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Leakage Information for All
Supply pipe policy for domestic customers
Code of Practice on Leakage for Household Customers
Code of Practice on Leakage for Business and Commercial Customers
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Leaks inside the property on the plumbing system
Leaks can occur inside a property beyond the inside stop tap and go undetected. For example, central heating pipes beneath the floor, garden taps, flush valve toilet cisterns or automatic-flushing urinal cisterns. If you think that you may have a leak beyond the inside stop tap, you will need to contact a plumber. Always use a qualified and experienced plumber such as our own plumbing company AquaCare (01202 591100) or another that may be listed in the Yellow Pages. You will have to pay for their services
Checking for leaks when a meter is first fitted
We know from experience water can leak from our customers' supply pipes. When we fit the meter in the pavement or close to the boundary of the property, before leaving we will check to see if your supply pipe is leaking. If we suspect that there is a leak, we will tell you. If the leak can be repaired without additional excavation, the Company will carry out the repair at its own cost. If additional excavation is required, we will advise you what you should do.
You will have to pay for additional excavation unless you qualify for our free supply pipe repair scheme. Contact us or see our document “The supply pipe policy for domestic customers” for details.
How to check for an underground leak
This applies if you have a meter situated near your connection in the road. Some meters are situated within a property and do not measure any leaks underground between the road and the property.
Firstly locate your meter and gain access to it. Care should be taken to do this safely particularly if it is in the pavement. Find the incoming main stopcock within the building and turn it off briefly and see if the meter stops. If it does, there is no leak between meter and stopcock. If the meter is still moving check:
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And the stopcock is fully turned off.
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That there is no connection between the meter and the stopcock for example a garden watering supply.
If the meter is still moving and you are confident you have checked the above, it is likely that you have an underground leak. You can calculate the size of the leak by watching the meter index and calculating how much water goes through the meter in a set period of time.
If you have difficulty with accessing the meter, we can call and do this for you while you operate the inside stopcock.
If no water is evident the tell tale signs of a leak are a continual noise on the supply alternatively soft patches or areas of lush vegetation during dry periods, extra green lawn or dips along the line of the supply pipe.
If you have checked and suspect you have a leak or you are unable to check yourselves call us on our leak line 08005 878979 and we will arrange to make a site visit and check or confirm your findings. We will then give you advice on what you need to do next to get the leak fixed if there is one. This will include the following:
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For domestic customers we will advise you whether you qualify for a free leak repair a second subsidised repair or a subsidised supply pipe relay. This will include the terms and conditions of the offer.
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If you do not qualify for the above offer being a non domestic customer or a domestic customer that has had the pipe repaired more than twice we will advise you of our plumbing department AquaCare's capability in pipe renewal and arrange for a quotation for the work if you wish.
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We will also advise you of the conditions that have to be met in requesting a leak allowance for the cost of the water lost during the leak.
In many cases we have found it is cheaper to replace and re-route the underground supply pipe rather than trying to find the leak on the pipe that is not showing.
If the meter is not fitted at the boundary of the property and maybe part way along the supply pipe or within the building it will not record the leak on the section of the supply pipe before the meter. The section of underground pipe from the boundary to the meter is still yours and you are still responsible for repairing it. We will advise you on what assistance we can give.
Please Note.
If you or your contractor operate the boundary stopcock in the street and break it, you or the contractor will have to pay us to repair it.
Undetected leaks
An unusually high meter reading may mean that your supply pipe is leaking provided there is no other reason such as more occupants in residence or increased production in a factory. If we notice an unusual increase in consumption as compared with your normal use we will send you a letter stating you have a leak (high consumption) and ask you to investigate.
If there is a possibility that the increase is due to a leak contact us on 01202 590059 and we will arrange to make a site visit to investigate
Leak allowances
Domestic customers
We will give only one leak allowance per property and this will always be at the company's discretion.
We will only consider a leak allowance from the underground supply pipe no leak allowance will be given for leaks from faulty internal plumbing.
We will give a full rebate up to the date of repair if:
- you contact us within 10 days of receiving our letter saying there may be a leak at your property
- AND have the leak repaired within 28 days of the site visit when we actually confirm it.
Under other circumstances, you must repair the leak within 28 days of the site visit when we confirm there is a leak at your property.
For full details, see our Code of Practice on Leakage for Household Customers.
We will not give a leak allowance if your negligence or the actions of your agents caused the leak, or if you should have known that there was a leak and did not repair it.
Non domestic Customer
The same conditions above apply except that you must repair the leak within 14 days of the site visit when we confirm there is a leak at your premises.
For full details, see our Code of Practice on Leakage for Business and Commercial Customers
If you are not satisfied
Our customers are very important to us. If you have a complaint about how we have dealt with you or the way we have operated under this code, please contact us and we will do our best to resolve it.
If you are not satisfied with the outcome you can then refer to:
Consumer Council for Water
Unit 2, The Hide Market
West Street
St Philips
Bristol
Avon, BS2 OBH
Other Codes of Practice and information leaflets
Ofwat has approved this Code of Practice.
Click here for other codes of practice and information leaflets.
