How to locate water leak under garden/drive?

Delta_1984

SameOldRoundabout said:

I work for another water company and we usually try and find the source of an external leak for our customers. You won’t get a leak allowance if it’s determined the leak is on your pipe work as opposed to the supply pipes, but some home insurance polices do cover for this. Will ST not help trace the leak beyond the pavement? 

You may indeed end up having to dig up your garden/driveway but the alternative is to have sky high water bills forever. Home insurance should cover this even if they don’t cover the water bill. 9000 litres a day is approx £30 a day! 

Thanks, I will call ST to check this since they are coming out to dig the pavement (hopefully early next week). I have no idea what route the pipe takes once it crosses the boundary.

Delta_1984

GDB2222 said:

The water companies still track leaks by listening for them. With a listening stick.

We had a new mains pipe put in, under the flowerbed. Would you have to dig up the driveway?

Yes, some of the drive - as per another suggestion, it might be worth us replacing the pipe via a different route which avoids the drive as much as possible.

Delta_1984

Andy_L said:

Home insurance may have leak detection included (IIRC "trace and access" was the term they used)
When the did ours, the 1st move for leak detection was poking a camera down the pipes to look for joint displacement or cracks 

Was this poking a camera into a water pipe? I would have assumed they were too narrow. 

Mutton_Geoff

grumbler said:

I don't think that normal house insurance covers this.

I had same problem a few months back. LV insurance commissioned the leak tracing people and bloke that came to repair it. Was an incorrectly fitted elbow on the MDPE pipe.

SameOldRoundabout said:

You won’t get a leak allowance if it’s determined the leak is on your pipe work as opposed to the supply pipes, but some home insurance polices do cover for this. Will ST not help trace the leak beyond the pavement?

My supplier, Affinity Water does. I'm just waiting for the next billing cycle to calculate the actual loss. My insurer (LV) also offered to cover this cost in the event the water board didn't.

grumbler

Mutton_Geoff said:

grumbler said:

I don't think that normal house insurance covers this.

I had same problem a few months back. LV insurance commissioned the leak tracing people and bloke that came to repair it. Was an incorrectly fitted elbow on the MDPE pipe.

Was it not a policy with "Home emergency cover" - 'Optional Extra' ?

Mutton_Geoff

grumbler said:

Was it not a policy with "Home emergency cover" - 'Optional Extra' ?

No, bog standard basic, I self insure everything I can.