Water pipe leak

greenery

I asked about this on a thread in the 'home' section, but I think this might be a better place to ask the question.

We have a water leak between the water meter and our house. Our water authority is SouthEast Water, who have looked at it and told us that we have to get it fixed.
Alot of other Water authorities will do a first repair for you free of charge, but not South East Water.
We haven't started to look for anyone to repair it yet (we have been told we have 30 days to do it) The house is only 15 years old, so it is likely there is a connection somewhere in the pipe which needs replacing.
Does anyone know what cost we could be looking at (approx 10m between footpath and house) and/or any recomendations for reliable contractors in Kent who could do the job.

Thanks in advance

Swipe

When I had a new pipe fitted I was quoted £30 / metre plus £100ish for the point of entry. That was using a mole rather than digging a trench.

mart.vader

greenery wrote: »

I asked about this on a thread in the 'home' section, but I think this might be a better place to ask the question.

We have a water leak between the water meter and our house. Our water authority is SouthEast Water, who have looked at it and told us that we have to get it fixed.
Alot of other Water authorities will do a first repair for you free of charge, but not South East Water.
We haven't started to look for anyone to repair it yet (we have been told we have 30 days to do it) The house is only 15 years old, so it is likely there is a connection somewhere in the pipe which needs replacing.
Does anyone know what cost we could be looking at (approx 10m between footpath and house) and/or any recomendations for reliable contractors in Kent who could do the job.

Thanks in advance

As you say, SEW don't seem to have a free or subsidised repair scheme.

Is there a stretch of pipe where the leak could be, NOT under your property. i.e. could it be, after the meter, but under the public footway?

If so tell SEW that you think it's not on your property. They will send someone to prove that it is on your property, or dig up the footway to eliminate any leak in that part. - Your local plumber is not allowed to open a hole in the footway.

When SEW have done so. and if they still insist that the leak is on your property. speak to the guys who are digging the hole and ask them (discreetly) if they want to come back in their own time and do a repair for you. Or ask for a mobile no., so you can ask them about laying a patio or something, Then see how much they would want to repair the leak.

greenery

mart.vader wrote: »

As you say, SEW don't seem to have a free or subsidised repair scheme.

Is there a stretch of pipe where the leak could be, NOT under your property. i.e. could it be, after the meter, but under the public footway?

If so tell SEW that you think it's not on your property. They will send someone to prove that it is on your property, or dig up the footway to eliminate any leak in that part. - Your local plumber is not allowed to open a hole in the footway.

When SEW have done so. and if they still insist that the leak is on your property. speak to the guys who are digging the hole and ask them (discreetly) if they want to come back in their own time and do a repair for you. Or ask for a mobile no., so you can ask them about laying a patio or something, Then see how much they would want to repair the leak.

Thanks for the reply, but SEW have already sent someone out, on sunday. They dug up the footpath, and replaced the meter (standard practice I was told). The leak is still there, so it is on my property. The contractors said someone from SEW would contact us, so I am waiting to be told officially that the leak is on my property.

There is something I found on their website saying they would provide 1 hour of time to trace the leak free of charge (not sure how they would do this), so I will wait for them to get back to me (hopefully soon).

jimjames

South East water do offer an assisted repair scheme as well as a replacement scheme if the pipe cannot be repaired. Details here

http://www.southeastwater.co.uk/pls/apex/PROD.download_file?p_doc_id=300

mart.vader

Quite correct - I must have missed it.