The seal on the meter is broken: consequences, fines, restoration

Enterprises that supply gas, water and electricity to the population use sealing of metering devices to prevent theft. The population, in turn, tries to bypass such protection, trying to open the products “unnoticed” by inspection organizations. It is not true that the seal cannot be opened. The material from which it is made is not that durable. In fact, this is not a lock, but a tampering indicator. This article is in no way a guide to action on how to remove the seal from a gas meter without damaging it, but rather an overview of the “pitfalls” that await an unlucky burglar. An experienced professional will be able to determine damage to the filling, if not visually, then tactilely. The method of opening the seal depends on the material it is made of. Let's consider the possible options.

Important! If you still want to try your luck, first remember how the sealing product was installed. Even better is to photograph the filling from several angles. After the work is done, it is important to create the effect that the counter has not been touched for a long time (for example, you can dust it with dust for greater authenticity).

Plastic

The filling is made in the form of an 8-10 mm disk with a thickness of 4 mm. The product is installed on a copper wire or fishing line, and then compressed using a seal. This is done so that the seal cannot be moved along the fishing line and, thus, provide access to the meter.

Important! Today, plastic devices are mainly used for sealing electricity and water meters. For people who want to try their luck, this is just a godsend.

Removing the seal and then putting it back in place can be done relatively easily:

• Lubricate the wire or fishing line with machine oil and carefully remove the plastic product.
• If the filling is stubborn, place it in hot water for a minute.
• You can also easily return the seal to its place, since there are holes in the plastic for wire or fishing line. If you have problems with sealing, thread the thinnest guitar string through the holes, string a seal on it and “drive” along it. The hole will widen slightly

Important! If the plastic seal is suspended on a thread and there are difficulties with threading it through the holes, lubricate the ends of the threads with PVA glue, let it dry first and proceed. You can also use special devices for threading the thread into the eye of the needle.

• For resealing, it is advisable to use new wire or fishing line. Now all that remains is to pass them through the holes of the plastic product, secure the seal on both sides with plastic or metal plates and crimp with pliers. It is important not to overdo it, so as not to damage the fragile material.

Important! Uneven plates cannot be used for crimping, as a relief pattern will remain on the seal.

What to do if the water meter seal is accidentally damaged

The seal is broken

A fairly common situation is when the seal on the meter is accidentally broken. There is a high probability of a problem arising during cleaning activities, dismantling work and other actions. In order not to be accused of deliberately damaging the integrity of the seal, you must behave competently if you break the seal from the water meter. In this situation, you will need to take the following actions:

• Contact the service provider and notify the organization of the fact of unintentional impact on the seal in writing.
• Leave a request for re-sealing of the meter.
• Wait for the inspector's visit.

In the application, the user indicates the reason for the problem: “a child broke the seal on the meter”, “the violation occurred during repair work” or similar arguments. Upon arrival, the controller will independently determine whether the information is true and whether illegal interference has occurred.

If, when drawing up the report, the authorized person does not discover any evidence of malicious intent, the device readings will correspond to the data in the latest payment receipts, and no penalties will be imposed on the user.

Inspector's visit

Financial waste in this case is only for resealing the meter.

In order not to find yourself in an unpleasant situation during the investigation of the current situation, listen to the advice of consumers who managed to get out of an unpleasant situation with minimal losses:

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• Pay on time for the consumed resource strictly according to the meter.
• As soon as you discover a broken seal, immediately contact a special service.
• If the meter is past its expiration date, immediately replace it with a new device.

Many resource users sometimes find themselves in a situation where the seal on the meter is broken and the question arises of what to do if the seal is broken.

The state charges high amounts for damage to the seal on the gas and water meters. The countdown time starts from the moment the application is written, from the date indicated in the document. If the owner ignored the need to fill out an application, the starting point will be the day of the last reading taken by the inspector-controller.

Since the seal can be broken, the pin can be pulled out by children, pets, or something similar happens due to carelessness, you must not hesitate.

A late application threatens with a large fine, which is especially unpleasant if you are not the culprit, but the victim.

Thus, the procedure for dealing with an unpleasant situation is as follows:

• Contact the authority to report the damage to the seal. The date, month, time and reason for the event are indicated. If there are witnesses to what happened, this will help to easily prove the unintentionality of the actions
• Write a registered letter. You will have a receipt in your hands, which will indicate the date of application. Also, you will not be accused of concealing the case of damage to the seal.
• The request must indicate the appropriate date and time for the inspector to visit and seal the device.
• Before the controller arrives, collect all documents on the meter, certificates of sealing and acceptance of the device into operation, and a verification report, if it has already been done.

A meter with a broken seal works correctly, but the owner has no right to use such a device. This is considered uncontrolled consumption and is fraught with serious punishment.

Uncontrolled water consumption is obtaining a resource directly, bypassing metering devices. This includes independent connection to the central water supply without completing the necessary package of documents, mechanical damage to the device and broken seals.

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Lead disc

The shape and dimensions of a lead seal resemble a plastic one. But the whole difficulty lies in the material of manufacture. Lead “clings” to fishing line or wire much more strongly than plastic.

How to remove the seal from a gas meter without damaging it?

1. To begin, try simply moving a piece of lead. Sometimes such an attempt is successful.
2. If this fails, cut the seal so that the pieces of wire or fishing line are not noticeable.
3. Clamp the filling in a vice (to avoid leaving marks, first wrap it in several layers of cloth).
4. Drill new holes. There should not be any special problems with this, since lead is a soft metal.
5. If the resulting hole is too narrow for the wire, you can widen it using a guitar string, as described in the previous paragraph.
6. After the lead is placed on the thread or wire, crimp it, but not too much, so that the seal can be removed again without further drilling.

Removing the seal from the gas meter

What articles of legislative acts should I refer to when drawing up a statement of claim? In the lawsuit, describe everything in detail or limit yourself to general phrases and tell everything in court. In order to cancel the illegally charged additional payment for gas, since we regularly paid for consumed gas in full, we did not violate the integrity of the gas meter and did not steal gas.

On November 02, 2021, during an inspection of the gas supply system by engineer R.V. Katorgin. an act was drawn up indicating a violation of the integrity of the gas meter. We have not signed the inspection report. No examination of the counter malfunction or interference with the counting mechanism was carried out. We insisted on conducting an examination, but the inspector said that the breakdown was not our fault, and the meter still needs to be replaced. In the inspection report dated November 2, 2016, the controller indicated that from the moment the malfunction is identified until the meter is replaced with a new one, gas use will be calculated according to average consumption standards. However, later, according to a subscriber department specialist, it turned out that gas payments would be recalculated in accordance with gas consumption standards or according to the capacity of installed equipment for the last 6 months, with which we categorically disagree.

We also ask you to pay attention to the legality of the actions of engineer R.V. Katorgin, who, having entered the house under the pretext of checking the meter readings, first opened the glass of the meter with a handy tool, allegedly he needed to check the degree of wear of the meter after 19 years of operation. He put the glass in place, and only then turned on the video camera, again removing the glass by hand, filming the process and proving that the integrity of the meter had been violated. Before the above actions of the employee, we could not even imagine that the glass could be removed. Visually, the meter was without any traces of integrity violation and in good condition, which is confirmed by verification reports and repeated checks by representatives of Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Belgorod LLC. Photos of the counter are attached.

This meter has been in operation for 19 years and was verified in 2007. The verification and installation certificates for the meter are attached, although the verification report dated November 2, 2016, drawn up by R.V. Katorgin, indicates the absence of these documents.

During a conversation with the inspectors, it turned out that they were focused in advance on identifying any violations by our household due to low gas consumption. However, with our further analysis of gas consumption statistics for the period from 2012 to 2021, we can conclude that gas consumption is approximately the same annually. The average daily consumption for each year is about 5-7 cubic meters. m. Please note that after installing a new gas meter, for the period from November 7, 2016 to December 15, 2016, gas consumption by households in the winter amounted to 5.2 cubic meters. m. Which also indirectly confirms the absence of unauthorized intervention in gas meters.

If Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Belgorod LLC has a practice of such incidents, then why was the KZN sticker not affixed to the glass during installation, sealing and further checks of this gas meter. The installation certificate is attached.

Over the course of 19 years of operation, with approximately the same annual gas consumption and repeated checks by representatives of Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Belgorod LLC, this meter did not raise any doubts. When removing the gas meter, no violations of the integrity of the factory seal of the meter, seals on the union nuts, the housing and the plug of the counting mechanism were revealed. The meter removal certificate is attached.

Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Belgorod LLC did not provide us with an inspection report or any documents confirming the gas debt and the legality of the additional charge in the amount of 51,091.24 rubles. We attach a copy of the payment document for payment of housing and communal services.

Holographic sticker (hologram)

Such fillings have become widespread. To carefully unseal the meter, you can do the following:

1. Take a regular three-liter jar. Wrap it in an old towel or jacket for insulation.
2. Make two holes in the lid, located at the maximum distance from each other. Insert two hoses with a diameter of 1.5 cm and a meter length into the holes. In this case, the hoses should end approximately one centimeter under the cover.
3. Fill the container ¾ full with boiling water. You need to fill the jar slowly so that the glass does not burst.
4. Place the lid on the jar and head towards the seal.
5. Cover the filling with cellophane. Point one tube at the cellophane and start blowing intensely into the other. You can use a car pump or a device for inflating swimming equipment (boats, mattresses, etc.).

Important! The essence of the method is that the adhesive layer softens under this influence, and removing the seal will not be difficult. It will not be difficult to return it to its place, since the adhesive properties of the substance are preserved very well.

Some “craftsmen” act even simpler: they simply wash off the sticker with hot water and detergent. So to speak, they made repairs, got the counter dirty, and then overdid it with washing. Simple, like everything ingenious, but quite risky. Which inspector will you run into?

Is it possible to restore the seal on the gas meter, how?

Well, of course, it is possible and even simply necessary, since this is a metering device by which you are counting the goods you consume (gas) and this is your money.
And if the seal is broken, it needs to be restored, and I want to immediately note such things as damage to the seal of any metering device is not some kind of criminal negligence. This is a common everyday occurrence; such fillings are usually damaged most often by children. Therefore, as soon as you discover a damaged seal, you should call your gas company that services your sector. All you have to do is wait for the master. If you mean restoring fillings yourself, then this is not possible.

The seal can be restored by an organization that supplies gas in your area, Gorgaz, for example.

That is, you need to call the supplier and it is best to do this on the same day when the seal was broken.

Specialists from the gas company will restore the seal, and at a higher tariff (consumption standard) you will pay only for the day when the seal was broken and the day after the seal was restored.

The fine can be avoided.

If you delay, then in addition to the fine you will have to pay an increased rate from the day the seal is installed.

If you don’t inform the gas workers at all about the broken seal, they will find out for themselves during verification, in this case, an increased tariff (payment) from the day of the last meter verification until the current day + a fine.

The fines are quite serious.

In general, there are rules for supplying gas to the population,

This is a pressing question for many. It happens that the seal on a gas meter is torn off or damaged completely by accident - when removing dust from the meter, or during repairs, or children get it out of curiosity. It needs to be restored as quickly as possible!

My advice to you is don’t do anything with this filling yourself! Your main task is to make a request to the Gorgaz control room (the name may be different), telling you what happened.

And only an employee of this specialized organization is allowed to work with seals - remove or install them. By the way, at the same time, your payment for the used gas is checked according to receipts, so prepare receipts right away. if you suddenly owe gas and do not pay on time, they will not give you a seal, but will force you to pay. And only after all the debt has been repaid will the specialist give you a new filling.

Source



Seals in the form of numbered and non-numbered stickers

Removing stickers is exactly the same as the method just described. You can do it even simpler. The fact is that the sticker is a piece of ordinary paper with the seal of the relevant organization and the signature of the inspector, glued with ordinary PVA glue.

We proceed in this order:

1. Remove the paper with extreme care.
2. Paste it onto another sheet.
3. Scan and print on a color printer (with maximum print quality, of course).
4. Before gluing the printed and cut out leaf, spray it with water from a spray bottle to “age” the paper.

Types of seals on a gas meter

Depending on who installs the seal, they can be divided into two groups:

1. Seals installed by the meter manufacturer. This is the manufacturer’s guarantee that the device is designed, technically sound, has passed all tests and tests and complies with all the data specified in the accompanying documentation.
2. Seal of the company supplying the resource. This type is installed to monitor the operation of the measuring device, as well as to record the fact of interference in its operation. It is placed in places where it is attached to the gas pipeline.

Based on the material, seals on a gas meter are divided into the following types:

1. Made of lead. This type is the most widely used. A lead seal looks like a small metal pendant through which a wire is threaded and pressed with a special number seal. Information about the indicator number is written down in the accompanying documentation; it is checked for compliance during inspection.
2. Anti-magnetic sticker. This is also a popular type of indicator. If you try to tear off, damage or peel off the sticker, the message “opened” will appear. It is not possible to return the sticker back.
3. The lock seal looks like a lock made from a plastic case with a clip. These indicators contain a special license plate with which you can track the history of its installation.
4. The rotary plastic seal is the most reliable. Any physical impact on it will cause it to break.

Sanctions for breaking a seal

The legislation does not contain the concept of a fine for the absence of a seal on the gas meter.

However, if the seal is broken and this fact is proven, a fine may be imposed under Art. 19.2 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation:

1. Citizens are punished with a fine in the amount of 100 – 300 rubles.
2. Officials are punished with a fine in the amount of 300 – 500 rubles.

This, of course, is not a critical amount. But in all cases, if the seal is found to be broken, an additional fee will be charged. The amount of this fee is sometimes very high (thousands or tens of thousands of rubles), therefore it is classified by subscribers as a fine.