Water Running for No Reason?

[Neil Jones]

Hi, you'll have to excuse my general ignorance of plumbing matters, but I've got a situation that's really baffling me...

We live in a modern (5 year old) house which is fitted with a smart water meter (at least that's what it says on the white box under the sink). Sometimes during the day you can hear water flowing through the smart meter at what sounds like quite a high rate (like the sound of water flowing through pipes if you have a tap on), but when there's nothing running in the house. It can do this for a couple of hours at a time and will then just stop. I've checked everything I can think of, there's nothing coming from any of the visible waste pipes outside the house, toilet cisterns aren't dripping, the central heating is a pressurised system so there's no tank in the roof... I just don't know where this water is flowing to or why. There's no signs of any leaks anywhere around the house, but if this was a leak I wouldn't expect it to stop/start and by the rate it sounds like it's flowing, I think the house would be flooded out within a very short time!

I can't easily see how the smart meter is connected due to its position, but it feels as if it is actually on a loop of pipe which also contains the stopcock, with a T leading off to supply the house.

Can anyone kindly explain this to me?

Thanks!

Neil

 

[kirkgas]

when you hear the sound have you checked whether the meter is recording any water flow? if it idnt recording a flow then it isnt costing you anything, so perhaps what you are hearing is the sound transferring along the pipe from an adjoining property

 

[Neil Jones]

Thanks for the reply. Have to be honest, I hadn't even noticed that there was a flap on the smart meter that I could open to read it, although to be fair it's been installed in a very difficult to reach position so I have to video it with my phone to read it! However, now I've looked and I can see that the meter isn't registering any flow despite the flowing noise. I also tried turning off the stopcock under the meter and the flow doesn't stop, so I can only assume that it's what you're saying and the neighbours must take a lot of baths!

Thanks again,

Neil

 

[dontknowitall]

Could possibly be a leak before the stop tap and meter. A leak doesn't have to be that great to cause a noise in the pipes. (Turning on a tap to a dribble would cause this noise.)