High water bills __________

[Loubanez]

Not sure if this is in the right section or even the right website but just wanted to query water meters and bills before I ring UU tomorrow, just had are bi-annual water bill and are monthly bill is shooting from £33 to £72 a month, to me this seems massively over what I would expect to pay, it's only me and my girlfriend living at the property, on average about 7-10 baths a week, no showers. Dishwasher and washing machine about 3 times each a week. No garden for watering plants. It estimates that we use about 560l of water a day.
Could there be a faulty meter? Or a leak between the meter outside and my internal stopcock? I'm certain there are no leaks within the property. Really not happy.
Thanks

 

[Riley]

Turn off your internal stopcock and see if the water meter continues to increase. Then start checking things like toilets overflows and similar if not

 

[Chuck]

Follow Riley's advice and, if you haven't done so already, use this calculator:

Water Meter Calculator | Consumer Council for Water

to estimate the amount you can expect to use. From your description, I suspect you have a leak somewhere. A relatively small leak can waste quite a surprisingly large amount of water by running 24/7.

 

[Loubanez]

Thanks for advice I'll do both tomrrow, so do.you agree it seems to high?

 

[Loubanez]

Something worth mentioning is at the rear of the property they're used to be a toilet fed from an old lead pipe which disappears into a concrete floor, the toilet was removed an the pipe capped off, upon removing the toilet we discovered that my stopcock in the road didn't isolate this supply, which has lead me to think "where is this water coming from? and who is paying for it? Are any of my neighbours paying for this and possibly vice versa?

 

[Chuck]

You agree it seems to high?

Yes. My household consumption is a bit more than double what you describe and my bill is IIRC around £70 per month from SW Water who are amongst the most expensive in the country AFAIK.

 

[king of pipes]

Follow rileys advice you must have a small leak somewhere. Kop

 

[Rob Foster]

Per person its rarely more than 1 ton per week which is about £2.40 supplied and taken away.
Homes without carpet rats or wrinklies or gardens or kidney dialysis units or teenagers much less. Rob Foster aka centralheatking

 

[Loubanez]

Almost certain I don't have a leak as I re did all the hot and cold pipework past my incoming stopcock and all the plumbing joints are surface mounted so I could access them for if I ever got any leaks. Thinking of getting my own meter and fitting it within my property and comparing the two readings?

 

[Riley]

There’s no need
Test 1 - turn off your internal stopcock and check reading on meter in the evening then the following morning if it’s changed then there’s a leak on the supply pipe from the boundary
Test 2 - leave your internal stopcock open and take a measurement in the evening then the following morning if there’s any change then you have an internal leak past your internal stopcock. It doesn’t have to be as severe as a leaking pipe, a toilet dripping constantly and overflowing into itself, albeit gradually, still mounts up very quickly.

 

[Loubanez]

There’s no need
Test 1 - turn off your internal stopcock and check reading on meter in the evening then the following morning if it’s changed then there’s a leak on the supply pipe from the boundary
Test 2 - leave your internal stopcock open and take a measurement in the evening then the following morning if there’s any change then you have an internal leak past your internal stopcock. It doesn’t have to be as severe as a leaking pipe, a toilet dripping constantly and overflowing into itself, albeit gradually, still mounts up very quickly.

Thanks I'll try this tonight and report back

 

[Chuck]

Also, check that the readings and meter number on your bills match your own meter and are 'actual' not 'estimated'. It's not unknown for readers to misread meters or misidentify the house.

 

[Loubanez]

Also, check that the readings and meter number on your bills match your own meter and are 'actual' not 'estimated'. It's not unknown for readers to misread meters or misidentify the house.

The readings seem accurate on November 16th a reading of 721m was taken when I checked yesterday it's already at 754.

 

[Rob Foster]

so thats about 30m3 over 2 months basically ? give or take
...Rob Foster

 

[Loubanez]

so thats about 30m3 over 2 months basically ? give or take
...Rob Foster

Yes, can't see how I'm using that much

 

[Riley]

Then do the testS

 

[Loubanez]

Then do the testS

Will do Riley l, out on the tools atm, will do as you suggested tonight.

 

[Riley]

Nice one

 

[Rob Foster]

Yes, can't see how I'm using that much

you should be using 9m3 maximum so thats 20m3 going missing or 4m3 per week or 5 + telephone boxes full of water.
Thats got to show, unless its found a drain. What type of ground, clay, sand, hard stuff concerete, flags tell us more. I did a McCarthy Stone with 78 leaky overflows trickling into the bog pans ...suprising what volume can pass Rob Foster
aka centralheatking

 

[ballvalve]

We live in a three bed semi two of us and the dog.Our bill for fresh water is £43.69 for 183 days,no baths just showers.

 

[Rob Foster]

We live in a three bed semi two of us and the dog.Our bill for fresh water is £43.69 for 183 days,no baths just showers.

does that include taking the effluent away ? and are you factorised for putting storm water into the main drain ?

 

[ballvalve]

No it,s fresh water only the rest is on top.

 

[Rob Foster]

No it,s fresh water only the rest is on top.

checked your bill ? they often default to the higher price cannot think why
Rob Foster ...centralheatking

 

[malx42]

We had a water meter put in a year ago. We used on average 1 cubic metre a week, that’s 145 litres a day. We have showers. A bath might take 80 litres.

Sounds like the water is leaking somewhere. Put you ear to the cold water tap and see if you can hear rushing water.

A school in Warwickshire got a £26000 bill because of a leak.

 

[Rob Foster]

Will do Riley l, out on the tools atm, will do as you suggested tonight.

any news on your water consumption

 

[Loubanez]

Think I've got to the bottom if it,
Can't be believe I overlooked this ;
Did the tests Riley suggested and there wernt any movements on the meter, so I took a mean average of my water consumption over a week,
I was told by numerous sources that a bath takes 80 litres, A bath is more like 130-150 litres, well one of my girlfriend's is, she also has an over active bladder and the toilet is flushed up to 15 times a day, so already with 2 baths and 15 flushes we are touching 450 litres,
The main issue was up untill late December we had a faulty diverter valve on the boiler, this constantly ran us cold baths and was very hit and miss, I expect are water wastage over that period was very high.
All this combined probably resulted in higher consumption. And with higher consumption came higher costs for waste removal.
I'm installing a shower in the coming weeks, a new eco toilet and I've got the valve fixed on the boiler.
Hopefully all this will dramatically decrease our consumption and ultimately our bills
Thanks for all the feedback and suggestions. Tbh I'm just glad i don't have to dig the drive up!!

 

[Rob Foster]

Think I've got to the bottom if it,
Can't be believe I overlooked this ;
Did the tests Riley suggested and there wernt any movements on the meter, so I took a mean average of my water consumption over a week,
I was told by numerous sources that a bath takes 80 litres, A bath is more like 130-150 litres, well one of my girlfriend's is, she also has an over active bladder and the toilet is flushed up to 15 times a day, so already with 2 baths and 15 flushes we are touching 450 litres,
The main issue was up untill late December we had a faulty diverter valve on the boiler, this constantly ran us cold baths and was very hit and miss, I expect are water wastage over that period was very high.
All this combined probably resulted in higher consumption. And with higher consumption came higher costs for waste removal.
I'm installing a shower in the coming weeks, a new eco toilet and I've got the valve fixed on the boiler.
Hopefully all this will dramatically decrease our consumption and ultimately our bills
Thanks for all the feedback and suggestions. Tbh I'm just glad i don't have to dig the drive up!!

'one of my girlfriends' well done. Thanks for letting us know the source of your problem....so when is the girlfriend going, cheaper than a shower and eco toilet ...I will pass this solution on to united utilities for their water consumption advice pages
cheers Centralheatking

 

[Loubanez]

'one of my girlfriends' well done. Thanks for letting us know the source of your problem....so when is the girlfriend going, cheaper than a shower and eco toilet ...I will pass this solution on to united utilities for their water consumption advice pages
cheers Centralheatking

'Did you know you could save hundreds of pounds a year by switching to different life partner'

 

[Rob Foster]

'Did you know you could save hundreds of pounds a year by switching to different life partner'

a framed poster of this quote in the bathroom might be more subtle ...happy days