Potential water leak between the meter and inside stop valve

tristanjourney

Hi all,

Thames Waster installed a smart water meter for my home yesterday. However, I've noticed an unusual issue when checking the meter.

Despite extremely low water usage yesterday afternoon, the meter reading is increasing steadily. I even turned off the inside stop valve, but the meter continues to register usage at the same rate. Within just 8 hours of installation, the reading exceeded 1 m3, currently at 1,120 litre, which seems exceptionally high.

I called Thames Water this morning but they said they will only check the reading in 2 weeks and see if the consumption is higher than usual. I am not very happy with their response. I don't want to leave a potential leaking for 2 weeks.

Anyone experienced similar situation in the past? Should I talk to my home insurance for this (where the leaking isn't fully confirmed yet)?

Any suggestions are really appreciated!

rob7475

It could be a toilet that's constantly filling if the valve is allowing water between the cistern and bowl. If you turn your internal stop tap off, does the meter reading still increase. If so, it's a leak between your meter and internal stop tap. If the meter stops counting, it's somewhere after the stop tap. 

TELLIT01

The OP stated that they have turned off the internal stoptap and the reading continues to increase.  That indicates that the leak is somewhere between the meter and the internal stop tap.  It's possible that the leak is at the output side of the meter but, unfortunately more likely to be somewhere along pipe.

I would get back on to Thames Water and press them to come and check the installation of the meter.

tristanjourney

TELLIT01 said:

The OP stated that they have turned off the internal stoptap and the reading continues to increase.  That indicates that the leak is somewhere between the meter and the internal stop tap.  It's possible that the leak is at the output side of the meter but, unfortunately more likely to be somewhere along pipe.

I would get back on to Thames Water and press them to come and check the installation of the meter.

From what I tested so far, it does seem like there might be a leak between the meter and inside stop tap. Like you said, it can also be the output side of the meter.

Will Thames Water do the investigation for just the meter or also the potential leak? I would image as a water company they would do both, right?

TELLIT01

tristanjourney said:

TELLIT01 said:

The OP stated that they have turned off the internal stoptap and the reading continues to increase.  That indicates that the leak is somewhere between the meter and the internal stop tap.  It's possible that the leak is at the output side of the meter but, unfortunately more likely to be somewhere along pipe.

I would get back on to Thames Water and press them to come and check the installation of the meter.

From what I tested so far, it does seem like there might be a leak between the meter and inside stop tap. Like you said, it can also be the output side of the meter.

Will Thames Water do the investigation for just the meter or also the potential leak? I would image as a water company they would do both, right?

I don't know how far they will go regarding tracing the leak if it is property side of the meter.  Leaks within the property boundary are generally the responsibility of the householder to get fixed.

ThisIsWeird

Everything from the stopcock/meter towards, and in, your house is your responsibility.
Thames may possibly check it for you - I don't know - but they'll charge, like any plumber. 
Possibly, their work disturbed and cracked a pipe or fitting, so they'd likely be liable. And they shouldn't charge you for water lost.
Do you have emergency cover in your home insurance? A friendly local plumber?

tristanjourney

ThisIsWeird said:

Everything from the stopcock/meter towards, and in, your house is your responsibility.
Thames may possibly check it for you - I don't know - but they'll charge, like any plumber. 
Possibly, their work disturbed and cracked a pipe or fitting, so they'd likely be liable. And they shouldn't charge you for water lost.
Do you have emergency cover in your home insurance? A friendly local plumber?

I booked a plumber to have a look on Friday morning.

I do have emergency cover, but I doubt it covers this as I saw this from working "the cost is not covered fro investigting and access the source of emergency. If we can't see or identify the source of leak, we will not accept the claim."

However, my home insurance does have a trace and access (finding the problem) cover.

Should I go straight to talk to my home insurance or call a local plumber first? I guess confirm the existence of leak by a professional should be the first step? If it is supply pipe (underground) leaking then I think make sense to let home insurance to do the rest if they can cover? 

tristanjourney

By the way, from the leakage code of practice from Thames Water. They do mention that they can help with investigating the supply pipe and even repair the supply pipe free of charge. But their website also says it is homeowner's responsibility to maintain and repair supply pipe within the boundary.

Worth chasing them for that?

ThisIsWeird

Thinking about this, Tristan, the sequence should perhaps be, first contact the WB - which you have done - telling them of your suspicions since the leak seemingly occured immediately following their work. Do this in a recordable manner.
If you can, then wait for them to come out. You may need to turn the s/c on and off daily, storing water in bottles and buckets, if you don't want the leak continuing.
Be there as they expose the leak, and see what they say. If the pipe is fractured very close to the meter point, then, on balance of probs, it was caused by them. That's not to say they were 'negligent', tho', as the pipe might be old and fragile.
Do you know what it is made from? Did they say?
There's also the possibility that your pipe has leaked for a good while beforehand, but you just didn't know as there was no meter! 
Or, if you have emergency cover, call them up and explain the full situation - see what they say. Check what is covered, and to what extent - and the excess.

tristanjourney

ThisIsWeird said:

Thinking about this, Tristan, the sequence should perhaps be, first contact the WB - which you have done - telling them of your suspicions since the leak seemingly occured immediately following their work. Do this in a recordable manner.
If you can, then wait for them to come out. You may need to turn the s/c on and off daily, storing water in bottles and buckets, if you don't want the leak continuing.
Be there as they expose the leak, and see what they say. If the pipe is fractured very close to the meter point, then, on balance of probs, it was caused by them. That's not to say they were 'negligent', tho', as the pipe might be old and fragile.
Do you know what it is made from? Did they say?
There's also the possibility that your pipe has leaked for a good while beforehand, but you just didn't know as there was no meter! 
Or, if you have emergency cover, call them up and explain the full situation - see what they say. Check what is covered, and to what extent - and the excess.

Thanks for the advice.

What is WB? Do you mean the water company (Thames Water)? I suppose recordable manner means email or letter, right?

tristanjourney

I also do find that the water underneath the outside water meter is much shadower if I turn off the outside stop valve. When I turn it back on, the water start to accumulate. The level of water change is fairly obvious. I am not sure if that means the meter is somehow leaking or the pipes near the meter is leaking? Or is that just normal?