Suspect water company's change of mains pressure has led to a leak in my property.

firsttimebuyer15

A couple of weeks ago STWater lowered the water pressure in my area to carry out some repair work on the mains system. This week they increased the pressure back to what I assume is roughly the same as it was before +/-. Yesterday I had a water leak from my boiler for which I'm waiting on a plumber out to diagnose but it looks like the leak comes from the mains input to the boiler.

Could just be a total coincidence but the timing feels too close for there to be no connection.

Are water companies obliged to keep pressure under a maximum PSI value?

Would they keep a record of what local water pressures would be?

Is there any potential for a claim against the water company for cost of repairs?

LunaLater

You should have a pressure-reducing valve between the mains and your boiler, which is your responsibility.

What may have happened here is that an old connection has failed due to the pressure reducing then returning to normal.

firsttimebuyer15

LunaLater said:

You should have a pressure-reducing valve between the mains and your boiler, which is your responsibility.

What may have happened here is that an old connection has failed due to the pressure reducing then returning to normal.

Just reading up on pressure-reducing valves and it does sound like something that would have helped as I do get the 'water hammer' noises sometimes. It's an old property so I doubt it has a pressure-reducing valve installed currently but it's something I can mention with the plumber.

gm0

Your plumber will have their own pov on the isolation valves, non-returns, pressure reducers between mains cold water and your type of boiler.

My understanding is that cold filling loops should not officially be permanently connected up.

If they are then my opinion is that a 2nd isolator of hand/screwdriver type - is a good idea as the ones inside boilers can be cheap/nasty and leak leading to over pressure cold and the pressure relief venting off when hot.  Mine did that once.

A non-return valve would go some way to implement the intent of the rules which is to stop CH system water entering the potable mains water supply going backwards if mains pressure drops off.  That is why the rules around this exist.
 
A pressure reducer may be sensible if you have strong urban water pressure.

In context of the existing pipe runs and the boiler location it may be quite trivial to improve this in situ or it may need to wait for a future boiler replacement cycle when pipe run adjustments may be necessary or easier to achieve.

Aylesbury_Duck

I agree with the suggestion that the drop and return of the water pressure has caused what was already a failing pipe joint to leak.  If the pressure was too high, everyone in your street would be having problems.