We had something similar a few weeks ago. The new annual charge was much, much higher than last year, and a quick shufti down at tge meter confirmed the spinny thing was making itself dizzy, even with the stopcock off. I left it a few weeks for reasons below, then reported it to SevernTrent, whose 2 men in a van came a couple of days later and pressurised it with a gas canister of something or other, then waved a ‘sniffer’ detector over the block paved drive.
They said “Looks like it’s around here” gesturing in the direction of the corner of the house, which would sort of make sense, given there’s a guttering downpipe just there, and a drain. I’d had the foresight to take out Homeserve insurance cover a couple of months previously when the initial high bill arrived… the terms of that insurance included “No claim allowed for the first month”
Anyway, the Homeserve man came a few days later, gassed again, and found a strong whiff in a different place entirely. He dug down about 4ft and found the leak where the plastic pipe was touching the underneath of a clay drain. He said it happens that when they run the mains pressure pumps at night, it sets up a bit of vibration at times, and that’d rub through the plastic pipe after several years. He cut out a section about 12″ long, spliced a new piece in, and filled the hole. All good so far since then.
