High water usage

John787

We usually use about 10 cubic meter of water every month.
I received a phone call from my water company said that we used about 16 cubic meter of water per month in the last 6 month.

So I monitor the water usage and it seems to be normal (1.2 units in 5 days)

Then we went to holiday for 6 days and water meter went crazy! We used nearly 21 units in about 6 days when obvious no one used any water! I checked the tap, toilet, garden hose, wash machine, dish washer, central heating and no trace of water marker of leakage.

I turned off the main valve in the house and the water meter didn't move at all.

Now I am confused because the meter reading is so sporadic, any suggestions?

firefox1956

Naughty neighbour using your outside tap when you were away ??

csnann

Does anyone have the keys to your house? A relative or friend that you asked to feed a pet, perhaps?

knightstyle

Does your hating system have a tank or two in the roof? If not then it is probably a pressurised system. These have one or two pressure relief valves which send water down a drain. Have a look and listen for water continuously flowing from a valve down a small drain pipe.
You may need to call a plumber to sort this out.

Jackmydad

firefox1956 wrote: »

Naughty neighbour using your outside tap when you were away ??

Very possibly I'd have thought.
Hot weather? Neighbour(s) got a pool or similar?
I make 21 units (21000 litres) very approximately the continuous flow from a cold tap for 17 hours.
It's a lot of water.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

Leaking cistern in the toilet, hot water tank, or central heating tank. You heating cistern have leak pipe to the outside, check these are not dripping.

Turn off at the stop !!!! overnight. Take reading. Do not flush toilet overnight, or use hot water!. In morning turn on stop !!!!, if there is an inrush of water, you have a leak. The menacing cistern will be making a noise!

If you have had exceptional use during a billing period and fix the leak, some water boards offer a rebate for doing so. Check with yours!

Jackmydad

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth wrote: »

If you have had exceptional use during a billing period and fix the leak, some water boards offer a rebate for doing so. Check with yours!

Yes but think about it first, and check how many times you are allowed to claim. For example IIRC South West Water put a limit on the number of times you can claim this. So you might decide to pay rather than lose the rebate for a future occurance. Check with your supplier.

John787

Thank you for your comments.

The strange thing is that now it is back to normal now, at least for today. Only used 72 liters of water for lunch and wash machine use.

I checked the toilet, no sign of leaking.