Repairing water main to house

[Tom JE]

Chaps,

It appears that the mains supply to my house may have been damaged. An area of my lawn is like a natural spring and i can hear water running inside the house even with the stopcock off. The water board wont take responsibility (obviously) as it's on my property so thought i'd repair it myself if possible.

I can shut the water off to my house from the road so thats not a problem but wondered if its possible to just repair the damaged section of pipe or if i should pay somebody to renew the whole length?

The pipe is black flexible pipe, i'm guessing 22mm diameter (although i havent measured).

Thanks

Tom

 

[stevebamford]

Had a similar issue when I was a kid.

My dad replaced the whole pipe (the theory being that if it had failed in one place then it was liable to fail again somwhere else)

Traced the route of the old pipe by using water-diving (I kid you not!), rented a mini digger and away he went !

 

[Tom JE]

Replacing the whole pipe would seem like the right thing to do but i'm sure that the section thats damaged may have been damaged by tree roots rather than wear of the pipe. if i could get away with replacing just one section i would rather do that.

 

[tryitandsee]

Are you quite sure the water board wont fix it.

I'm sure, (deep down in the small print of terms and conditions) here in Southern Water's area they will come out and do one repair for free. The following text was copied from Southern waters Web page:-

Quote;

Water Leaks

Leaks on water mains can be slow and gradual or erupt very quickly with visible water flooding. If the water leak is inside your garden then it is probably a fault on your own supply pipe for which you are responsible.

You should immediately turn off the water at the Stop Tap.

We offer up to one hour’s free detection work to help locate the leak on your private supply pipe and will carry out three free repairs in each occupancy of the property, although certain terms and conditions may apply. See our leaflet on water leaks for more details.

Contact Southern Water’s Customer Call Centre on 0845 278 0845 and we will arrange for someone to visit your home.

If there is a water leak outside the boundary of your property, for example on the road or footpath, we will repair it as quickly as possible and restore water supplies. Please contact us on our Leakline 0800 820 999.

Note the three free repairs bit. may be worth a phone call to your lot.

 

[Tom JE]

Thats for the reply!!

Thats really handy to know, i'll print that off and quote it over the phone and see what they say. They definately werent interested in coming so fix it when i spoke to them this morning but after reading that i will definately ask again.

Thanks again!!

 

[tryitandsee]

I sort of understand why they do this, as it encourages/makes you report the leak to them so that they are then made aware of it.
If they can't fix it, they then issue you an enforcement 'repair notice' and give you 20 days or so to repair it, if you don't, they carry out the repair and bill you.

Otherwise some people would just ignore it and not bother to repair it at all.

 

[chr15]

But if all else fails you can easily make a repair on that type of pipe.

 

[Tom JE]

tryitandsee - thanks for the info today. I totally understand where the water company is coming from there. My neighbour has had his leak for a while now and just shrugs when i point it out to him, despite it ruining my flower beds.

chr15 - thats good to know, i suppose i'll see what the water company offer me and failing that i'll have to dig down to see what i'm up against. Repairing the pipe would be better for me rather than replacing the whole thing.

Thanks chaps!

 

[tryitandsee]

Good chance now to point in his direction and let the water board serve him notice.