Water meter - how many units per day?

[pony2]

I am trying to establish if I have a leak in my water supply pipe. Various plumbers have given different opinions, including one who told me the meter was spinning round very quickly and quoted over 2K to fix it. A second plumber showed me the meter and it was not even turning round.

I took two readings 24hrs apart and we used 4 units. What is the normal daily average?

Any help much appreciated.

[cjs]

My last 6 month bill said I had used 34 Cubic Meters or 34,000 litres.

I live on my own so don't use that much water, just baths, showers and washing.

Bill also said 1 cubic meter is equivalent to around 12 baths or 30 showers.

[esselte]

pony2 said:

I am trying to establish if I have a leak in my water supply pipe. Various plumbers have given different opinions, including one who told me the meter was spinning round very quickly and quoted over 2K to fix it. A second plumber showed me the meter and it was not even turning round.

I took two readings 24hrs apart and we used 4 units. What is the normal daily average?

Any help much appreciated.

Turn the main stop cock off and see if it's still going round? If so you have a leak somewhere? (assuming the stop cock is between the meter and your house)

[pony2]

Thanks for the reply.

So we have used 4000 cubic meters in 24hrs, the leak must be in our supply pipe.

[esselte]

pony2 said:

Thanks for the reply.

So we have used 4000 cubic meters in 24hrs, the leak must be in our supply pipe.

That's 4 million litres (I think) you'd notice that surely? Maybe you mean 4 cubic metres...?

Edited by esselte on Thursday 3rd September 14:25

[pony2]

Yes, thanks.

[DJFish]

Turn the stopcock off and look at the meter, if it still turns you have water going somewhere.
Before you do anything register for this http://www.awdirect.co.uk/emergency-insurance or your local equivilent as you're liable for any pipework within your boundary.

Recently discovered my Mother's place (one of four Victorian terrace houses) was built with a common supply to all the other houses in the terrace, two got their own dedicated supplies when they had their meters installed, one was still using the Old Trout's supply, via her meter for the last couple of years.
She's just getting it sorted out now and it's a pain in the backside, but at least she took out the insurance so all costs are covered by the Water supplier.

[esselte]

DJFish said:

Turn the stopcock off and look at the meter, if it still turns you have water going somewhere.
Before you do anything register for this http://www.awdirect.co.uk/emergency-insurance or your local equivilent as you're liable for any pipework within your boundary.

Would you not be covered by your household insurance? We've just had about 4 feet of drain replaced 'cos of a collapse and the home insurance coughed up for it..?

[caiss4]

I think 4 cubic metres in 24hrs is a hell of a lot. I've just paid our bill for 6 months - 65 cubic metres for a family of 6. That equates to 0.35 cubic metres per day; yours is x 10 so you've got a leak somewhere.

[pony2]

esselte said:

DJFish said:

Turn the stopcock off and look at the meter, if it still turns you have water going somewhere.
Before you do anything register for this http://www.awdirect.co.uk/emergency-insurance or your local equivilent as you're liable for any pipework within your boundary.

Would you not be covered by your household insurance? We've just had about 4 feet of drain replaced 'cos of a collapse and the home insurance coughed up for it..?

Just had a plumber round who turned off the stop cock and the meter is still turning. He wants £1600 to lay a new pipe. (40 ft in a new route avoiding a large willow tree)

I need to check the household insurance, but I think many have a clause which exclude water pipes within ones boundary.

Anybody know any good plumbers in South London SW2?

Many thanks for all the advise.

[esselte]

pony2 said:

I need to check the household insurance, but I think many have a clause which exclude water pipes within ones boundary.

I thought ours would have but the only proviso was that the pipe had to have been "damaged" rather than it be leaking due to wear and tear....you need to check the small print.

[henrycrun]

Assuming you can access the stop cock on the boundary, try this. Fill a tumbler from the cold kitchen tap and keep the spout below the level in the tumbler.
At the same time get a mate to close the stopcock. If your leak is bad the flow will reverse and the tumbler will start to empty up through the tap.

Sorry, you've already eatablished a leak. Forget that

Edited by henrycrun on Thursday 3rd September 16:03

[tenohfive]

If you've got an internal stopcock thats in good working order its worth turning that off if you're out of the house for extended periods of time (so long as you turn off anything that may need a supply in the meantime, obviously.)

As others have said, 4 cubic metres a day is a much more likely figure. A cubic metre (when I worked for a water company, 3 years ago) was around £1.20, so probably closer to £1.60 now.