water bill is even less since there are fewer estimated readings now.

 

[Lupus]

Not really a muchness. Any random person on the street can now turn off your mains...

Could do that with the old ones, just lift the cover and turn off

 

[Lupus]

A few houses did have them, but they came and did mine and one of my neighbor's today. Completely random how they even decide which houses to do.

The other neighbour still has his below-ground meter, you can see it near the top of the pic. Those are not really accessible, you need like an allen key thingy to open it, or a long nose pliers. It prevents kids from dicking around with your meter...

Never had that with those underground meters, always easy to open.

 

[Lupus]

They changed mine about two years ago, asked them why, and they said it’s cos they meter reading guys struggled to find my meter, although it had a yellow cover.
Old one was installed in 1983.

It has worked out for me though, my water bill is even less since there are fewer estimated readings now.

This is actually true now come to think about it, about 500 bucks cheaper a month

 

[Neuk_]

All well and good until some vehicle attempts to use it as an emergency braking / steering appliance

This, we had the old metal type until it started leaking and have one of the new plastic ones now. As does my BIL at our old house after the original metal type started leaking. Most of them get taken out by cars as the JW guys do such a poor job of installing them mostly in the middle of peoples driveways. My BIL gave the JW guys cash to move theirs to the side and then redid all the driveway brickwork.

 

[Tongs of Destiny]

These are much better and more logical...

1) they are not underground which makes working on them a breeze
2) people drive over the underground ones and damage them
3) people bury them
4) these new ones are 100% plastic so no brass parts to be stolen
5) easier to locate and read from the council water readers (every 275 years when they rock up)

This is a good thing, shush

 

[B-1]

These do break after a while. The old ones are full of brass so do get stolen.

The most important thing is to hope they did the new and old readings properly otherwise you are in for a fight on your water bill this month.

 

[Neuk_]

These are much better and more logical...

1) they are not underground which makes working on them a breeze
2) people drive over the underground ones and damage them
3) people bury them
4) these new ones are 100% plastic so no brass parts to be stolen
5) easier to locate and read from the council water readers (every 275 years when they rock up)

This is a good thing, shush

Some of what you claim is true but they are damaged a lot more than the old metal type and fail more often as well, at least in our area.

 

[Jean Claude Vaaldamme]

Those are just another bad decision.
They look ugly and are randomly hit by cars.

But worse. You rarely heard of the old ones giving problems.
These plastic shyte starts to fail after 10 years. Not a week has gone by the last 3 years in our estate that one of them did not burst and water running for 2+ days till municipality decide to come fix it.
In fact we have 3 running water into the streets since yesterday.

 

[Tongs of Destiny]

If you run over a new water meter that is out the ground, then YOU are a bad driver.

Do you think it would be any better if the meter was underground <-- how would you see it when you drive over it hmmm

 

[porchrat]

A few houses did have them, but they came and did mine and one of my neighbor's today. Completely random how they even decide which houses to do.

The other neighbour still has his below-ground meter, you can see it near the top of the pic. Those are not really accessible, you need like an allen key thingy to open it, or a long nose pliers. It prevents kids from dicking around with your meter...

It probably doesn't prevent crows from dicking around with your meter, let alone kids.

Maybe a random kid just passing by, but if a kid is determined to mess with your below ground meter he's getting in there no problem.

 

[Jean Claude Vaaldamme]

If you run over a new water meter that is out the ground, then YOU are a bad driver.

Do you think it would be any better if the meter was underground <-- how would you see it when you drive over it hmmm

A meter thats in the ground is exactly that, in the ground. Nothing is going to happen to it when you drive over it. It has a metal lid and case around it.
We have these new plastic meters in the estate that the clowns have literally installed in the middle of driveways.

 

[Mike Hoxbig]

It probably doesn't prevent crows from dicking around with your meter, let alone kids.

Maybe a random kid just passing by, but if a kid is determined to mess with your below ground meter he's getting in there no problem.

They're kids, if it's underground they just walk past without paying attention.

Now there's a big bright box sticking out of the ground drawing their attention, with writing saying Johannesburg Water on top, and a plastic tap saying on/off. Guess they should have added some Paw Patrol pictures just to make extra sure the kids stop and play with it...