please excuse my descriptions etc i am blonde and a woman lol Live in a housing association property, there's been an underground mains leak going on for 2 years now with numerous plumbers and Thames water telling me that there is a leak! Derrr I know that I reported it to you! Anyway Friday night had a bath etc, Saturday morning went to work my husbands friend who is staying with us got up run a bath run it to hot turned the cold tap on to cool it down and nothing! Came down checked kitchen tap and that dribbled then came back to life pressure isn't great but enough to fill the sink and most importantly the kettle. Rang the housing association when I got in told to ring water board which I did they can't do anything as there is water getting to the property, rang the landlord back told there's been a few problems the same reported in the area (although none of my immediate neighbours are having any problems other than lack of pressure) can't come out until Thursday which I wasn't best pleased about but what can you do? I got up in the loft and had a fiddle with the ballcock think that's what the dangly thing is moved freely up and down a bit of limescale build up which I cleaned off but no water at all, put my finger over the hole and when I took it off was a little gurgle but still nothing. My husbands friend isn't a plumber but knows a little about diy and got in the loft and took the ballcock off and still no water, any ideas as to what it could be? Thanks in advance
Might have some debris from the water board repair obstructing your stop cock in your house & restricting the flow.
They haven't even repaired it yet! Supposed to be drilling mole holes??? And replacing the mains pipes but when I spoke to the water board they had no log of it on their system but I have the paperwork I signed to say about the work that would be done
2 years to repair a leak! Might be mains pressure, is a tad too low to fill header tank. Could also have a look at stop cock outside your house is fully on, might help.
Oh and when I get up at 4am there's water but only enough for a couple of sink fulls and couple of flushes of the loo then nothing until the next morning Apparently the water board said it was leaking a litre per second by the spinning of the dial on the mains thing outside the house Checked the stopcock out front
So it's leaking between the 'dial' and your house! Time to be demanding or refusing to pay. Mr. HandyAndy - Really
Thankfully I'm not on a meter my water rates are in with my rent, will have to see what happens Thursday then start the ball again with all the calls and try and get this leak sorted Thanks all for your help
Your issues are all almost certainly down to this leak reducing the flow and pressure of water into your property. At times of higher water demand, the water in yer hoosie falls to zero. Your hub's friend who had that bath - the hot side filled ok because you have that cold storage tank in t'loft. That supplies your hot side (and perhaps some of your cold taps). Given enough time, that cold tank will refill as it should. However, when you went up there that time, there was no water coming in - that was not a fault with the 'cock but simply lack of mains water into yer hoosie. That was confirmed when you turned on the cold kitchen tap (which is definitely 'mains' water). So, the water board/housing assoc do need to sort this. I suspect it's water board if the leak is before the meter, or the HA after. (And the leak is after, isn't it?) You need 'legal' advice on how to oblige them. I'd visit/call your local Citizen's Advice and see what they say.
I'd have to say lack of pressure to fill tank. Same thing happened with a property I look after. A private supply fed from another header tank. Water was turned off one day and pressure wasn't enough to get rid of and air lock. Had to pump water to remove air lock and once flowing works fine. Hope this helps.
This morning the usual happened was enough water in tank for couple of sink fulls and loo flushes then it ran out, I went out for a few hours came back headed upstairs with my bucket of water ready to fill cistern to find it full! Cold taps are working popped my head in loft can hear tank refilling, so now mega confused do I cancel the plumber for Thursday and hope it doesn't go off again or keep the appointment as a precaution
Pressure - and flow - fluctuates according to demand. High demand first thing in t'morning as peeps wake up, have showers, fill kettles, etc. Offski they go to work and demand falls shortly after - so fill yer boots What plumber have you booked? And what do you expect them to do? If you cold kitchen sink tap falls to a dribble at any time, then your flow ain't good enough. That's then an issue for the water board or landlord.
I haven't booked the plumber personally the landlord have their own contractors mitie, I expect them to fix the problem if it goes again before Thursday morning! The pressure isn't as great as it used to be but then I'm assuming that's because of the leak which I shall be calling about for the 100th time lol
Yes, I'd expect the leak to cause an overall drop in flow at all times of the day. Then, at peak times, it could fall to zero - as yours seems to do. And even if some water trickles out yer kitchen tap, it still might not be enough to fill your cold storage tank as it's much ho That's unacceptable.
Yes agree with everything DA says. There is a legal minimum pressure as set out by Ofwat: http://www.ofwat.gov.uk/households/supply-and-standards/water-pressure/ I could imagine you could be elligible for a hefty refund. Kind regards diymostthings
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