Welcome to "Tools of a Service Technician" Part 2.
See what I did there? I shortened the title so I could make a catchy acronym.
Today we will look at what you could consider my basic "load out" or what I commonly grab when I get out of the truck for a regular service ticket.
In addition to the previously talked about screwdriver, the next most common tool would be what I call the meter key. Some call it a turn on wrench, or turn on key, but I'm sure it goes by many names. This is the tool I use to open or close the valve (curbstop) that turns on or off your water. These can be bought at most hardware stores, but generally are a little smaller and lest robust than the one shown.
This type of key comes with soft yellow padded handles, but I pull them off. Reason being is that they don't last that long, and... If you look next to the meter key, you'll notice a metal bar. I insert that metal bar through the handle sometimes, when extra leverage is needed. Some of the older curbstops (the on/off valve) are quite old, and need a little something extra to turn them.
Next up we have the pin lock, and the pin lock key. Again, I think these go by another name (barrel lock), but that's what we call them. This is what is used to lock a meter in the case of a nonpay violation, or other general reason. The key goes into the lock, and pulls two ball bearings in. When the key is removed, the bearings push back out, and the lock is set. The locks are somewhat easy to remove, of you give it a decent effort. That little red cap goes on the lock to keep dirt out of it.
Lastly, we have the Touch Reader. This small hand held device actually performs a couple different tasks, but the main one is to electronically read the meters. There is a wire attached to the meter that runs to an MXU (that's a topic for another day, but is basically a broadcasting device for the meter readings). You can pull reads off the meter my touching the reader to the plug at the end of the wire. Now I'm old school, and a good percentage of the meters I read, I read by hand, but the Touch Reader comes in handy for when meters are underwater, or four foot deep and covered in dirt.
So that's the basic tools I use day to day, running what we call a normal service run. More tools to follow!