Water leak

Waterllilly72

Hi I’m a United Utilities customer who has a leaking water meter and a much larger bill than usual!  UU have been out 3 times and each time providing conflicting advice.  Dynorod have also been out and said they cannot touch the water meter pipe work so I’m stuck with a big bill and water leaking in my cavity wall space.  Last time UU got in touch they were trying to look for the stop !!!!!! on google earth.  Really don’t know where to go from here.

MattMattMattUK

Waterllilly72 said:

Hi I’m a United Utilities customer who has a leaking water meter and a much larger bill than usual!  UU have been out 3 times and each time providing conflicting advice.  Dynorod have also been out and said they cannot touch the water meter pipe work so I’m stuck with a big bill and water leaking in my cavity wall space.  Last time UU got in touch they were trying to look for the stop !!!!!! on google earth.  Really don’t know where to go from here.

Where actually is the leak, from the meter itself, from the where the pipe joins the meter on your side of the meter or further along the pipe? 

mmmmikey

Hi - if the leak is being recorded on the water meter then there are basically two possibilities:

1. The leak is on the output connection to the water meter where the pipe to the property joins it, which you may be able to see by looking at the meter. If it's in a chamber away from the house then the chamber may be filling up with water. In this case it would be UU's problem, but unless the meter has been changed recently or they've done some work on it recently that's not all that common.

2. The leak is somewhere between the meter and the property, or in the property itself. In that case it's your problem to fix, unless the property is rented in which case it's a problem for the landlord. Worth checking and seeing if you have insurance that covers this - I'm forever getting mailings from my water company that covers this, is it possible you've taken out such cover and forgotten about it? Or maybe your house insurance will cover it - mine doesn't but I guess it depends on the policy. Failing that, it's a question of calling in a plumber to get it fixed.

As far as the bill for the wasted water is concerned, some of the water companies will give you a credit for the leaked water if you fix it promptly - worth asking.

p.s. welcome to the forum. Hopefully this makes sense but not everyone did plumbing at school, so any questions, just ask