Massive water bill and possible leak

hazeyj

Hiya all

I received my last water bill and our monthly payments have gone up from £25 a month to £70 a month. Called the water board to ask why and they say that since last May (05) our water usage jumped significantly. Now we use the same amount of water that a family of 5 does (this is what the united utilities say) even though there is only two of us and we both work full time. They say that we may have a leak and to get a plumber in to check.

We also started to keep a record of our readings on a day to day basis and according to our meter we are still using water at night when were asleep and in the day when were at work.

I had an plumber to take a look at our toilet and boiler etc to make sure there is no leak and he told me that a thermostat had gone in our unvented boiler and this was causing the boiler to overheat and it was causing the safety valve to kick in and empty the boiler which would be causing us to "lose" water. He advised us to get a spark in to change the thermostat. Get a sparky in and he said that this problem wouldnt cause us to lose such a large amount of water and the plumber was the one who needed to change the thermostat. ????

Strangley enough since we had the plumber round there is a smell of damp in the boiler cupboard and in the bathroom and now a damp patch has appeared in our bedroom which is next to the bathroom.

The meter is def ours as we have tested it but it appears that quite a few flats in our block are having the same problem and no one can find a leak.

The water board have agreed to come out and check for leaks themselves and were are waiting for them to come out. In the interim thay have agreed to reduce our payments to £30 whilst we find out what the problem is.

Has anyone else any thoughts on what could be happending? Could there be a leak in the building itself which is causing these problems?

Thanks in advance.

david29dpo

this must be a massive leak! cant see it just being the boiler or you would be up to your necks in water. turn your stopcock off overnight and see if the meter moves.if it does, the leak is not in your flat. could be between the meter and your stopcock.

hazeyj

david29dpo wrote:

this must be a massive leak! cant see it just being the boiler or you would be up to your necks in water. turn your stopcock off overnight and see if the meter moves.if it does, the leak is not in your flat. could be between the meter and your stopcock.

Thanks will do. Yesterday it turns out that in one of the flats affected the original builders had left a broom handle in the soil pipe which in tirn has caused that flat to have a massive surge of poo come up through their shower and toilet and now the next flat to that and then mine have had 2 foot of damp spring up overnight on our walls. I think its all connected.

Nightmare.

Cardew

A leak is probable for the higher consumption.

Could it be possible that another flat has 'tapped in'(pun intended) to your water supply after(downstream from) the meter? This is not unknown in blocks of flats - particularly conversions. However if your consumption has increased since May 05 it is not likely unless there have been renovations/repairs in the block.

hazeyj

ha ha like your pun. Gonna switch the stopcocks off to all the flats (The neighbours do know on our floor) tonight and see if the meters have moved in the morning.

Had the loss adjuster round today and he said that the walls will have just absorbed the water as its new build so the leak could be anywhere really but they have given the goahead for a search, fix and and redecs to be done which is good news.

deanos

Its possible you could be on the incorrect meter , if the builder has tagged the supply pipes incorrectly when they were put in you could be paying for another flat maybe there are new tenants moved in recently ??

I would check the meter that you are paying for is conected to your flat, quite simple to do just get someone inside to turn the cold water tap on and off a few times and check your meter moves, if its some distance use a mobile phone for communication

roger56

Do a simple leak check if you can:

Turn off all taps and water using items in the flat (ideally turn off the internal stop !!!!). Now check the meter and see if the red dial is moving round (slowly or fast).
If it is, you've probably got a leak.
I had a meter fitted to a new build flat and found I was using around 3cu meters a day (around 660gallons). Turned out the supply was leaking and eventually the developer had to completely replace the water pipe. I kept the water company informed by letter and didn't have to pay for the 200+ cu mtrs of water wasted.

Icemoose

I know how you feel my water bill jumped from £25 a month to £50 a month last October and I am living alone.... Checked everything out and no problems here so now I am really limting the water I use! It's really bad to have to fork out this much when people not on meters are on a fixed rate to use what they want!

hazeyj

deanos wrote:

Its possible you could be on the incorrect meter , if the builder has tagged the supply pipes incorrectly when they were put in you could be paying for another flat maybe there are new tenants moved in recently ??

I would check the meter that you are paying for is conected to your flat, quite simple to do just get someone inside to turn the cold water tap on and off a few times and check your meter moves, if its some distance use a mobile phone for communication

Yep were on the correct meter. It only started last may. Bills were fine before then. There are several other people in the sam situation here which makes me think we have a major leak.

hazeyj

roger56 wrote:

Do a simple leak check if you can:

Turn off all taps and water using items in the flat (ideally turn off the internal stop !!!!). Now check the meter and see if the red dial is moving round (slowly or fast).
If it is, you've probably got a leak.
I had a meter fitted to a new build flat and found I was using around 3cu meters a day (around 660gallons). Turned out the supply was leaking and eventually the developer had to completely replace the water pipe. I kept the water company informed by letter and didn't have to pay for the 200+ cu mtrs of water wasted.

Yep weve already done that and even when were in bed or at work were using water according to the meter.

I have the developer coming round on monday to start checking pipes.

Fanks

Wig

What happened to the meters on the whole floor when you turned off the stop !!!! over night as you said you were going to do in post #5?