Can anyone reassure me that a dripping kitchen tap for a week isn’t going to cost hundreds in water bill?

[Worrieddds]

i have no idea about the cost, recently separated and very fragile, can’t get plumber until Monday.

My parents have a 4ft tall 15ft diameter overground pool and yo to fill it up costs about £20, you'll be fine.

Well no, it won't cost you hundreds but pop a jug underneath it and use it to fill up the kettle/pots if you're boiling pasta, etc. That way you'll see how little it is and you won't waste it!

Thanks it’s dripping quite quickly which is worrying me! I’ve set aside 50 pounds extra for the bill but that’s literally all I have spare. @Singleandproud your cost comparison is reassuring!

Use something to catch the water and then use it to water plants or flush the toilet.

How much is your water bill per month is you think a dripping tap will cost hundreds?

@VisionsOfSplendour it is dripping constantly for a week so that’s surely a few baths

Is there not a valve or tap on the pipe you can use to turn it off when it’s not in use?

you might even be able to fix it yourself with the help of a YouTube video.

Our utility sink tap dripped for about 3 years - don’t think we ever noticed a drop in our water bill once it was fixed.
You’d never think I lived with a plumber… 🙄 unless of course you also live with a plumber 😂

Do you feel up for a bit of DIY?

Dripping tap is often caused by a buildup of limescale affecting the seal.

Turn off water, unscrew tap, clean in bicarb+vinegar, Bob's your uncle.

If you post a pic of tap here people may be able to help.

Ok but how much is your monthly water bill?

In my first house, I had a tap problem and zero £, luckily I had a plumber friend, he came to have a look and it turned out I needed a new washer. It cost me a cup of tea and I learnt a new basic skill, we didn't have YouTube in those days!

Fucking hope not, our bathroom tap has been dripping longer than that.

Seriously I once left the garden hose full on all night by accident and it cost us a few extra pounds. Wouldn't panic.

Turn the mains off when not using the water and collect what you can to reuse

I Had a dripping kitchen tap that started of a bit then was more of a bigger trickle. My water bill never went up & it took me AGES to fix it!

I fixed it myself - worth a try? All I did was strip it down & put it all back together (obviously turning water off!) a butterfly plastic peg thing must’ve moved!

We had a tap leak for 2 months while waiting for landlord to get a plumber in. It added maybe £20 to our water use each month. It was a constant trickle of water around the base of the tap, not just dripping.

This is an OCD nightmare

@saladcruncher 😂

Please don’t worry, it won’t cost you too much, but it’s a good idea to put a bucket under it and just use that excess water for things like flushing the loo…. And then you are just using what you would’ve been paying for anyway..

My shower was non stop dripping for a month recently. The plumber fixed it and I have not noticed any rise in my water bill.

We had a dripping tap, when the meter man came read the meter he said if we let the water company know we'd get a discount.. And we did! It was only a small amount for a certain time, but every little and that!

Just turn of the isolation valve until you get it fixed. Look under the sink, there will be a joint with what looks like a screw with a line in it, turn it with a screwdriver once so the line is going across the direction of pipe

There should be a valve thingy beneath or around the sink where you can use a screwdriver to lock off the water to that one appliance. It should be vertical, you just move it horizontal to lock it. That's if you can do without the other tap. It won't cost more than a few quid max in water if that, do you have a meter? You could see how much it was then I think. If you don't then it costs the same regardless of how much water you use. The plumber shouldn't be charging you more than one hour plus the part (prob. washer) which is worth pennies probably. My plumber would charge about £80 but I live in Inner London.

@LovelyBitOfSquirrrel Sorry, x posted about the lock thingy!

A drippy tap won't cost you hundreds. It's also really easy to fix. You can turn the water off below the sink and see which side is the problem. Once you've figured out whether its the hot or cold side that's wonky, follow along with a YouTube video and you'll get it fixed easy-peasy.

Catch the water over a fixed period of time say an hour then times the volume by 24 so you know how much you accumulate in a day then work out what % of a cubic meter that is and then you can calculate the cost