Posted 11 January 2024

Mains water pipe in front garden leaking

I have received a letter from Thames Water to state that they detected a leak in the mains water supply pipe that goes from the pavement to the mains stopcock by the front door. They plan to come over and fix the leak and will charge us, which will include 25% uplift for their admin. I called them and said that I will get British Gas to come round and fix it as we have plumbing and drains cover with British Gas homecare.

Has anyone had experience of a mains pipe leak that Thames Water has flagged up in the front of your property? I am not sure if this is the sort of thing that would be covered with buildings insurance generally?

Would be helpful to hear if anyone has experience of this before.

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11th Jan
...they said it is the supply pipe under our front garden, which is the feeder pipe from the street. i looked this up, and it is called the "communication pipe".

Your interpretation is flawed.
The terminology used by your water company is correct:
the pipe within the property boundary (indisputable if "under our front garden") is the "supply pipe".

"Supply pipe serving a single property" is the responsibility of the "property owner" - OFWAT.
11th Jan
Tell them to do one. As if they can detect a leak between that distance. Akin to bbc tax letters saying they know you're watching tv from their vans
Author
11th Jan
it is questionable as to how accurate their detection is as we are talking about less than a metre from the pavement to the front door, so if what happyshopper says they use that primitive rod device to listen to leaks, then it could be under the pavement and not inside my front garden.
11th Jan
You might want to check your water bill now too.
Author
12th Jan
there is no water meter at the property. it is a fixed annual charge for water.
11th Jan
afaik, if leak is outside your boundary they should fix it.
Author
11th Jan
they say it is in our front garden, which is about 1m or less of pipe from the pavement to the mains stopcock at the front door. this is on our boundary so they said that they are not responsible for the cost and they said we need to fix it quickly as unfortunately they have written to us at the property in November and December and our tenants have not passed the letters on to us until now.
11th Jan
Is there a stopcock on the pavement to turn off the water before it reaches the leak?

I once reported a leak to another water board. They had a look and said it should be my responsibility but couldn't find a stopcock at the road to turn off my supply. He arranged for them to fix it as he said they couldn't expect me to repair it if I can't turn it off first.
Author
11th Jan
i don't know. i do know there is the mains stopcock into our property at the front door. i would guess there is a stopcock in the road some where. it may be easier to let them carry out the work themselves and pay them but i will try to do it ourselves first. you are not supposed to turn the water off to the street without letting the neighbours know in advance!
11th Jan
United utilities many years ago fixed a mains pipe leak on a family members property for free. This was a lead mains pipe. They asked if they could contribute to it but stated that they were able to do a certain amount of fixes per property per year for free although can’t remember how many.

Have you checked to see if your water company can do the repair for free? (edited)
Author
11th Jan
the letter is from thames water, the water company and they said that as we have not fixed it ourselves, they are using legal powers to do it themselves and we will be sent the bill. i got a reprieve to give us more time to sort this out as my tenants did not notify me of the letter until this week, but then again, the letter is addressed to me, so technically speaking, it isn't their responsibility to forward letters to the landlord.
11th Jan
You'll want to get it sorted out as soon as practically possible for your own piece of mind. If its a serious leak it can erode the soil around it and potentially cause subsidence over the longer term. However I doubt yours is that bad...

Where your stop cock is in the hallway (?) is the supply pipe coming out of the floor lead or plastic (mdpe) ?

A private water contractor would use a mole device to go from the pavement under the front garden to the location where the water pipe needs to enter the house......but if only 1 m probably not in this case. Normally when youre replacing a lead pipe with a blue mdpe pipe.
Author
11th Jan
the stopcock is outside the front door.
Author
16th Jan
So following advice, I called Thames Water to ask that they come out and spray mark the area where they think the leak is and the lady on the phone said they can't do that but that they would have sprayed it in blue paint when they were there to investigate the leak, so I have asked my tenants to have a look to see if they can see any blue paint.

The lady was helpful however and said she would send me the technical note on the leak

"QUANTIFIED AT 22 LPH, SPLIT TOOL -750, M NUMBER XXXXXX275, M READING 02183872, CONFIRMED BY SPLIT TOOL, POE FRONT, PRIV CONCRETE, PUB SLABS

Nosie on osv and movement on meter

Osv is on footpath outside house

When turning off sv on private ground movement stops

Split tool showing below ground

Leak after sv

PERMIT REQ, PIPE LENGTH 1.5M"

The lady said the leak is 22 litre per hour, which is shown in the note above. The pipe length in question where the leak had been identified is 1.5m

Any plumber on here can clarify what the rest means? Are they using technical equipment to measure and identify the leak? I can't see what the relevance of turning off the stop valve on private ground movement stops mean.

Does the above note confirm that the leak is in the supply pipe from the pavement to my front door, where the stop valve into the property is situated?

I note a meter number and meter reading but my tenants said that they are not metered? and are paying a fixed charge. Can anyone confirm if this means the property is metered?
16th Jan
How long have you owned the house?

A fixed charge would surely indicate the direct debit for the year?
Author
16th Jan
i am not the one paying the water bill, my tenants are and they have said they pay a fixed charge but the above technical note mentions a meter. initially i thought it was a meter that TW is using to measure the leak, but I am not so sure now as it has a meter number