mains water leak- consumers side

brucestatham · 31 May 2020

hi there. I have a water leak. initially I guessed it was outside my boundary as the water mark on the soil was there, and slowly working down into my garden. I decided to dig a hole to check and looks like it is on my side. with an excess on my insurance of £700 I may decide to dig further into my garden to locate leak. what I would like to know in the mean time is how or what you guys recommend fixing it with. a quick internet search has come up with a clamp at around £15 to repair/ cover the leak area. the pipe is black plastic with a blue stripe on it, house built around 1968.
the water is flowing freely into the hole from the side , so I think I maybe near it...… just wanted to be prepared with something to fix. losing around 1/2 m3 water a day.
any suggestions re detection or how do I know when i'm near to it or what to do with it once found..... TIA

HERTS P&D · 31 May 2020

Keep digging until you have found the leak, (the clamp would be a temporary repair.) Once found then a joint could be fitted depending on the leak/split.

Post pictures

Andy

brucestatham · 31 May 2020

thanks andy. I will post pic asap.

brucestatham · 31 May 2020

this is it so far. red arrow indicates my boundary. blue arrow indicates where there is a trickle of clear water. pipe measures at 20mm os diameter.

HERTS P&D · 31 May 2020

Can you turn off the water at the boundary? If so keep digging then take a close up picture of the leak.

Andy

HERTS P&D · 31 May 2020

https://www.toolstation.com/mdpe-pipe/p11290

https://www.toolstation.com/mdpe-straight-coupling/p66255

2x https://www.toolstation.com/mdpe-pipe-liner/p42724

Andy

brucestatham · 31 May 2020

HERTS P&D said:
Can you turn off the water at the boundary? If so keep digging then take a close up picture of the leak.

Andy

hi andy. have dug further and sourced the leak. theres a join/ coupling (got 'PHILMAC' on it) its coming from here. may just need a tighten? off to toolstation tomorrow to get the stop cock key first in case leak gets worse after I mess around with it. any further suggestions or ideas appreciated. thanks. am gonna get the coupling you linked as well, as looks almost same as whats there already.

HERTS P&D · 31 May 2020

Post a picture of the leak and a picture of the stopcock.

Andy

brucestatham · 31 May 2020

HERTS P&D said:
Post a picture of the leak ….

brucestatham · 31 May 2020

the leak is definitely at the end of the coupling. can see it quite clearly now. the stop cock is covered with water. the coupling looks to be a reducing one so will get an assortment of sizes tomorrow. once the supply is turned off I will then be able to take further images. so i'm off to TS in the morning. thanks for the help and advice so far Andy.

HERTS P&D · 31 May 2020

Can you tighten up the coupling?

Andy

brucestatham · 31 May 2020

HERTS P&D said:
Can you tighten up the coupling?

Andy

yes I thought about that, then I thought i'd better get the means to turn the main valve / stop cock off just in case I end up with a fountain as a garden feature. that will be my first approach though. I plan to be armed with new bits and bobs as well, just in case !

Ian H · 1 Jun 2020

It will be an old Philmac with integrated inserts, they split the pipe over time.

A pair of new Philmacs will let you make a repair with a short piece of blue MDPE pipe.

brucestatham · 1 Jun 2020

Ian H said:
It will be an old Philmac with integrated inserts, they split the pipe over time.

A pair of new Philmacs will let you make a repair with a short piece of blue MDPE pipe.

thanks for the reply Ian. makes sense as the leak is coming from the joiner. have tried tightening the glands today but no better, worse if anything

but i guess all I've done is made the split bigger

. I've been to TS today to get some bits, but what I needed wasn't in stock, so I will have a browse through the bay later. what seems strange though...… the pipe sizes I have are the new is about 20mm, the old is about 3/4" (year 1968). but the 'nut' is smaller on the larger diameter pipe part of the joiner. as well as a small length of pipe with a straight 20/20mm coupler, I guess I need this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Philmac-...629623?hash=item3d81ea6e77:g:2zQAAOSwz6lcUtkb
?

looks like I've got a bit more digging to do though so I can cut the old pipe away from the split part. nice weather though …

Ian H · 1 Jun 2020

You could get the Philmac fitting from a Jewsons if there’s one local to you. The black pipe is slightly bigger than the blue equivalent but I can’t tell from the pic of you need a 20/20 or a 25/20.

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mains water leak- consumers side

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