rdodger
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| posted on 21/2/15 at 07:39 PM |
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Leaking Water Main
Evening all.
I have a bit of a problem at a 120yr old Terraced house we rent out and thought some people on here will have some experience to share.
We have been doing various jobs between tenants and noticed the water pressure is much lower than when my GF lived there.
Today the water board came and confirmed it's below what they deem acceptable both in terms of pressure and flow. The guy who came says he can
hear a major leak and they will do further investigations soon. (dig a hole and test the pressure either side of the stop tap in the street)
It's a shared main for 4 houses though 2 have had a new supply, so now there are only 2 houses using the old supply. The next door neighbour who
we still share with gets the supply first and has no problem at all with great pressure and flow so it would seem to me the leak must be after it
T's into their house before it gets to our house.
The neighbour has had the Water Board out a few months ago as they had a leak in a part the fed to what was once the outside toilet. It seems they
capped that bit off so our neighbour is happy.
So my questions are:
Will they fix the leak between the stop tap and our house even though it goes through the neighbours back yard then through ours to the back of the
house?
Will we have to pay for the work?
Will we have to have a new supply from the main in the street to the front of the house as other neighbours have done? We have no front garden, the
front door opens onto the street so not far for it to go.
The house has solid floors so it aint going to be fun getting it into the house!
Any advice would be appreciated. SWMBO is going mental as the new tenant is supposed to move in on Monday and currently the combi fed shower is a weak
dribble.
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joneh
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| posted on 21/2/15 at 08:21 PM |
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Same thing just happened to my neighbour.
She owned the pipe work from the meter (or main stop cock in road) therefore it was her responsibility. She had to pay for the work. We have solid
floors too but she ran a new mains pipe down the side of the house and through the garage, rather than chopping up the house floor!
The water board were kind enough to waive the £2k water bill though. If you're not on a meter then they can't tell how much has been
lost...
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rdodger
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| posted on 21/2/15 at 08:26 PM |
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Thankfully no meter.
It seems Dee Valley water have a scheme to fix leaks but only up to £220 after that it's up to me!
Shame we don't have an easy way in for a new main.
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adithorp
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| posted on 21/2/15 at 09:15 PM |
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It's a can of worms. As mine is like yours, this is how I understand it...
Depends where they find the leak as to who has to pay. Good diagram
HERE
Different water co's have different arrangements to support the homeowner.
If you go for a new separate supply you have to...
Dig out the old one where it enters your property and have it capped and inspected by water board.
Have new pipework fitted to the existing system for the WB to connect to.
WB will then bring the new supply to your boundary and connect. That's usually the front door in the case of terraced houses and the internal
pipes can be run from there up and through the ceiling when the house has solid floors and connected to the existing system.
Incidentally, United Utilities told us they could hear a leak on our pipe and demanded we fix it (they'd been around and listened to the pipes
during the night) and sent us nasty letters for ages... turned out one of the neighbours had her washing machine running overnight when they came
listening. I took up UU common supply pipe insurance after that and I'm not going to do anything until something goes wrong.
"A witty saying proves nothing" Voltaire
http://jpsc.org.uk/forum/
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rdodger
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| posted on 21/2/15 at 09:25 PM |
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That's good info. Thanks Adi.
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02GF74
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| posted on 22/2/15 at 08:47 AM |
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Do you not get letter from your water board about spesh
H offers for pipe insuarance? Check the conditions for what is covered and if applicable take it, wait a couple of months then claim.
Not that i would ever be so smeaky, especially with a blocked bathroom sink
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CosKev3
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| posted on 22/2/15 at 09:57 AM |
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With Severn Trent its your responsibility from your property boundary to house, if they detect a leak in your boundary they give you a set time scale
to get it repaired, if you don't they will then repair it and invoice you for the work.
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rdodger
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| posted on 25/3/15 at 11:22 AM |
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I thought I would update this just in case anyone else is in the same position.
We are having the work done tomorrow by Mole Group.
They are going to replace the shared main from the boundary around to both houses. Approx 25m of pipe and 2 stop taps etc.
Dee Valley Water would and are going to investigate the leak. Unfortunately they have to shut the road to dig up around the stop tap. (narrow road and
footpath) They can't do this until 18 May! We are going to replace the pipe to the boundary and join to the old pipe. When Dee Valley turn up
they will make a new connection into the main.
It has been a long process due to the need for a road closure and the fact that Dee Valley have to find the leak before they do anything else. This
way we get a new main and connection.
Cost?
£1300 
We did try to get a new supply to the front of the house. This would have cost £400. As the road has to be closed that would have added another £2500!
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steve m
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| posted on 25/3/15 at 11:56 AM |
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My parents house insurance covered their broken / leaking pipe that had fractured under the double concrete drive
I do not know what the final bill was, but know it was well over 5k
assuming you have buildings insurance ?
steve
Thats was probably spelt wrong, or had some grammer, that the "grammer police have to have a moan at
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rdodger
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| posted on 25/3/15 at 01:58 PM |
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Thanks Steve
Will check that out 
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