Water leak help

[DorsetDear]

I read our water meter and it indicates we've used nearly 5 times more water than expected. Our water bill will be HUGE.

Does Wessex Water give a business a water leak allowance?
How much allowance have people received? if any!

The pipework involved covers 5 troughs and 3 stand pipes.

I don't know where to start looking for the leak, there's no obvious wet patches. And to complicate things there's natural wet areas in the fields.

 

[Lazy Eric]

First thing call water company and tell them. Believe me it’s a lot easier ringing them . They should help find it, and some allowance

 

[Paddington]

Need to isolate the leak, turn off every stopcock, see what the meter does before turning them on one at a time. Any dripping taps ? Amazing how several small leaks can soon add up.

 

[MrNoo]

Certainly with our lot, we had a leak, informed them and they waived then bill, it was around £30k if I remember correctly but then they had been estimating it for nearly three years. That is why I never pay any utilities bill via direct debit as they'd have had that out the account just like that and I'm sure they would be very reluctant to give it back.
As above, we isolated various outlets so we had a rough idea where it was and then hired a digger and just tracked the pipe until we found the leak, one water board chap did come and use his listening pole and said he could hear water in a certain area and he was almost spot on. Old steel pipe it was an no visible sign of a leak from above ground at all.

 

[DorsetDear]

First thing call water company and tell them. Believe me it’s a lot easier ringing them . They should help find it, and some allowance

I called them. They will call me within 5 working days to arrange for someone to come out to find the leak.
When I asked about the water leak allowance they said they couldn't say if they would look into giving us one, basically they can't promise one at this stage.

 

[Hampton]

I found when we were Severn Trent then they allowed 3 leaks in a 15 year period.
Now we are waterplus we have to pay, whatever the cost. They have no interest in helping the customer

 

[DorsetDear]

Need to isolate the leak, turn off every stopcock, see what the meter does before turning them on one at a time. Any dripping taps ? Amazing how several small leaks can soon add up.

Sadly there are no stopcocks, but following this incident I will be putting some in some at appropriate locations and replacing a small section of black pipe (the rest is blue pipe as far as I know).

 

[DorsetDear]

I found when we were Severn Trent then they allowed 3 leaks in a 15 year period.
Now we are waterplus we have to pay, whatever the cost. They have no interest in helping the customer

I'm sorry and disappointed to hear that.

 

[DorsetDear]

Certainly with our lot, we had a leak, informed them and they waived then bill, it was around £30k if I remember correctly but then they had been estimating it for nearly three years. That is why I never pay any utilities bill via direct debit as they'd have had that out the account just like that and I'm sure they would be very reluctant to give it back.
As above, we isolated various outlets so we had a rough idea where it was and then hired a digger and just tracked the pipe until we found the leak, one water board chap did come and use his listening pole and said he could hear water in a certain area and he was almost spot on. Old steel pipe it was an no visible sign of a leak from above ground at all.

Thats is a good reason not to switch to direct debit, one I will remember.

 

[Henarar]

That is why I never pay any utilities bill via direct debit

This

 

[wanton dwarf]

We had a problem a few years ago.

We knew our meter was going faster than normal but didn't think it was that serious - when we got the bill it was £3,000+ - 1+ million litres

I only found the leak as a discolouration in the concrete floor in an rarely used room - opened the stop cap cover to see a small whirl pool of water no other signs. I guess this amounts to a large swimming pool of water.

If you are insured with the NFU their policy should cover the leak & most of the bill.

 

[Red Fred]

I had a higher than usual bill the other day from Pennon or whatever Bournemouth and West Hants Water call themselves now, but they did send a letter bringing it up and gave me details of how to claim the leak allowance. That wasn't in the thousands but was a couple of hundred on the yard troughs. Dad used to be a bit wary of using the allowance as he said the next leak could be more serious.

 

[BrianV]

I read our water meter and it indicates we've used nearly 5 times more water than expected. Our water bill will be HUGE.

Does Wessex Water give a business a water leak allowance?
How much allowance have people received? if any!

The pipework involved covers 5 troughs and 3 stand pipes.

I don't know where to start looking for the leak, there's no obvious wet patches. And to complicate things there's natural wet areas in the fields.

Be sure that any leak found is underground whatever the reality as you seldom get a leak allowance if it is found to be above ground like a faulty fitting or ball tap.

 

[Paddington]

After a high bill one year, 2 or 3 times our normal reading we called Severn Trent out. The leak was our side of the meter so not their problem. Dry weather and no obvious wet patches. The pipe from the meter was an old black plastic one which they thought might be the cause. They didn't have any leak detectors, we would need to get in a private company. As we had reported the problem, it was now an official leak and down as a wasting water. We would be receiving an official letter telling us to get it fixed or we may be liable for a fine. Seemed a bit rich as the water board are out most days round here fixing leaks. We got the letter and chucked it into the bin as the man that came out to us advised. We got the leak sorted ourselves, -several drips from various taps in the house, in the field these would never have been noticed.

 

[Daddy Pig]

Wessex Water dont do business supplies so you will be registered as domestic which means you should get leak allowance.

 

[puppet]

Brilliant guy on Facebook called the Leak Detective. Won't come cheap I expect

 

[Princess Pooper]

I found when we were Severn Trent then they allowed 3 leaks in a 15 year period.
Now we are waterplus we have to pay, whatever the cost. They have no interest in helping the customer

Waterplus are an absolute shower. We moved to Everflow

 

[BrianV]

Waterplus are an absolute shower. We moved to Everflow

Whoever you are with water allowances are only really given for leaks below ground so make sure & fix any leaks above ground then "find" one below ground before you apply.

 

[Forkdriver]

I am a bit paranoid about water leaks as we have a supply that comes over half a mile from our meter so I make a practice of turning everything off downstream before checking the meter to make sure it isn't ticking over.

 

[onesiedale]

Sadly there are no stopcocks, but following this incident I will be putting some in some at appropriate locations and replacing a small section of black pipe (the rest is blue pipe as far as I know).

your black pipe section will probably be the best place to start looking for leaks.
The estate we are on had lots of Class D pipe in, gave up repairing leaks and bursts and simply put a new system in.