i have a water leak and SWW won't do anything!

[PavlovtheCat]

I had a meter installed 3 years ago. The bills have always been higher than we anticipated they would be, not by much, not enough to suspect a leak, and SWW are notorious for being expensive.

Our bills are always around £150 per quarter, and we anticipated them being around £100, or so. We do not use excessive amounts of water.

Anyway, about 1 year ago, the landlord of the flat below (we live in a converted terraced house, two flats) advised we had a leak going to his kitchen, so we emptied out the cupboard and it was wet to touch, but not sopping so no big leak. We cleaned it, and the copper pipes were a bit wet, unable to locate the source completely, tightened the pipes apart from the water meter one (afraid of tampering with it!)then it seemed to be dry for a day or so. Call to SWW and they said we had to fix it ourselves if there is a leak, get a plumber our to sort it.

Since then, a few months ago, the landlord came back up and said the same, ceiling is damp downstairs. We called our plumber who said it may be a faulty tap, so we replaced it.

Put some towels down and on several occasions had a look, dried the taps, anyway it is now clear that the leak is coming from one or two spots (can't figure out exactly which point but both bits are are the water meter piping only.

SWW have stated that we need to get a plumber out to fix it, despite it clearly being their problem, and likely been there since it was fitted. I have done 12 hours of the 24 hour turnoff (two little chldren cant do it for 24 hours!) and it has not really shown anything as the drips are so slow.

Anything I can do?

It is not their problem if it is a leak on 'your' side of the meter. Once the water passes through the meter it is your responsibility.

Which side of the meter is the leak?

BB, that's not quite correct. If the leak is at a joint that was made by SWW when the meter was installed, then they did not do the job properly, and should come back and rectify their mistake.

The expedient thing to do, however, would be to tighten the joints you think may be leaking.

It appears to be as the water goes in, but hard to say.

The meter is under the sink. The pipe that was used to connect it to the rest of the unit, it is new pipe underneath it as the water passes through it, and then new pipe into the existing pipes.

Is that our responsibility if the leak is on 'our side' if the new bit of pipe was put in by them? I have just sat there for 10 mins running the tap on and off to see and it is clear on and around the meter, so whichever bit of it is leaking it is the bit 'attached' to the meter.

I really don't see how it can be my problem if it has occured due to shoddy workmanship, surely, if the leak is as the source of the meter and clearly due to how it has been fitted, it cannot be my responsibility? and how do we fix it, as I certainly don't want a plumber to touch the meter, even if the pipe he touches is on the side that it leaks is 'my responsibility' he will have to disconnect/reconnect it to the meter and surely that is tampering? It is why I have been reluctant to call him out to look.

jacques I have tightened them as much as I can, but it looks like one of the threads is not quite joining on the underneath connection (but I am no plumber).

If this is their problem, would the come and fix it so long after it was installed? The leak has been so slight it has just gone unnoticed as it is a junk/rags/cleaning shite cupboard...

and it has cost us hundreds. I have tried to tell them our bill was too high

jacques and yes, whichever side of the meter it is, it is a joint they put in, as it is at one of the joints on either side of the meter.

so.

this is what I now know:

*the leak is coming from the top of the meter. At exactly the joint leading out of the meter, which is part of the meter and was installed by them, onto a bit of pipe put in by them.

*The leak is not showing when I do a monitoring check as it is only leaking while the tap is on and the water passing through that join, and immediately after so the additional water coming out is already being 'accounted for' if that makes sense. So the dials are not turning when the water is not on, thus appearing like there is no leak, when there is.

AIBU to call them up today on their leakage line and get them to sort it out? will they just tell me to bugger off? I mean I guess I am really seeing as it has been leaking for years so one more day won't hurt

It's not tampering unless you break one of their security seals.

I am a bit confused about this, as for your bill to be so much higher, if this leak was causing it, you would see a lot more water.

If you have identified the leak site,correctly, what I would do is:

1. Go shopping.
2. Turn off the water at the stopcock (You do have a stopcock before the meter, don't you?)
3. Drain the pressure and as much water as possible from the system. (ie open the nearest tap.)
4. Undo the leaky joint, having first prepared to deal with all the water which will come out.
5. Apply the stuff I bought earlier.
6. Remake the joint.
7. Turn off the tap I opened in step 3, then slowly and carefully open the stopcock.
8. Check for leaks.

Shopping list.

PTFE tape also known as thread tape, also known as plumbers tape.
OR
Plumbers joint sealing paste.

A decent spanner (if you have not already got one). A 150mm adjustable is quite useful.

i have called the leak line people.

they have said if it is coming from the joint into or from the meter it is their responsibility, so they will send May gurney out in the next couple of days and repair it.

They will take a meter reading before it is fixed, then they will monitor it over a period of a week/two and re-read the meter, then average it to see if there is a difference in average meter readings. If so they will re-fund the difference if I apply for a Leakage Allowance, probably only get a couple of months back, but better than nought and at least the problem will be fixed. I told the guy I had spoken to SWW previously about this, and he said they should have sent someone out but as I had gone through accounts it is possible they simply did not know, or took a look at our bills which seemed reasonable for a family of 3/4 so would not necessarily be a huge difference if there is a leak. Better to do as I have done and gone through the Reporting a Leak route.

Hopefully, will be sorted in a few days and we will see a reduction in our costs and also a reduction in hassle from the landlord downstairs!

jaques you are right about the bill, it won't be hugely less as it is a small drip leak, our bill are not hugely pricey, but a bit more than we expected and even £20 a quarter makes a difference over 3 years.

Glad you have a resolution. Make sure you cut down on water usage for a few weeks after it's fixed.

that's what DH said! except we use so little now that would be hard to do without us actually smelling DH said we should go to a friend's house for showers!

I am anticipating our bill will reduce to £120 per quarter average at absolute most. It is so annoying as not only am I paying for leaking water but also the sewarage when all it has done is soaked through the floorboards into the beams below us! Oh and fed a few slugs I was almost sick when two enormous ones fell onto the floor as I dug out the crap at the back of the cupboard when i first discovered the leak!