Another Burst Water Main on the Farm

[awemawson]

Steve the post man called by this morning to ask if I'd seen what was happening on the farm entrance drive -

. . .  Yikees - no I hadn't 

Water pouring across the outer farm yard from under the close boarded fence in the horticultural area flooding down the drive to my garage, over the steps into the cottage courtyard, and under the gate into the same court yard. Loads of pea shingle swept away and water everywhere 

Call to the SE Water Emergency number eventually got a human being but it was a good two hours before they got the stop valve closed.

Distinct shades of de-ja-vu here as I'm certain that it's the same pipe that fractured a few years ago and resulted in my front garden looking like the Somme after a good battle.
Eventually a team turned up with a 2.5 ton digger and exposed the pipe - yes the same nominal 6" asbestos cement pipe that burst before. Holes keeps growing, as does the spoil pile.

Current team have come to the end of their shift and we are awaiting the night team, who I am told are going to thread a new smaller pipe under the hedge that borders my drive, and dig another hole there to join on. The entire thing needs replacing in my view, but no - just repairs - again like last time!

I hope they've finished by Friday - two sets of cottage guests arriving expecting to have a nice peaceful break - but at the moment they won't even have water (as don't we)

[John Rudd]

Seems it never rains but pours at your place Andrew….

Let’s hope the Blue Men can sort it all… 

[awemawson]

So water service returned 03:30 this morning when I was woken up to the sound of our 'en-suite' toilet cistern filling!

Still got two wacking great excavations that need back-filling and quite a bit of damage repairs to do to the surfaces that have been washed away. Repair co-ordinator turned up to agree works and is making good the serious trip hazard to the cottages gateway later today as urgent works and getting 10 ton of pea shingle and some MOT1 sub base delivered in the next few days for the rest of the place.
Once the holes are back filled a lorry load of top soil and seed will come to make good the horticultural area and verge of the drive way.

They had initially proposed trenching right across our entrance drive and when I pointed out that there was an 11 kV cable buried there they assured me they would be no where near it. I pressured them to try again with their CAT cable scanner and sure enough had they put a full width trench in they'd have gone right through it  I'm glad that I was insistant !

[BillTodd]

My Nephew Lee makes a good living welding burst water pipes ...

sometimes from the inside!

[awemawson]

Bill I don't think even Lee could weld this one - it's asbestos cement !

[ddmckee54]

Well, at least the asbestos if wet, and won't be friable.

[russ57]

Is there a little part of you that wanted to let them dig and then say 'I told you so'..

-russ

[awemawson]

No Russ, I've already seen one bloke nearly frazzled on that 11kV line where it is aerial:

https://www.madmodder.net/index.php/topic,12496.msg148855.html#msg148855

Well a chap came back yesterday evening and made the entrance gate to the cottages safe in a temporary way so we don't kill our guests on the way in,and then darn me if we wern't off water supply AGAIN at about 9 pm. This time a 10" gate valve in the lay-by on the other side of the road had 'blown'. It had been leaking for ages and been reported but not fixed. Probably finally gave way with the surge pressure when they turned back on having fixed our leak.

As I type there is a chap back filling the two excavations so with any luck things might return to normal soon - yet to get a date for the bulk delivery of the shingle, MOT type 1 and the graded & seeded top soil.

[awemawson]

A few days ago the excavations got back filled, topped with top soil and re-seeded.

Yesterday a grab lorry dropped off the '10 tons' of pea shingle and took away the excess spoil from the holes - I was sure there was more than 10 tons - yes - looking at the loading ticket there was 12 

So today an energetic pair of chaps came to spread it about - that's a lot of work even with a mini digger to help. They did their best but to be honest they left it a bit rough. It needs a fair amount of traffic over it to settle it down, and probably a bit of rain will help.

I 'tracked it in' using my Land-rover which at least has compacted the shingle a fair amount, then I went over it with a broad leaf rake so that it looks a bit more presentable.

I do have a Benford vibrating roller buried in the Tractor Shed, and when the gravel has settled down - probably in the spring - I'll give it a good squashing.

[awemawson]

And guess what - just to make my day YET ANOTHER burst in the 6" asbestos cement water main that runs through our front garden.

So no doubt they are going to have to pull out some laurel hedge (again) dig big holes and replace a 4 metre length of pipe (again) make a big mess of my garden (again)

pictures to follow - meanwhile no water, cottage guests arriving tomorrow, oh joy !

[Pete W.]

Matthew,

All I can do from this far away is commiserate.  I hope that it all gets properly sorted out soon.

[awemawson]

Who's this Matthew chap 

Thanks Pete
Andrew

You know things are bad when you recognise some of the ground works crew and they greet you like an old friend!

[Pete W.]

Who's this Matthew chap 

Thanks Pete
Andrew

You know things are bad when you recognise some of the ground works crew and they greet you like an old friend!

Sorry about that.  I blame my age!!

[awemawson]

Well goodness only knows how many orange men we now have on site. Latest contingent are Tree Surgeons - they have to push back the quite solid Laurel Hedge far enough to let Mr Digger get at the pipe.

Prior to that a team delivered a 6 metre length of expensive looking 6" blue water main and a whole bunch of fittings - they also brought a tower lighting generator as they assure me they will work through the night until water is restored.

Prior to that we had a rather smart Water Bowser delivered primarily for the livestock, and multiple bottles of drinking water.

And (finally) prior to that another gang laid a road way across my front lawn to hopefully reduce the scaring and subsequent restitution that will be needed.

All good fun - especially as my private borehole pump packed in yesterday morning - OK it's untreated water but OK for the polytunnels & greenhouse as well as the sheep. Traced the fault to the start capacitor and lashed in a temporary replacement - Amazon delivered the correct one a few minutes ago so that's back working - phew !

[hermetic]

Oh Crikey Andrew, not again! the biggest drama we had today was the little tractor coil quitting! much easier to fix! You would think that by now they would have learned their lesson and replaced the whole thing. It must cost them more to restore your garden than it does to repair the pipe! Best of luck with it all.
Phil

[awemawson]

Water eventually restored at about 4am this morning. I must say they've done a good clear up job - they know that I've cottage guests arriving today so don't want the place looking like a building site.

Thankfully I suggested that they lay a track path over the lawn to save making the mess that they made last time - and they acted on  the suggestion so there is minimal damage from digger tracks.

Big chunk of hedge removed and we now sport RED (never seen it before!) Heras temporary fencing to make the garden dog secure.

There follows many pictures and a video

[SwarfnStuff]

Golly,What a saga Andrew.
Actually I think more a serial drama. 
Hope the water trust is footing the bill for it all.
Perhaps they could save some money for all these call outs and re-plumb the whole lot?
But that may be too logical if Australian water authorities are any guide.
Keep smiling and carry on.

John B

[awemawson]

Well at LONG LAST SE Water have repaired the damages.After many promises and missed appointments I blew a gasket on Monday and started firing big rockets at SE Water.

Guess what - Tuesday brought a gang of four orange men with a tipper, 35 175 cm tall Prunus laurocerasus 'Rotundifolia', and some bulk bags of sifted soil.

Being nosy I grabbed the label off one of the laurel bushes and found out from the nursery they had cost the princely sum of £1400 plus VAT  - this is not the retail price but the actual sum paid !

Anyway the gang proceeded to lay out 'bog mats' to preserve the lawn and plants all but a handful that were left over.

Then yesterday they were back with 24 sq metres of turf which went down today. SE Water failed to provide the promise stand pipe for watering so I've lent them one as this lot will die very quickly in the current hot spell.

Hopefully that draws a line under this leak, but while firing rockets I reserved a special one to remind them of the other leak that I reported 6 weeks ago and was still in full flood - this proved fruitful but see other thread