Aha... no more leak...
Sadly, no more servicable kitchen either.
I've been a little busy these last few days to update my water situation, so a quick resumé...
Last post was the day before a new person arrived on an emergency call-out (this is now the eighth day of the emergency, good job it was only a small leak).
On the 25th May a nice chap from South London turned up, he actually called in on his way home from a job way out west in Buckinghamshire, and after me had a further six calls to make before his day ended his next stop was Ilford, then on into the city, down to Maidstone and a couple of other places south of the water.
He arrived at 9pm. Prevailed himself of my hospitality (a hot cup of tea,"milk two sugers ta"), was decent enough to wear over-shoes inside my home so as not to upset the missus too much, took one look at the Texan Kangol Super Slayers work and observed that chasing out pipes with a cold chisel and mallet was more your "outdoor" approach.
He confirmed there was definitely a leak, and, yes it was on the mains side.
He said he couldn't fix it straight away but that i'd get a call in the morning to arrange for the work to be carried out.
He did however advise that I pay the money to Three Valleys (there go my gonads again) as it would definitely be necessary to shut off the water.
I decided to try and be clever and request for a water meter to be fitted as this would involve them fitting a stop-tap and a water meter at no cost to me. No such luck, three month waiting list. Still, no time like the present and at least it will show if there are any other leaks when they finally get around to fitting it.
I rang Norwich Union again and suggested that locating the still mysterious stop-tap really ought to be covered... to my amazement they agreed, but only because I had a 2006 policy (beware you long term NU insurees) - they said they'd cover the £300 to get a stop-tap located and if necessary made servicable.
I called Three Valleys again, they agreed to send someone out on Wednesday (31st) to locate the elusive stop tap.
I waited for the call from the subcontractor (Improveline)
Nothing... Silence...
On Friday a phone call, arranging for our "personal incident manager" to come visit on Tuesday (Monday was a bank-holiday). On Saturday a letter, confirming the imminent visit.
On Tuesday the visit.
My PIM turned up, took one look and said "No work's been done" - My wife, not always prone to bouts of endless patience finally snapped. She exaggerated a little ("it's been a month") and the PIM looked suitably chastened. He went away, promising immediate action, and that a... you guessed it... emergency call-out would be booked.
The remainder of Tuesday passed in silence.
On Wednesday the Three Valleys bloke turned up, knocked on the door and expressed surprise that we had been unable to locate the stop-tap as it was under a very large cover over the road, and looked brand-new, "in fact," he continued, "looking at the road it seems like it's just been fitted, the tarmac is brand-new and there's still a stain on the remainder of the road where it leaked for a while."
It turns out the only stop-tap for the whole of the road appears to be the one that Three Valleys took many weeks to replace recently. My wife, equally surprised, observed this seemed daft to have half the street on a single stop-tap, but apparently it's quite common.
The man then went on to show the first sign of decency from Three Valleys by refusing to charge the call-out fee as it had taken "a matter of seconds" to locate. He also gave specific instructions about the type of tap it was so the emergency plumber could come prepared. The information about it being a "half-inch square spigot" or somesuch was passed to Improveline when they called to confirm the "emergency" plumber would be arriving the next day, Thursday (1st June)
I was reassured that the kitchen would be left in useable condition...
On Thursday I received a phone call from someone who sounded like he was auditioning for Eastenders explaining he was in my kitchen, had effected an emergency repair and the pipe was no longer leaking... but, there was the small matter of the waste pipes for the washing machine and dishwasher, and he'd had to remove the sink in the process, so no sink... oh and there were no taps either...
My wife advised the message about the half-inch square spigot thing had not got through either, and the plumber was ill-equiped to turn off the water. He had disappeared for an hour to purchase a suitable half-inch square spigot turning device.
When I arrived home, sure enough, both washing machine and dishwasher were still plumbed into the cold supply, but neither of their waste hoses had anywhere to "waste" into. The entire drainage system was missing, save for the bit sticking out from the wall that went to the outside drain.
He had also replaced the offending section of pipework with a piece of flexi-pipe, so no more water leaking out under the back door, and with any luck a gradual reduction in the cheese-shop smell will follow. Unfortunately in the process, he had also removed the sink and taps, leaving us with an inline screwdriver operated stop valve mounted horizontally, which with the slightest turn would release mains pressure water in a direction only gravity could tame. Jeux Sans Frontiers anyone?
Luckily I'm not a total idiot when it comes to plumbing and I was able to add an additional piece of pipe and plastic to the stop-valve thereby at least directing the water downwards to give me a fighting chance at catching some in a jug or kettle.
I also added a piece of flexible drainage pipe to the waste so that it is at least possible now to push the washing machine or dishwasher waste pipe in in such a way that it won't immediately come lose and deposit gray water all over the already wet floor. Sadly there's only space for one hose at a time, and earlier this evening I was lucky to be in the kitchen as my wife put the dishwasher on - having used the washing machine this morning - so I was able to turn it off quickly before it emptied itself through a waste-pipe pointed at the electric socket used by the washing machine...
We're expecting another visit from our Personal Incident Manager tomorrow. I can hardly contain my enthusiasm.
I've been a little busy these last few days to update my water situation, so a quick resumé...
Last post was the day before a new person arrived on an emergency call-out (this is now the eighth day of the emergency, good job it was only a small leak).
On the 25th May a nice chap from South London turned up, he actually called in on his way home from a job way out west in Buckinghamshire, and after me had a further six calls to make before his day ended his next stop was Ilford, then on into the city, down to Maidstone and a couple of other places south of the water.
He arrived at 9pm. Prevailed himself of my hospitality (a hot cup of tea,"milk two sugers ta"), was decent enough to wear over-shoes inside my home so as not to upset the missus too much, took one look at the Texan Kangol Super Slayers work and observed that chasing out pipes with a cold chisel and mallet was more your "outdoor" approach.
He confirmed there was definitely a leak, and, yes it was on the mains side.
He said he couldn't fix it straight away but that i'd get a call in the morning to arrange for the work to be carried out.
He did however advise that I pay the money to Three Valleys (there go my gonads again) as it would definitely be necessary to shut off the water.
I decided to try and be clever and request for a water meter to be fitted as this would involve them fitting a stop-tap and a water meter at no cost to me. No such luck, three month waiting list. Still, no time like the present and at least it will show if there are any other leaks when they finally get around to fitting it.
I rang Norwich Union again and suggested that locating the still mysterious stop-tap really ought to be covered... to my amazement they agreed, but only because I had a 2006 policy (beware you long term NU insurees) - they said they'd cover the £300 to get a stop-tap located and if necessary made servicable.
I called Three Valleys again, they agreed to send someone out on Wednesday (31st) to locate the elusive stop tap.
I waited for the call from the subcontractor (Improveline)
Nothing... Silence...
On Friday a phone call, arranging for our "personal incident manager" to come visit on Tuesday (Monday was a bank-holiday). On Saturday a letter, confirming the imminent visit.
On Tuesday the visit.
My PIM turned up, took one look and said "No work's been done" - My wife, not always prone to bouts of endless patience finally snapped. She exaggerated a little ("it's been a month") and the PIM looked suitably chastened. He went away, promising immediate action, and that a... you guessed it... emergency call-out would be booked.
The remainder of Tuesday passed in silence.
On Wednesday the Three Valleys bloke turned up, knocked on the door and expressed surprise that we had been unable to locate the stop-tap as it was under a very large cover over the road, and looked brand-new, "in fact," he continued, "looking at the road it seems like it's just been fitted, the tarmac is brand-new and there's still a stain on the remainder of the road where it leaked for a while."
It turns out the only stop-tap for the whole of the road appears to be the one that Three Valleys took many weeks to replace recently. My wife, equally surprised, observed this seemed daft to have half the street on a single stop-tap, but apparently it's quite common.
The man then went on to show the first sign of decency from Three Valleys by refusing to charge the call-out fee as it had taken "a matter of seconds" to locate. He also gave specific instructions about the type of tap it was so the emergency plumber could come prepared. The information about it being a "half-inch square spigot" or somesuch was passed to Improveline when they called to confirm the "emergency" plumber would be arriving the next day, Thursday (1st June)
I was reassured that the kitchen would be left in useable condition...
On Thursday I received a phone call from someone who sounded like he was auditioning for Eastenders explaining he was in my kitchen, had effected an emergency repair and the pipe was no longer leaking... but, there was the small matter of the waste pipes for the washing machine and dishwasher, and he'd had to remove the sink in the process, so no sink... oh and there were no taps either...
My wife advised the message about the half-inch square spigot thing had not got through either, and the plumber was ill-equiped to turn off the water. He had disappeared for an hour to purchase a suitable half-inch square spigot turning device.
When I arrived home, sure enough, both washing machine and dishwasher were still plumbed into the cold supply, but neither of their waste hoses had anywhere to "waste" into. The entire drainage system was missing, save for the bit sticking out from the wall that went to the outside drain.
He had also replaced the offending section of pipework with a piece of flexi-pipe, so no more water leaking out under the back door, and with any luck a gradual reduction in the cheese-shop smell will follow. Unfortunately in the process, he had also removed the sink and taps, leaving us with an inline screwdriver operated stop valve mounted horizontally, which with the slightest turn would release mains pressure water in a direction only gravity could tame. Jeux Sans Frontiers anyone?
Luckily I'm not a total idiot when it comes to plumbing and I was able to add an additional piece of pipe and plastic to the stop-valve thereby at least directing the water downwards to give me a fighting chance at catching some in a jug or kettle.
I also added a piece of flexible drainage pipe to the waste so that it is at least possible now to push the washing machine or dishwasher waste pipe in in such a way that it won't immediately come lose and deposit gray water all over the already wet floor. Sadly there's only space for one hose at a time, and earlier this evening I was lucky to be in the kitchen as my wife put the dishwasher on - having used the washing machine this morning - so I was able to turn it off quickly before it emptied itself through a waste-pipe pointed at the electric socket used by the washing machine...
We're expecting another visit from our Personal Incident Manager tomorrow. I can hardly contain my enthusiasm.
posted by Furry at 8:09 pm
1 Comments:
I reckon you need to get Lord Selborne on the case... surely he would have a blatantly obvious answer for your watery situation...
Sincerely though good luck mate with the restoration.
Maybe you need to get DIY SOS to turn up?
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