Possible Water Leak!

[akwexavante]

Hoping someone can offer help and perhaps some advice.

Firstly I'm not a plumber but I have done some plumbing in the past.

I have two properties, Home and Cottage. The water consumption at the cottage (Which is a holiday let) is, in my opinion very high so I've decided to look at why and consider the possibility that I may have a leak. The occupancy at the cottage at the mo is low (1st 3/4 year so I've had three quarterly bills so far) and yet I'm using 40 cubic litres a quarter! May be wrong but I think this is high. I read the water meter 24hrs ago before I left and locked up, I'm returning to the property in another 24hrs time so there will of been zero usage for roughly 48hrs when I will re-read the meter.

Meanwhile I thought I would think about a possible leak and what to do next. I've googled water leaks etc etc and I decided to purchase a Rothenberger Water Pressure Gauge with a 3/4"BSP fitting to try.

Now to familiarize myself with this and my new found knowledge and the help of a screwdriver I thought I would experiment at home first before returning to the cottage tomorrow.

Tried the screwdriver placed on the copper pipe just after the water meter and up against my ear, I can here noise. Tried the same on other exposed cold water pipework elsewhere in the building and I can hear nothing. Fitted the pressure gauge to my outside tap and have the following results.

13:12hrs 5.00bar (Connected Pressure Gauge)
13:25hrs 5.00bar (Turned off cold water isolation valve at the water meter)
13:28hrs 4.50bar
13:34hrs 4.00bar
13:47hrs 3.25bar
13:53hrs 3.00bar
14:10hrs 2.75bar
14:26hrs 2.50bar (Drop after 1hr)
14:48hrs 2.25bar
15:18hrs 2.00bar

I can still hear noise using the screwdriver placed on the pipework by the water meter.
Now I was shocked to get these results so I have had a look at past bills, up to a year ago I was using on average 4 cubic meters of water a quarter at home which jumped up to 10 a quarter over the last year nearly (Now I am washing linen & towels now a lot more often because I'm washing linen and towels from the cottage and home too) so I assumed the increase in water usage was accounted for, for this sole reason.

I assumed, believed that I could not possibly have a leak at home until now!

Do I have a water Leak at Home?

I'm now going to read the meter at home before I leave tomorrow to go to my cottage for the weekend where I will repeat these tests at the cottage over the weekend.

I will obviously re-read my water meter at home when I return late Sunday evening when there will of been zero usage of water at home for roughly 48hrs.

What more can I do to make sure I do actually have a leak somewhere before I start trying to pinpoint where it might be within the building?

 

[stardanny]

First thing to check is your toilet not running.

What system have you got? For both of house and collage?

Daniel.

 

[JohnD]

40 cubic litres

Cubic metres, perhaps.

Look at the meter when (you think that) all taps are off. Is the bubble still spinning?

Now turn off the house stopcock. Is the bubble still spinning?

 

[akwexavante]

Sorry yes, I meant 40 Cubic Metres a quarter at the cottage and in the past only 4 cubic metres a quarter at home (Single Person living in on an avg of 4 nights a week) which in the last three quarters has gone up to 10 cubic metres a quarter at home (a lot more washing of linen & towels or so I thought until now). I assumed that I didn't have a leak at home at all but now I'm thinking differently obviously.

Home System: Assuming you mean Heating & Hot Water, the boiler is an Ideal Mexico 2 with hot water cylinder. Never thought I could or would ever have a leak anywhere until now.

Cottage System: Less than 2yrs old, all new including water main, boiler is a valiant eco tech 83 something, a condensing boiler less than 2yrs old. All pipework was fitted by me and all the various sections of pipework were pressure tested by me overnight and passed and then tested again by a heating engineer when complete prior to the installation and commissioning of the boiler and all passed then too. Boilers pressure on the heating side has never needed topping up and I'm not aware of any leaks at the mo.

JohnD: I don't have a bubble on my meter at home or at the cottage. The dials on my Home meter are not incrementing at all over a few hours. So I thought I would read my meter at home when I leave at roughly 4pm Friday and again Sunday eve on my return home to see if the meter has moved on at all over roughly 48hrs.

At both Home and Cottage I have an incoming Water Main that has a Stopcock in the street which then comes into both buildings to a second stopcock before the water meters.

 

[WabbitPoo]

This would have been so much more interesting had you posted AFTER your test at the cottage!

40 cu m sounds high...we used 59 in the 6 months to now, at our main dwelling....depends on occupancy at your cottage I suppose, plus how the holidaymakers waste the water. Let us know the results