Potential water leak between the meter and inside stop valve

Belenus

tristanjourney said:

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?

Water Board probably.

ThisIsWeird

tristanjourney said:

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?

Sorry, yes - the 'Water Board'! Thames, in your case. And, yes, email, 'chat', text, Fb, witnessed, whatevs - you don't want them claiming to have not been told - although you do say they replied, and would come out in 2 weeks?

A note about Water Boards, and external leaks, espec the ones that they are likely to be responsible for - they are surprisingly lax about these, and do not rush out to sort them! A bloke up t'road has had a stream running out his drive for weeks, but the EB have told them it's not a priority. It's galling to see the waste, but I guess they are prioritising much larger leaks? Who knows...

Anyhoo, your wee test there is pretty conclusive - you have a leak, and it appears to be at, or close to, the meter. No, there should usually be no water inside the meter hole, unless perhaps from a heavy downpour, or it's located in a hollow where it receives normal groundwater - that's pretty rare, tho'. The fact the level drops noticeably when you turn off the s/c, and then visibly raises when you turn it back on, does directly point to (confirm, really) a leak either from the meter itself, or from the surrounding fittings or pipe. The additional fact that this began when they replaced the meter would point to that event being the cause.

That's good news. The only possibly fly is if your pipe - ie from the meter to your house - is crumbling, in which case, that's your responsibility. Other than that, I'd say that they are 100% responsible, and I'm sure they will acknowledge this.

Take a wee video clip of the empty hole filling as soon as you turn it back on.

Oh, and they won't (shouldn't) charge you for the water lost from when the meter was fitted (and leaked), until they fix it. Take meter readings for both.