Water Leak Conundrum - any advice welcome

[Diana1710]

So..bear with me... the last few weeks I have gone research crazy on plumbing but am stumped and hoping you experts could shed some light/reassurance. I got a water meter installed last year and my bills doubled (just me and my daughter - went on a meter to save money). My meter runs constantly slowly. The Water company sent out a contractor to check if I was on shared supply. They determined no, and tried a new meter which appeared to stop turning for the few minutes we looked at it. Problem solved? Oh no. A few months later the water company contacted me to say the bill was still high and going up. I checked the meter and it's turning slowly again all the time.

i was advised to find stopcock and check whether the leak was internal or not, I eventually - with the help of a friend - found it behind a kitchen cupboard (once taken the kitchen apart). Turned it off and water into the kitchen was stopped. Checked meter, still running. So accepted with heavy heart that it's probably a leak in the supply pipe. BUT - the stopcock doesn't stop the cold water in the bathroom (the hot water does stop tho).

So is it possible to have a separate supply pipe to the bathroom in a small ground floor flat? Or could someone have adapted the existing supply pipe to come up from underground into my bathroom. And could this affect the way my meter works? Is it possible that there may be a tank in my upstairs neighbours attic?

Also - how common is it for the water meter connection to be the culprit?

I am desperately hoping I can source the problem without digging up my small flat and driveway and incurring huge costs. Can't help wishing I had never had a meter installed, but guess the leak must be found.

Thames water are sending out a contractor to investigate the meter again 'thoroughly', but apparently they won't move appliances to get to the stopcock - health and safety. So how they can 'thoroughly' investigate is beyond me.

Sorry for long post. Any advice/opinion gratefully sought on any of the many questions.
Thank you for reading if you got this far!

 

[GasmanxxxR1]

Had the same problem with a customer last week, after much arguing with the water company they came out and admitted that they had fractured the pipe whilst installing the meter. Difference was that the fracture was easy to see from the meter hole

 

[Rickster123]

Hi and welcome to the forum. The bathroom sounds like its got a tank fed cold supply so its quite normal for the water not to stop. The leak is probably between the meter and the stopcock I'm afraid.

 

[Rickster123]

Is there any sign of water in the hole where the water meter is?

 

[Diana1710]

Thanks gasman. I shall ask the contractor to check the connection. If for any reason he doesn't, am I able to get an independent plumber to have a look or is it their property?

 

[Diana1710]

Hi APPlumping - no there isn't.
Is it common to have a tank for a small flat? And could it really be in my neighbours attic? That would be a bit of a nightmare if the leak was there as the freeholder is not very co-operative.

 

[tamz]

You would be better and probably cheaper asking a local plumber to have a look.
One hour of his labour will give you all the answers you need and tell you how to proceed with this.

 

[mfgs]

Get a local plumber in as has been said. It wont take a great amount of time or work to check out what system you have and fully isolate the mains into the house to check if the incoming main is the issue.

 

[Diana1710]

OK, thanks guys I will. I like to have some understanding as I can't afford to go down the wrong path - literally!

 

[josh]

Would be possible to turn of external stopcock leave it say 10-20 mins (with no tap/appliance/ballvalve drawing atall) then open a cold mains tap and see if there is still the burst of pressure before dieing, if opend and hardly anything or worse draws air straight in can give an indication only.

Chaps, i thought of this a while ago with a problem like this or a suspected one you could put a gauge on the incoming main in the property, cap it of to the property after it, turn the mains on upto whatever pressure there is there, turn of again and watch it, (obviously providing the external stopcock does not let by atall)

Would work and give a clear indication of a leak on the incoming supply do you think?

 

[Megaflo-Experts]

Do you know if you have a combi boiler? If so, when you turn off your mains all your hot and cold taps should be off. I understand your bathroom cold is still on though!

Also, is the cold water pressure in the bathroom similar to that of the kitchen cold tap, or is the bathroom supply much weaker?

 

[Diana1710]

Do you know if you have a combi boiler? If so, when you turn off your mains all your hot and cold taps should be off. I understand your bathroom cold is still on though!

Also, is the cold water pressure in the bathroom similar to that of the kitchen cold tap, or is the bathroom supply much weaker?

Yes I have a combi, and yes thought strange bathroom cold water still on and doesn't seem weaker than the kitchen tap. The bathroom was renovated just before I moved in, and the kitchen is old and looks like plumbing been there for a long time. Just don't understand!

I just don't think the meter contractor (judging from the last visit) is going to do a thorough investigation -so feel it's up to me to work it out before the water company make their leak judgement.

 

[Megaflo-Experts]

I just don't think the meter contractor (judging from the last visit) is going to do a thorough investigation -so feel it's up to me to work it out before the water company make their leak judgement.

Make sure contractor looks into the bathroom supply. Presumably, when you isolate the water out in the road, all your outlets are off - including the bathroom.
If so, and your bathroom cold is tee'd off the supply before your main stop tap, it follows that there may also be other spurs supplying other properties via your metered supply.