water main ?

Well I bought my first home a few months back as a forclosure and slowly fixing it up. I guess the previous owners were upset about losing it, so the took a drill to the main line on my side of the meter. What jerks! I put a bandaide on it by using a piece of hose and clamp. No leaks so far, but winter is right around the corner. I had a plumber come out today and look at it. He told me it is an old style setter that is about 20 to 30 years and needs to be updated to a new yolk style setter. I don't know what these "setters" are. I assumed the line hooked straight into the meter. The line is a 3/4" if that helps any. I have been looking for diagrams of the workings and hookups of a meter all day. All I can see is what is in the pit and he wants to charge me $400 to dig a hole and look at it then give me an estimate. Can anyone help me on this. Id like to get an idea what Im looking at before I pay for this and don't want to be taken advantage of. I am a bonafide do it yourselfer, but this is one I cannot do because of permits..... Thanks

Possibly you could do all the digging...very carefully....to save on labor. Talk to the plumber about that.



setter: http://www.landcsales.com/html/horizontal_setters.html

Well I'll bite! What is a "setter"? Let's go to basics. Assuming a municipal water system, water comes from a city water main to a meter. From there it is piped into the house. Once inside, if the city pressure is too high, it should go into a pressure regulator valve (PRV) then into a thermal expansion tank. After that it branches to the various parts of the house. If there is an irrigation system being run off of the domestic water, there should be a backflow device where the irrigation branches. Hot water is piped from the water heater. There are no other devices in the water supply called "setter" or anything else that might be locally termed "setter". I can't think of anything that might even sound like "setter". Unless some of the pros on the forum have some insight on this, I would suggest you get your plumber to tell you exactly what he is talking about. Might even want a second opinion. I don't know what kind of a pit has to be dug that should cost $400 even at at plumbers rates. If it is necessary for some kind of inspection, I believe I would break out my own shovel. Not having any more data that you have provided, I hesitate to accuse this plumber of a scam, but it sure smell like it at this point.

Thanks for the link! The plumber did say they were obsolete. My dad said that if they were getting $350 for a hole in kc he was moving his operations across the state! If I get a new setter and assuming I do the work myself not filing paper work through the appropriate channels, how would one go about shutting the water off from the city side since I would need to disconnect that end. My fathers partner in his excavating company used to install meter sets for our their local community and just informed me he thinks he has the setter I need. I m pretty sure its 5/8 on the city end and 3/4 on my end. I m pretty sure now I might be able to do this on my own, but it would not be good to mess something up on the city's end. Im gonna go about getting other estimates before I do anything, but it still seems like this is going to be more money than I can afford right now. Any suggestions would be nice!

Dang! I still don't know what a "setter" is! Usually you are not allowed to turn the water off on the city side of the meter. You have to call the city water department, and they will sent a man to do it. Still looking for an education on "setters".

setter

The meter, setter, and pipe to it usually belong to the water company, and if so, they replace it. A hole in the water pipe would have NOTHING to do with the setter, because the pipe connects to it, unless they drilled the hole in the setter's outlet line, before it connects to your pipe.

Well, at least I know there is such a thing as a "setter", but I still don't know what the heck it is or what it does!

setter

IT is a "prefabricated" device, sometimes a "yoke" and other times just a type of bracket, which connects between the city main and the house main. It has a pipes which rise up to the meter position with meter tailpieces on them. The meter is dropped into position and the nuts are tightened. This makes meter installation and replacement easier because it is a perfect fit. It is called a setter, because the meter sets into it. They are most common in freezing locations where the main lines have to be below the frost level, but the meter has to be up where it can be serviced and read.

Thank you HJ, I'll sleep much better tonight knowing what a setter is!

Well thanks for the info guys! You have been a good help! Just talked to my agent to find some names of some reputable people that he knew of for some more estimates and he reminded me that I did have my one year home warrenty. $75 dollar deductable hopefully that will allow me to take care of the issue. If not I might have to put off some of my other projects for awhile to take car of this issue and just bend over and take it....

warranty

Usually your home warranty only covers items inside the building. Call your water company and see what they say. Here, you cannot even buy a setter because the water company furnishes them.