Probably got a leak

danlightbulb said:
Look like a definite leak.

I confirmed our meter was the right one. With no consumption in house, dial is visibly moving.

Isolated main stop tap in house. Dial still moving.

Now on a 3 hr countdown before taking a second reading to see how much is being used.
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Did you check your swimming pool?

For reference, our 2 person household uses about 36 cubic meters in 6 months. This is one of those reasons to check your water meter monthly so you can notice if your usage is suddenly way above normal.

If you've isolated the main tap in house and the dial is still moving then either there's a leak between it, or it's feeding another supply. At this point I'd probably get in touch with the water company.
 
Semple said:
Did you check your swimming pool?
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Ha ha I wish. Although maybe I'll have one soon with the size of this leak.

Semple said:
For reference, our 2 person household uses about 36 cubic meters in 6 months. This is one of those reasons to check your water meter monthly so you can notice if your usage is suddenly way above normal.

If you've isolated the main tap in house and the dial is still moving then either there's a leak between it, or it's feeding another supply. At this point I'd probably get in touch with the water company.
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Yep I was expecting below average annual consumption for the two of us so 80-100m3 a year max. I've used 170m3 in 6 months.

The meter was only installed in November (reading of zero), moved in to the house in late September.

I have the Homeserve cover which Im just reviewing and it seems the policy should cover repairing my supply pipe upto £4k total cost. At this stage I have no idea whether this is one leak or a supply pipe full of holes.

Then will have to make a leak allowance claim from Severn Trent for the refund of the leakage already incurred.


Just goes to show how much leakage is likely to be on customer's own premises. Metering is the only way to find it all so I do support it.


The results from the first 1 hr reading is in - looking like 42 litres an hour based on reading 1.
 
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danlightbulb said:
Look like a definite leak.

I confirmed our meter was the right one. With no consumption in house, dial is visibly moving.

Isolated main stop tap in house. Dial still moving.

Now on a 3 hr countdown before taking a second reading to see how much is being used.
Click to expand...

As long as you move quickly, they will probably refund you for a leak, even if it's on your property.
 
Is there a period when the house is empty ,then make note of the meter reading come back at the end of the day and check reading.

Any difference you got a leak
 
mickyflinn said:
Is there a period when the house is empty ,then make note of the meter reading come back at the end of the day and check reading.

Any difference you got a leak
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Yep doing that right now whilst working from home. Internal stop tap off, taking meter readings every hour.

Its looking like 40 litres an hour, or nearly 1000 litres a day. That's pretty big, surprised I can't see anything externally.

15 minutes till I pop out and take another reading to confirm the flow rate.

Have already contacted Homeserve, they are coming Saturday to investigate and hopefully fix. I guess it depends whether its one leak or many. Older house, whole pipe could be full of holes.

The only other place it could be is where the pipe enters the kitchen under the floor. If its there, its a rip the kitchen out job I expect. But I think at that flow rate we would know if it was sub floor.

Regarding Severn Trent, I have to complete a leak allowance claim form to try and claim back the cost of the lost water, and you're only allowed one of these claims per account apparently. I would expect it to be accepted given Ive helped them out with some leakage finding.
 
When mine was leaking, I could hear it at night. It could be fairly deep - so you wouldn't see anything ast the surface.

I doubt it's in the house - you'd have damp everywhere.
 
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danlightbulb said:
Yep doing that right now whilst working from home. Internal stop tap off, taking meter readings every hour.

Its looking like 40 litres an hour, or nearly 1000 litres a day. That's pretty big, surprised I can't see anything externally.

15 minutes till I pop out and take another reading to confirm the flow rate.

Have already contacted Homeserve, they are coming Saturday to investigate and hopefully fix. I guess it depends whether its one leak or many. Older house, whole pipe could be full of holes.

The only other place it could be is where the pipe enters the kitchen under the floor. If its there, its a rip the kitchen out job I expect. But I think at that flow rate we would know if it was sub floor.

Regarding Severn Trent, I have to complete a leak allowance claim form to try and claim back the cost of the lost water, and you're only allowed one of these claims per account apparently. I would expect it to be accepted given Ive helped them out with some leakage finding.
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If you know how the pipe runs from the outside stop tap then look to see if there are any dips in the garden or driveway, etc that maybe a good indication where theres a leak as the ground is soft from the water.
 
Bug One said:
I doubt it's in the house - you'd have damp everywhere.
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We do have relatively high humidity in the house and have since we've moved in. A sub floor leak could be causing that I guess?

But definitely no leak of that size at least above sub floor level internally, we'd see a leak of that size if it was in the bathroom or leaky toilets etc.
mickyflinn said:
If you know how the pipe runs from the outside stop tap then look to see if there are any dips in the garden or driveway, etc that maybe a good indication where theres a leak as the ground is soft from the water.
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It runs from the road in pretty much a straight line down the left side of the driveway and down the alleyway between the two semi detached houses, then from there up into the kitchen which is on the side. The first five meters are just under soil (plants) then in the alleyway section its under slabs. No evidence of anything though.

Will need to start moving plants anyway, as they will be in the way of any repair on that section.
 
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This is my incoming supply pipe. Do you think this is lead?

2023-05-30-13-23-23-My-Drive-Google-Drive.png



There is no evidence of a leak in this area though. I put a screwdriver to the metal and can hear a slight hiss (could be my leak) and a mechanical noise (probably meter rotating).


Took another reading so after 3 hrs the leak has used 102 litres. Works out to nearly 300 cubic metres a year which ties in to the 170 m3 I used in six months if we allow some for actual consumption as well.

Just need the investigation and repair of external pipe now.
 
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Maybe they ballsed up the meter installation itself and the leak is directly there.

Bug One said:
When mine was leaking, I could hear it at night. It could be fairly deep - so you wouldn't see anything ast the surface.

I doubt it's in the house - you'd have damp everywhere.
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We had a leak at work in the high pressure mains, it cut through our concrete roadway like a hot knife through butter. Quite scary.
It wasn't hard to find ;)
 
Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
Maybe they ballsed up the meter installation itself and the leak is directly there.
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The meter box itself is dry, so I don't think its there.

My pipe isn't very deep though, maybe 12-14 inches below ground that's all (at the meter box anyway).

Its possible the burst happened when they installed the meter and re-pressurised the pipe I guess, but no way to ever know.

Lots of room for writing complaints if they don't refund the money when I get it fixed. I'll be taking some pictures of what the guys find when they come on Saturday.
 
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mickyflinn said:
Correct.

It does look like lead pipe in the picture above , can you see anything by shining a torch or lifting the wood ?
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No, I can't lift the floor as that photo is taken right behind a kitchen cupboard.

I'm sure I would hear 34 litres an hour if it was directly under that bit of floor.
 
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danlightbulb said:
No, I can't lift the floor as that photo is taken right behind a kitchen cupboard.

I'm sure I would hear 34 litres an hour if it was directly under that bit of floor.
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It's more to see if anything is wet but Depends how the water is soaking away, you would be surprised how much water can leak underground with no indication of where its coming from until you uncover stuff.
 
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mickyflinn said:
It's more to see if anything is wet but Depends how the water is soaking away, you would be surprised how much water can leak underground with no indication of where its coming from until you uncover stuff.
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Very difficult to see but it seemed like the area underneath was dry. Will know more on Saturday hopefully.
 
mickyflinn said:
Hope it's an easy fix but let us know what happens.

Tx
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Not sure what I want actually, from this. One leak repair in one spot would be easier to fix but if there were multiple pinhole leaks all along it I could probably get the whole supply pipe replaced on the claim, which would be more future proof.
 
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