Just had a letter from Thames water telling me I have a leak. They changed our meter at the start of July and bill for the previous 6 months was £880 compared to a usual of ~£250. This seems to be down to the reading on the old meter. I guess this has triggered the letter.
Thames are closed now but I’ll call at 0800 Monday and arrange an appointment for them to come and check for this leak.
I’ll also take daily meter readings in the mean time.
They say the leak is 51 litres per hour. That seems a lot, I can’t believe I hedge no sign of a leak like that. No water on the lawn, the drive, no damp walls inside the house. Surely even if it was inside the house, beneath the floor, before the stopcock, at 51 litres per hour there would be very evident damp wouldn’t there?
Life has been stressful enough recently and I’m trying not to worry but mind is racing to worst case scenarios, so I’m looking for some reassurance and logic.
If I could access the body of the stopcock in the kitchen I would shut the supply at the meter, disconnect the stop cock in the kitchen and watch the water level in the pipe. However I can’t, the plumbing is neatly behind a kitchen unit with just a ~30mm hole for the tap shaft to poke through. If I try a similar test on some accessible plumbing post the stop cock, ie the bathroom sink supply, it won’t do anything will it? The stop cock should stop back flow should it not?
Any other ideas?
