Water leak on incoming pipe from road to meter.

SilasMarner

Unsure of which board to post this - so will start here and will appreciate any helpful thoughts on this scenario. Briefly. United utilities arrived - told me there was an external water leak between the pavement stopcock and my meter. They dug up the pavement and a bit of my garden  and declared the leak on my property, therefore my responsibility. Front garden is around 30ft long. First Direct insurance say it's not covered as it's not accidental damage. My British Gas Homecare does cover it up the first 1K. Dynarod, through B.G. are sending an assessor out next week. It could be carnage as there are trees, bushes etc all over. Any useful thoughts? Am I missing anything here? Thanks.

brook_heather

Do you have an old lead supply pipe or is it a more modern MDPE pipe?  I am assuming they haven't found the leak just decided it wasn't on their side?  You could pay for a leak detection service or just go straight for a pipe replacement - you can use a moling service to install a new pipe so they don't need to dig down along the length of the pipe.  In any case it will be down to you to pay for the pipe repair or replacement.

SilasMarner

brook_heather said:

Do you have an old lead supply pipe or is it a more modern MDPE pipe?  I am assuming they haven't found the leak just decided it wasn't on their side?  You could pay for a leak detection service or just go straight for a pipe replacement - you can use a moling service to install a new pipe so they don't need to dig down along the length of the pipe.  In any case it will be down to you to pay for the pipe repair or replacement.

Thanks for your reply. It's a '98 build - so a modern pipe I guess. A "Moling" service would be the best bet - the United Utilities engineer mentioned that one. Haven't heard of a leak detection service. That may be an appropriate start. Will look into it. Either way it looks like I am going to have to dig deep, financially and subterrainally (Is that a word? it is now  )

brook_heather

So the leak is on your land but before your meter - so you aren't being charged for the water lost?  Wonder how they know there is a leak at your address - you might want to confirm this before digging up your land.  Do you know how much of a leak (litres lost per day)?  If you have a plastic pipe I'm not sure whether you can just repair it with a new section or whether you need to install a whole new length of pipe from meter to pavement stopcock.

SilasMarner

Correct. The leak is from their stopcock to my meter and I'm not being charged. Hereby hangs the conundrum. They say there is a leak in the garden. They have dug out and refilled the "public" bit to no avail. They say the leak is 3.15 liters per minute or 1.87M3 per hour. I cannot see any any water ingress in the garden (the plants are doing well ) or pressure drop. Dry as a bone. They are going to put a microphone through?!, allegedly, and pinpoint the spot!. They can repair this blue plastic type pipe. I seen them do it before. Thanks for your thoughts. I'll let you know how it pans out. 

matelodave

The only problem with ignoring it is that it could end up undermining your house or drive foundations.

We had a problem a few years ago between the meter and the house which did get sorted out with a repair to the plastic pipe but it then happened again in a different place. We now have a dip in the block paved drive where the water scoured away underneath it.

We got the whole pipe replaced (meter to internal stopcock - 12metres of u/g pipe) using a moling company with minimal disruption and for about a third of the cost of having the whole drive dug up/

This is the company I used - https://www.eps-watermains.co.uk/. They arrived at 0930 and were gone by 1300. The actual moling/pipe laying took around ten minutes. The rest of the time was digging access holes at each end and fitting a new internal stopcock). You wouldn't know that they've been except for the insulated duct entry into the house

SilasMarner

matelodave said:

The only problem with ignoring it is that it could end up undermining your house or drive foundations.

We had a problem a few years ago between the meter and the house which did get sorted out with a repair to the plastic pipe but it then happened again in a different place. We now have a dip in the block paved drive where the water scoured away underneath it.

We got the whole pipe replaced (meter to internal stopcock - 12metres of u/g pipe) using a moling company with minimal disruption and for about a third of the cost of having the whole drive dug up/

This is the company I used - https://www.eps-watermains.co.uk/. They arrived at 0930 and were gone by 1300. The actual moling/pipe laying took around ten minutes. The rest of the time was digging access holes at each end and fitting a new internal stopcock). You wouldn't know that they've been except for the insulated duct entry into the house

Thanks for the useful advice. I have signed A Private Leak Authorisation form - and feel I have sold my soul. The guys so far have been pretty good - but it seems the communication between the united utilities guys and the guys who come on to undertake private property leaks is not good. We'll come and anytime and dig where we want seems to be the future. I feel this ain't going to end well. As a useless fact -my meter is in the kitchen and the United Utilities say my "Water efficiency Rating Usage" is way below average.......