Water down meter hatch

[Ban70]

Our houses aren't metered but down the small waterboard hatch in the pavement outside ours has a lot of water but the ones for the houses on either side are dry. Is this sign of a leak in our supply?

 

[Last Plumber]

Could be. Ask your local Water Authority come look at it if you're worried.

 

[Ban70]

They are coming tomorrow. We've been trying to work out why we have sounds in the kitchen and bathroom above of activity in the pipes when nothing is on. Turning internal stopcock off does not eliminate the noise. Have put a stick down a hole in floorboards in understairs cupboards and all dry. Likewise through airbricks. Sounds like water circulating like when heating is on, but it isn't. Have you got any ideas for me?! Thanks

 

[Last Plumber]

Fridge ? Fridges make funny noises. They also circulate liquids and gases.
Don't know really.

Turn water off and electric and see if noise goes away. Don't forget to turn it back on though.

Process of elimination.

 

[Ban70]

Thanks. Have tried all that. I will update the forum in next few days once a plumber/central heating engineer and water board have all been round to give their verdict. It might help someone else. In the meantime, annoying and worrying

 

[Last Plumber]

ok.
You never know.
Good luck

 

[joni os]

Go round system, listening at suspect areas. Use long screwdriver, length of copper tube or similar. One end on pipe other end to ear. This will eliminate much external noise whilst giving clear indication of system noise. Do it with pump both on and off so you can hear the difference. Also with stopcock open and closed.

 

[Ban70]

Thanks to those who replied to my post. I had a plumber out who told me there was a leak between the external stopcock on the pavement and the internal one under the kitchen sink. Of course I had visions of water under the floorboards etc. Now the local water authority have just been for the second time, dug out the external stopcock, found a definite hole in the pipe nearby.. fixed, new tap and all sorted. Just a mystery what caused such a definite sudden hole in the pipe. I learned a lot in the last week or so about how it all works and if I was ever doing up another old house I'd definitely look into putting the newer plastic supply pipe in to replace the old pipes because sooner or later they are bound to give trouble the length of time they have been in place. The water board have a backlog of leaks and cannot keep up with problems springing up all over the place in (mostly) older houses. I was very lucky they could prioritise my job. I hope my experience helps someone else. Don't delay in your ponderings about what the problem is, get the experts in straight away.