External Water leak

Meradowlark

Just had a smart meter fitted and they tell me we have a leak. Done a couple of checks and it's definitely outside between the stopcock in the road and the house. About 120 litres per day. We just went away for the weekend and turned everything off, and it was still wasting that much.
Any tips on finding it? Water Company says it's my problem as it's on my property. Seems my insurance does NOT cover this, so do I get professional help or are there any DIY solutions. I can't see any obvious wet patches. Alternatively, do I just live with it as it doesn't seem to be causing any damage and the cost of water lost is presumably much less than the cost of getting someone in. Anyone been through this or got any advice please?

subjecttocontract

120 litres a day is approx 44 cubic metres of water a year......around £100. But of course.....

It might get worse.

It might undermine or damage foundations,drives, paths etc.

It might affect neighbouring properties.

Bettie

This has recently happened to me. Did the waterboard dig up their side to check for leaks under the meter? They dug mine up and so say found two leaks on the border/ meter. They assured me I had no leaks. There was still a leak so they dug it up again. They were wrong as the leak was on my side. They issued me with a 21 day get it fixed notice. I was losing 10 litres an hour.

my insurance told me I didn't have trace and access..I did but on the buildings side so unless there's damage they won't pay. I wouldn't know if there was damage until the leak was traced so I was bamboozled.

I have had the leak mended by a leak detection company

. There was another leak in the house that no one knew about so I've turned that pipe off until I am cleared by the waterboard, it's a very small drip that I can live with for a while.

The leak was a long way down, no evidence on the surface

Ms_Chocaholic

We had a leak underneath our house about 4 years ago, we could hear a very faint hissing noise coming from near the meter and were losing water. There was a very small damp patch on the bottom inch or so of the wall but you wouldn't see it unless you were really looking. The hissing noise was coming up from near the middle of the house and we had concrete floors so there was no way that we could dig those up so we had to get a new water main moled in from the path.

We got several quotes ranging from £1,500 to £6,000 so make sure you shop around. Also you will need to get a WIAPS approved company as they are qualified to work "on the highway" and will be able to connect your new pipe up to the Water Company's pipework on the path outside of your property boundaries.

In the meantime whilst we waited to get quotes and get the work done we had the water turned off at the stopcock in the path except for half an hour each day when we would jump in the shower and fill pots/pans/the bath to use the other 23.5 hours in the day. We didn't know what, if any, damage the water was doing to our foundations and didn't want to risk it.

Any questions please fire away. It was one of those situations where you know nothing about a subject but I had to learn really quickly and i'm happy to pass on my knowledge.

Gonk1967

We're going through a similar issue, we got our new water rates through in April last year and they wanted nearly £120 per month so I thought I'd get a meter fitted. Turns out that was a bad idea as in approximately 6 months we "used" about 620 cubic metres. Did the checks and right enough, we had a leak on our side of the meter.

To their credit, Wessex Water were pretty good and said they would fix it if they could. They spent a couple of days digging holes in the front garden, they found one leak but there was another which they couldn't locate… apparently the pipe meanders around the garden and at some point crosses into the neighbours garden.

Eventually, they issued me with a notice to get it sorted within 28 days.

I got onto the insurance company (luckily I was covered for accidental damage to underground pipes and cables) who got an engineer out, and he suggested a new pipe is laid between the meter and the house, they want to mole it, but to be honest, there is a lot of debris under the front lawn from when the original houses were demolished and this one built (in 1976), I'm convinced they will have to dig a trench… I just hope they don't dig up my internet cable.

We've finally got a date at the end of this month and hopefully after a few weeks' readings we can get the direct debit down to something sensible.

Meradowlark

Thanks for the comments so far. I wondered if the water company had disturbed somethig when they installed the new meter, but it's not easy to see or access inside the hole. It seems quite dry. Of course I may have had a leak for ages, but just not known about it as I've not had a metered supply before. I guess my main question is how much will a leak detection service cost and do they offer any guarantees of finding the leak? I have had a couple of "quotes" but they sounded a bit vague and it seems they assume your insurers will pick up the bill so the sky's the limit when it comes to pricing. Anyone tried finding the leak themselves?
Plan B is that the water company seem to be replacing old lead mains pipes locally, so if they come down my road, maybe i can persuade them to put me a new poly pipe in for a reduced fee?
Any further ideas or insights welcome.

Bettie

I believe many people are living with leaks which don't get discovered until a meter is fitted.

I wish now that I had signed up to homeserve or similar. They won't cover pre existing leaks but I guess if you didn't know you had one then you could claim. I've joined now in case of further leaks and it was only £6 for the 1st year.

I phoned several companies from the waterboards list of names. They all quoted without VAT but it was approx six hundred pounds including vat to look and expose leak - you pay for up to a certain number of hours, some said 4 some said 5. Same price if they find in ten minutes. Then three hundred to mend plus parts if done on the same day or get someone else in.

Meradowlark

Thanks Bettie, that's a bit less than I've been quoted so far, but as I said they've all been a bit vague and non-specific about what they will actually do. I haven't been told to fix it yet, but I'm sure that will happen. That list of names would be helpful, or a pointer to where I can find it?

Bettie

Watersafe.org.uk has a list of local trusted plumbers /groundworkers which was in the leaflet handed to me by my water company so they should all be approved.

Meradowlark

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81953913#Comment_81953913

Thanks! 👍

matelodave

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81953657#Comment_81953657

Dunno where you live but 44 cu.m - £242 where I live.

We ended up with a leak that used around 55 cu.m in one month month and were issued with a Waste/Leakage notice issued under Section 75 of the Water Industry Act 1991 which required us to repair the leak within 14 days. In which case they would give us a leak allowance for lost water. Otherwise they would come and do it and charge us to do the job and we would forfeit the leak allowance.

Fortunately my insurance company paid to the repair although we had to pay £100 excess.

The second time it happened the insurance co refused so we had the whole pipe replaced between the meter and the stopcock (around 15 metres) - done by using a pneumatic mole. Cost us £1200 but with minimal disruption and no damage to our block paved driveway. Although that said the original leak was of such a volume that we now have a permanent dip in the drive where it was undermined.

be careful about leaving a leak as it could undermine the drive or even the the house foundations.