I have (after much looking) discovered where a water leak is in my house. Downstairs consists of a living room at the front of the house, and a kitchen and a small hallway that leads to a downstairs toilet at the back of the house. Having removed some skirting board in the kitchen I have found a leak that comes from the base of the downstairs toilet wall and into the kitchen. The leak is almost at floor level so was hard to find, the water then leaks under the plastic damp proof membrane. I have drained the toilet cistern and the leak still continued. I have switched the stop cock off at the front of the house and still it leaks. The water pressure on the boiler is fine, and there is no water damage to any ceilings, and all copper pipes I have inspected from under floorboards upstairs are not leaking. Having spoke to a neighbour she says that our houses were originally fed with water from the back of the houses with old lead piping, but many years ago the houses then became serviced with water from the front of the house and that water is stopped via the stop tap in the pavement. It seems that the old supply at the back was never switched off as some people used it (and still do) for outside toilets and hose pipes. My neighbour who has lived their for over forty years believes that my leak will be from those old pipes - but there is no stop tap anywhere in my yard for the old pipes. Assuming my leak is from the old water supply, how would I go about stopping the leak without digging up the concrete floor of the downstairs toilet. I am unsure of where I stand with the local water authority as my house is now serviced with water from copper pipes from the front now, so who is responsible for the old pipes that I believe have no stop taps at the back of the house. I can only assume the old supply was once capped, but something has happened to it and now it is leaking - I would think (at a guess) about two litres a day are pouring under the damp proof membrane (although it's less now I am using towels etc) There are at the back of the houses some old water hose pipe points outside two of the nine back yards, and a few people still have outdoor toilets, and taps in potting sheds, that are all serviced from the old supply. If I contact the local water authority to ask them about my leak and the old water supply, are they likely to just turn off the entire water supply for all the houses at the back as it is an un-metered supply that any of us can use for hose pipes etc, or are they likely to be able to help me locate the pipe that feeds into my yard and under my downstairs toilet and into the kitchen. Thank you for any advice you can give.
The house I live in now had the same problem. In my case the water feed ran from the front of the house to the back yard through a concrete floor, then feed the other 4 houses. When the pipe broke inside the floor they had to run along the outside of the terrace in to the back yard and reconnect. The problem you have is it is a shared supply so that you can't alter the supply if it affects the other property. The water board won't have any plans for the area and won't disconnect the supply from your neighbours. The only real option is to try and work out where the old pipe are coming into the house and start digging and exploration trench to find the pipe. Once you have found it then it is a matter of getting it capped before it enters the house. There are differing opinions on whom owns the supply; one train of thought is that because it is on your property it is your problem the other school of thought is that because it is a common supply then it belongs to the water board. It is the same with drains the main line that serves the back of the house is common but the individual feeds are the householders. There used to be an obligation on water boards to replace all underground lead pipes I am not sure if that is still applicable but it may be worth contacting them to see what they say. here is Thames Waters approach http://www.thameswater.co.uk/help-and-advice/5886.htm
Could hire a Cat (Cable Avoidance Tool) & Genny & locate the pipe yourself if the no luck with waterboard.
S2000, you have a meter on your 'front' supply? In which case I'd personally be looking at that 'rear' supply as a bonus... Suddenly, watering the garden and washing the car become more attractive options... Although WBs have been replacing lead pipes for some time now, I don't think their responsibility includes the pipe on owner's property. What they will do is replace the lead from their main pipe to your street stopcock/meter if the home owner also replaces their lead pipe from that stopcock to the house. At least that's how it was with me around 10 years ago. If you approach the WB about this, I fear they will go for the easiest solution for them - cap off the lead pipe where is supplies you and your neighbours. If some of these houses also have meters fitted, they will surely want to remove any source of 'free' water... I'm with Sos on this one - try and locate (there must be equipment that'll do this?) where the pipe is in your back garden, expose it and get ready to cut and fit a stopcock on it. Use freezing equipment if necessary. Bring the pipe up to the surface using plastic with insulation, and enjoy your free water...
There is this,Cat (Cable Avoidance Tool) & Genny was around £40 a day to hire, cheaper than being charged by waterboard.
I was going to suggest a CAT tool, but the problem will be it has to be in an R/F mode to pick up a metal water pipe and in a confined space (back yard) he will probably be picking up a lot of false signals the metal near by and old debris under the surface. The yard can't be that big and I assume the pipes won't be that deep as they come into the house so it shouldn't take too long.
Ooh - I'm interested, explain please . Hopefully the route taken by the pipe should be fairly obvious too? Certainly, if the OP knows where it exits his house, he can hopefully pick up the signal there and trace it backwards to the point he wants to position his free water feature...
They work really well in open areas. Had lots of problems in closed areas of older houses - but then down here we tend to have lots of "old" metal in the ground from previous householders and the habit of using old **** from the metal industry doesn't help. The number of items been digging down only to find a large lump of ore or ****.
Latest versions CAT4 have improved on the previous Cat 3 tool with simultaneous dual-frequency locate signal output. Alongside the usual 33kHz there is additional higher frequency used now. Some of the latest have GPS, so you can map utilties now. Seen one of these in use the other day, darn impressive. http://www.cabledetection.co.uk/ezicat-i750xf
Neat piece of kit. It is one of those things that when you need it is absolutely vital the majority of the time it is sat there idle
That CAT I linked to, the LOGiCAT Software works with Google mapping,& there Android app, pretty impressive software. It's cheaper to hire when you need one.
You shouldn't have pay to repair an underground burst that is supplying water to a neighbour. It is a very complex situation and the best way to sort this out is to pay that insurance that the water board offer you and then let them sort out the mess.
The problem is that it is a redundant spur that is inside the house. The feed outside is lead which should be replaced by the Water board. In my area they will especially if it feeds several houses. This looks like it is only supplying non drinking water to toilets, sheds and outside pipes which puts in a awkward position
When your new service on the front was installed it would be the job of the water authorities inspector to ensure that the old service pipe at the back of your property was removed at the tee or as close to it as possible thus ending your responsibility for the old service. It contravenes the WA bylaws to leave an old spur still live inside a property. It sounds like this will take some sorting out!
Thank you so much for all that information - and yes I am slightly reluctant to call the water board as they might switch the entire un-metered water supply off to the back of the houses. Finding the water supply I thought was going to be problematic but my neighbour has just this morning told me where the un-metered supply pipe runs along and it is just outside the rear yard wall and is under a grass verge right beside my yard wall - I should have known as the taps we all use for hose pipes are on the exterior of two of our yard walls. So at least I now know where the supply pipe runs and can dig up (was told it runs about 12-18inch down) with a spade and find the spur that feeds my house. As some of you have pointed out an un-metered water supply in this day and age of water meters is very handy so what I may do is find where it drops into my yard, and then dig up a little of the yard and cap the pipe leading into my house and maybe give myself a water tap in the yard. Thank you very much for everyone's help on this, I think I will just deal with this myself by contacting the plumber I usually use and leave the water board out. Thank you all once again.
And the old lead supply is only supplying peoples taps in their yards and a few outside toilets that some people have kept in because they are always gardening so have outside toilets and a sink in a small outhouse so the supply does not feed any internal water supply as everyone's is now fed from the front of the houses via copper. Isn't it great how a little chat with a neighbour (especially one who has lived their for decades) can provide so much information. Makes you wonder how many faults could be diagnosed faster by a couple of knocks on neighbouring doors.
Forums
Facebook
Twitter
You Tube
Instagram
Shop