Mains water pipe leaking

Terry161157

Please please please can somebody help me, I have been told by Anglia Water that there's a leak under my driveway, the water bill is £655, the cost to fix the leak is £800 plus vat, I cannot afford the repair, so I begun trying to dig down to do it myself, I have only dug down 300mm and found the water main pipe, it's supposed to be 750mm min and 1350 max depth, so my question is why and how was the original pipe fitting allowed to have been installed at such a shallow depth, this has obviously had a detrimental effect on the pipe as my car is constantly being driven over it, I am tempted to go back to AW and tell them that it is not my fault that the pipe was fitted so shallow and therefore I should not be expected to do the fix at total cost to myself.... Has anybody else had a similar experience and what was the outcome?. I am really at the end of my tether.


Terry

Tixy

Hi and welcome to the forum. This is the credit card section of the forum. You may be better posting on the water section of the forum here Water Bills,

SailorSam

How old is your house, the pipe will probably been there since the house was built, so if that's years ago i doubt you'd have much luck claiming from the builders not if it's lasted for years.
UPDATE
Just noticed your other thread Terry....... You've got lead pipes. So they must have been there a long time. If Anglia Water are telling you how deep the regulaions are now, don't forget years ago they were probably a lot less when your house was built.
Before going to the expense of putting in a new pipe, could you cut out the leaking bit and add a joint, or if it's only a small leak, try to solder it.

Terry161157

SailorSam wrote: »

How old is your house, the pipe will probably been there since the house was built, so if that's years ago i doubt you'd have much luck claiming from the builders not if it's lasted for years.
UPDATE
Just noticed your other thread Terry....... You've got lead pipes. So they must have been there a long time. If Anglia Water are telling you how deep the regulaions are now, don't forget years ago they were probably a lot less when your house was built.
Before going to the expense of putting in a new pipe, could you cut out the leaking bit and add a joint, or if it's only a small leak, try to solder it.

Hi Sam


No the pipe is definitely plastic, I've checked it at the meter and at the entry to the house, black plastic both ends with no protection of any sort.

SailorSam

Well maybe it must have gone down wrong, but plastic is even easier to 'patch' a new bit in, until you can afford to get it all done.
I wonder who did that and not bothered to change the stop tap, you'd have thought while they were working it's only a bit extra.

Terry161157

SailorSam wrote: »

Well maybe it must have gone down wrong, but plastic is even easier to 'patch' a new bit in, until you can afford to get it all done.
I wonder who did that and not bothered to change the stop tap, you'd have thought while they were working it's only a bit extra.

Sorry mate, I'm not making myself clear, the black plastic pipe is from meter all the way into the house stop !!!!, so a complete plastic pipe all the way.

Gromitt

Terry161157 wrote: »

Sorry mate, I'm not making myself clear, the black plastic pipe is from meter all the way into the house stop !!!!, so a complete plastic pipe all the way.

I'm sure then that you'll be able to get someone to replace a portion of the pipe for a fraction of the cost. It should then last until you can afford the "proper job" solution. I've fixed plastic water pipes with duck tape before (as a temporary solution only of course but never on the mains water pipe)

Terry161157

Well today the contractor who was sent by the insurance company came and got straight down to finding and repairing the leak, which surprised me as they said they were going to assess it first before acknowledging it as covered by my insurance policy, so now the leak has been fixed, I'm just hoping that I don't receive a nasty bill through the post to cover the work done, I would have thought I would have been told this before any work was undertaken, but in this mad and crazy world where my excess was taken before the work commenced I really do not know.... Fingers crossed...

plumb1_2

Terry161157 wrote: »

I'm just hoping that I don't receive a nasty bill through the post to cover the work done, I would have thought I would have been told this before any work was undertaken, but in this mad and crazy world where my excess was taken before the work commenced I really do not know.... Fingers crossed...

You will receive a large increase when you come to renew the policy.And have to pay the excess.
You should have got a price for the work from a local plumber or builder. Dug and exposed the pipe yourself and just got them to repair it.