High water usage - unvented cylinder?

[Harry Bloomfield]

Hmm, not sure. The literature from the survey says that our 'surface water is fed into the mains sewer'. But particularly what is connected to that I don't know (presumably the downpipes from the rainwater gutters.)

Many properties have separate rain water and foul water drainage systems, best to check both if yours are separate.

 

[BlueLoo]

It is a boundary problem.
Find the boundary which is good (you have, from the meter/stopcock) and pull it in until you find the leak.

 

[Nigel A]

Just for closure (as I owe a reply to many of you that offered advice!):

The issue was with a badly 'sealed' lead pipe that used to feed water in to the house (kitchen) but was replaced with a synthetic pipe to allow greater pressure to the cylinder. The water was being pushed back out of said lead pipe, through a bad seal (It was just hammered flat not even capped!), and back out into the front garden presumably where it was cut to make place for the new pipe in.

Disappointed that it was down to poor work, but relieved to have found the root cause.

 

[BlueLoo]

Nice update. Glad you found it.

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Tut tut, naughty whoever fitted the placcie- when I changed the lead out in an old house the water board inspector himself checked that I'd removed all the lead (which was easy enough, just capped the copper by the kitchen tap). Glad you've resolved your problem, that could have turned into a disaster if you hadn't found it

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Just a thought- was the placcie installed at the same time as the new unvented? (ie March 2021). If yes, those installers owe you for however many excess litres of water were used while the thing was passing 44l/hour plus whatever it has cost you to find and fix the problem. A photo of their handiwork and an invoice would be a starting point, if they quibble then straight to small claims. And point out that if you didn't have a water meter their bodge could have caused some very expensive subsidence!