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Connecting Pipe to outside mains meter box via blank cap


Patrick

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At some point I will have to flush the old Mdpe pipework that is already in place. I had a few companies offering to do a chlorine flush of the old system to make it safe to use again. They all need access to both sides of the pipe, so would like me to dig out the pipe next to the mains stopcock on the street in order to flush the system. My mains meter  box has a plastic blank cap where a meter can be - but currently isn't - installed. Am I right assuming that the cap can just be unscrewed and than that would be sufficient access to to roadside of the existing pipework, and where can I find a matching adapter that screws into the meter box blank cap and allows regular pipes to be connected to it. Had a look around but couldn't find anything that would fit this opening. Maybe some of you Plumbers on here know where to buy such an adaptor. Cheers

 

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You can flush and disinfect the pipe yourself.  Flush it through with clean water first, to remove any crud, then fill it with diluted, un-thickened, unscented, domestic bleach for half an hour or so, then flush it through again with clean water until there's no residual smell of chlorine.   Instead of beach you can use calcium hypochlorite granules, sold as "pool shock", for disinfecting swimming pools.  Does the same thing, just mix it with water to get a bleach solution.

 

I've had to do this a couple of times with our borehole, whenever I've pulled the pump out and replaced it

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As far as I know the "plug" (in the water meter hole) is in fact 2 concentric plugs.  I have never seen one that allows you to connect another pipe to it, though I guess you might be able to engineer something.

 

I think this is the plug https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5x-aplas-Talbot-Full-Flow-Cap-with-O-Ring-Seal-Blank-Water-Meter-Box/303279996731?hash=item469ce57f3b:g:i2IAAOSwcQpb4I6g

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Don't they screw a dosing pipe into this to inject chlorine?

 

IIRC, the aim is to get at least 50ppm of chlorine solution into the pipe and leave it for an hour, or 200ppm and leave it for 30 minutes (I've done the latter).  I think the regs say to use sodium hypochlorite, but I've always used calcium hypochlorite, as it has double the free chlorine content.

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1 hour ago, ProDave said:

As far as I know the "plug" (in the water meter hole) is in fact 2 concentric plugs.  I have never seen one that allows you to connect another pipe to it, though I guess you might be able to engineer something.

 

I think this is the plug https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5x-aplas-Talbot-Full-Flow-Cap-with-O-Ring-Seal-Blank-Water-Meter-Box/303279996731?hash=item469ce57f3b:g:i2IAAOSwcQpb4I6g

That's exactly the one. I thought there is a ready to use solution in order to pump in the bleach as @JSHarris

Suggested. The DIY version includes a bit of fiddling around finding the right screwed fitting that will fit into the meter box opening.

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