Increased water usage for a row of terraced houses.

jacko74

I live in the middle house of a row of 3 terraced houses, we all have a seperate water meter in 3 seperate pits next to each other on the roadside.

In the last 6 months all 3 properties have seen their water usage double for no apparent reason.

Could it be possible that there's a leak before any of our water meters which is causing all our apparent usage to increase?

subjecttocontract

No. If the leak is before the meter the leak won't be registered on individual meters and therefore not reflected in increased bills. Are you sure it's actual usage that's increased and not just the price of the water ?

IOWJJBTM2025

I very much doubt it. Pick an hour and do not use any water in the house. Take a photo of the meter before and after. Compare the photos and see if there is any movement on the meter reading. Depending on your water meter type you can see very small amounts of water consumption. If the meter readings move you have a small leak somewhere. If meter shows water consumption switch of the stop !!!!!! into the house and test again. This will indicate that the leak is between the meter and the house and not inside your house.

If all three properties have the issue - Does the supply pipes from the meter manhole all run side by side? Is it possible that all three pipes have been damaged somewhere?

Rodders53

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6655430/increased-water-usage-for-a-row-of-terraced-houses

No. There could be leaks after each of the meters though! Meters should (will) have a stop valve to isolate each property and the flow out of the meter.

Most common cause of water leaks is toilets: overflowing into the pan and not spotted. Either due to the inlet valve not closing or a flush valve not sealing properly.

Similarly water tanks can overflow — but usually seen from a small external pipe.

Presumably you have all been taking regular monthly reads from these meters and not relying on estimates from the supplier (they'll only do one read or two at most per annum in my experience).

Isolate each home's internal stop valve and check if water is flowing in the meter (there is usually a small rotating 'indicator' of flow). If none then the leak is in the home(s).

Flow could indicate a damaged pipe between meter and home OR a loose joint at the meter outlet connection - but the meter chamber would be full of water and baling it out one might see it refill (and from where)… then isolate using the stop valve of the meter and see that all flow stops.

Meter connection or connecting pipe faults on all three homes would be extremely odd.

dunstonh

In the last 6 months all 3 properties have seen their water usage double for no apparent reason.

Just a clarification question as we see so many posts where people say usage when they are referring to their direct debit amount rather than their actual usage.

Is the increase in the payment or it is in the units used?

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6655430/increased-water-usage-for-a-row-of-terraced-houses

There could be a leak before the meter but that wouldnt increase the reading on the meter, if its leaking before the meter the water doesnt pass through the meter to be recorded so its only something that happens after the meter that can increase the amounts used.

There won't be any shared pipe, assuming someone hasn't been naughty, post the meter so the chances of something random happening to 3 individuals systems thats impact each of them equally (as a percentage rather than absolute) is either exceptionally coincidental or people are talking at cross purposes and maybe looking at amounts billed rather than units used