Sorry power washing is not important enough for a hydrant meter

John Doherty

New member
Bid a project late last year, as part of the bid called local water utility to ensure we could get a hydrant meter, what the deposit and rates were, etc. no problem.

Get the contract, job starts next Tuesday and call to set up appointment to pick up meter.

Sorry we don't give meters to power washers. Went all the way up to the director, nope we won't do it only construction, filling pools etc.

What garbage, NJ always top of the ranks in places where it's difficult to conduct business, crap like this is why.

Another state wide utility co even worse. I have 2 meters out from 2 of their offices for 2 jobs we are working. Go to the 3rd seperate office (each one covers a specific geographic area) to get a meter for a 3rd job for next week and they tell me I need to hire a cop to watch the meter (at $60 per hr).

I ask why, they tell me due to 9/11, I ask what does that mean? To ensure the safety of the water supply. I say you understand that any hydrant can be accessed with a pipe wrench right, and the meter has nothing to do with it?

Yes but that's the policy and I have to go by policy. I ask so you agree that it doesn't make any sense right? He answers, that's the policy and I have to go by policy. I tell him I need some names and numbers of higher ups to start writing some letters. He says you start writing letters you may never get to use a hydrant.

I have a sibling who knows this utilities EVP, they sent an email to him late yesterday, waiting for a response.
 
You cant fight these a holes !! Common Sense has gone away a long time ago. There are so many government and city and state employees that have no clue whats going on in the real world !! Idiots
 
and they wonder why there is little compliance.


I just picked up a meter last week from a city we work in.I paid 575 deposit and have a meter I can keep with me at all times. In 6 months return that meter and pick up another so they can read the meter and send me a bill. Best 575 I have ever spent, and would come in handy in your situation. Just use your own meter and report to them or don't report but at least you will have something on the hydrant if someone starts looking and you will seem legitimate
 
I had a one day job, $3,000 deposit with the city of Atlanta. Returned it that same day and tried to get my deposit check back. Not a chance, they cashed it. It took me every bit of six months to get them to send me the money.
 
What are your feelings on getting a meter when doing apartment communities? If you tap a hydrant on the property, the property is paying it in almost all cases, right? I was questioned by a fire Marshall a while back at a complex and explained this to him (playing dumb the whole time) and to my surprise he agreed and left.
 
The problem with too much government isn't just the cost but the fact they answer to no one including a profit model.
There is no reason for these utility people to explain why you need a cop to watch the meter because your disagreement with their policy doesn't affect his paycheck.
 
The Hydrants are such a pain in the azz here. We did a whole town twice a few years ago. Did all there sidewalks. Because of that job I had to purchase around 2000' of Garden hose because this town couldnt even get the permission to use the hydrants for Powerwashing. I even tried to use the FD's hydrant but they to were frozen over this towns lack of power to get permission to use a Hydrant for PWing.

Its all red tape beurucratic garbage. Ask in your town why the Landscapers can get the hydrant meters when the Powerwashers can not.

I gave up that fight years ago...

Here's another one for ya. I have to have a Home improvent license to Powerwash in my county yet I have to charge for most cleanings a sales tax. NY state says so. My county says I do home improvements so I need that license and I should be protected from charging sales tax and they gave me a letter saying so so I can send it to the state. The state says no. I have to pay sales tax and they dont care about the HP lic because thats a county issue.. total bullcrap. So I'm paying more in sales tax then companies that make 50x the money I do and they do NOT have to pay sales tax.

The whole system is screwed up.
 
John,
Same thing is happening to us. We bid jobs down by the shore and they told us it was around 85-90 per hour for a cop to stand around and watch the meter. We are now scrambling with the property managers because its in our contract to supply water and they wonder why contractors steal it. Im not going to lose a $25k project I might take my chances and take it without the meter and if I get caught pay the $500 fine.

Who was the engineer who thought a terrorist could feed anything down the water system through a fire hydrant? YOU CANT JACKWAGON!
I feel your pain John.
 
Pool tuck cost from 350 to 450 3000 gallons 250 to fill it again . I have a few well jobs coming up and this is the cost which I find most reasonable ,don't you know hey! No problem finding happy people to bring some water to yah ,hey . Over en out ten four and appy washing.
 
The ignorance makes it impossible to to the right thing and still work like the construction companies and the city does. The sweepers here fill up every Friday across the street. When we did the downtown sidewalks they told us to hook directly up to the hydrants.

Bottom line here is:

$600 deposit
$140 per month for the "privilege" (per truck) PLUS whatever water you use.

or

$300 fine if cited.

Strange math......
 
Got one just now where it's a $400 returnable deposit, $50 admin fee and pay for water used. Had one a few months back that was $1000 deposit and before that a $1500 deposit.

Can it really be that difficult to have a straightforward policy?!?!
You would think it shouldn't be a problem. Right before 9-11 I ran into problems trying to get permission to use hydrants in my county. After 9-11 here like Jimmy V says above there was paranoia terrorist thoughts here such as the water could get contaminated and in that the Hydrants became more off limits. We checked out a water tower job for a company that comes to these bb's to help them with there bid. Just going near the water towers then brought security or the police so I had to meet with the water authority there just to take a look at a tower.. Was that good to be very cautious then..probably but the Hydrant thing is a stretch to keep it going this long..
 
We bought a hydrant meter about 5 years ago for $200 after renting one from the county for $275 per quarter all those years. Every 6 months you call in the meter reading and they send you a bill. I think its about $1.89 per 1000 gallons in Maryland. Thats crazy how much it varys state to state.
 
Funny you bring this up, I just called the Board of Public Utilities Ombudsman this week to get some info on utilities denying access. He's checking further, but his initial response is yes they can. I'll post when I learn more.
 
Based on what.. How can they justify importance of one job over another. I can understand when they put usage on hold around here during a drought. The last time that happened was 2002
 
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