High water usage

misho67 · 29 September 2018 at 10:23AM

Wonder if anyone has any suggestions before I call a plumber as we are baffled by this. Hope it is not too long winded.

Moved to new home (detached bungalow) in August. Our water usage has doubled from our last home despite us no longer having a garden to water. Gone from using 5 cubic metres a month to 10 (household of 2 adults). Initially had a problem with toilet cistern overfilling which we thought was the issue but this appears resolved after fitting a new washer a couple of weeks ago. Water usage however still remains high (checking meter reading daily).
No leak evident as water meter not moving continually and not doing anything to increase usage such as building works, new appliances, visitors etc.

What we have noted however is that randomly there is the sound of water flowing through the water meter which spins rapidly for about 5-15 seconds. This happens numerous times through the day and night and is obviously where the water is being wasted. The running water noise is only heard from the cupboard housing the water meter and boiler. Guess it is just the sound of it flowing through the meter we are hearing.

After fixing the toilet, thought it could be something to do with boiler (Vaillant Eco) but boiler pressure is staying within normal parameters. Had boiler serviced last week (with no problems identified) and engineer didn't think it was anything to do with boiler. Typically the meter didn't spin whilst he was here but happened yet again the second he drove away.

Appreciate it if anyone can help.

matelodave · 29 September 2018 at 11:05AM

Have you got a pressurised hot water system .Have you got a pressure vessel and regulator if so check that the pressure relief valve isn't leaking - there's usually a tell-tale pipe outside the house.

Alternatively if you've got a tank in the loft check that it (or them) aren't letting by.

Check that someone else isn't connected to your water meter although it's probably unlikely if the meter is inside your house.

I'm guessing that you've got a stop valve each side of the meter. Shut off the one on your side of the meter and leave it for a couple of hours to see if it increments. Obviously it shouldn't, so if it does then there's something else connected somewhere - you need to explore your pipe runs to see where they all go.

In the end it's just a logical step by step check of everything that's connected to isolate the problem.

misho67 · 29 September 2018 at 4:19PM

Thanks matelodave.
Really appreciate you taking the time to reply.

Our previous home had a pipe running from the electric boiler to the outside so could always see if that was leaking from pressure relief valve. Here the pipe from the gas boiler goes into other pipework so can't tell (if that make sense).
Will work through your suggestions starting by turning off stop valve our side of the meter. Driving me nuts keep hearing the meter spinning and wasting water (and money).

High water usage

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