Posted 20 hours ago

Water leak 1 litre an hour

We have been told that the meter reading indicates there is a leak of about 1 litre of water an hour, so a small leak. There is no sign of leakage, but what would cause 1 litre of water leakage?

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19 h, 59 m ago
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17 h, 47 m ago
Turn off the water supply to the home, and watch the meter. If it spins then it is between the meter and the home. At least you will have narrowed it down a bit.
Then turn the supply back on, but turn off the tap to any appliance where possible, such as dishwasher, washing machine and shower. Look at the meter.
Lift the lid on the toilet cistern and lock the valve as high as you can, and flush. See if any water is escaping past the valve.
Turn off the supply to the outside tap.
Check the cupboard where your hot water tank or boiler are kept for any damp spots (edited)
13 h, 18 m ago
After the water company saying we had a leak it was found that we had water running continually inside the toilet bowl,I hadn't noticed it myself but my friend did he dried the back of the bowl with toilet paper then wedged fresh toilet paper under the rim at the back of the bowl and then left the toilet for a while and the toilet paper was soaking wet even though the toilet hadn't been flushed.He then replaced the flush valve on each toilet and that solved it for my home.. (edited)
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13 h, 5 m ago
Yeah, the bathroom is the most suspect for sure.
18 h, 59 m ago
My father in law had the same in their place and another house we know of and both had letters from Thames Water blaming them. Soon after TW did their checks and un-surprisingly the issue was side of their remit and control and TW took the blame that there was a burst water pipe outside of the house...
Author
18 h, 35 m ago
Thames Water had identified 22L per hour escape and it turned out to be an external leak in the front path and a supply pipe from the kitchen to the bathroom downstairs. However, they said the water meter is still reading a loss of 1L per hour, but that this is too small for them to get involved and so we will need to sort it out ourselves.

I am wondering what could be the cause of 1L of loss per hour.
17 h, 46 m ago
A dripping tap, shower, toilet cistern, pipe, boiler. Anything with a pipe containing water.
17 h, 41 m ago
Another thought, and I hope gas heating engineers will jump in. This is question and theory. Not knowledge.
Do you have gas central heating? The water has to be heated, and you see steam coming out of the external vent, as well as condensation going into the drain off. Could it be your heating is set too high at the boiler, and that water is just boiling off? (edited)
16 h, 12 m ago
The steam coming out of the vent is condensate. The water in the heating system is effectively sealed.
15 h, 10 m ago
I thought you were getting Dynorod in & they were going to use gas leak detection equipment to locate the leak.

Did you not end up using them in the end or didn't they do the job properly?
Author
14 h, 12 m ago
They found the leak and fixed it but Thames water said there is a small leak left, which they are no longer interested in but they advise we should get it fixed. I am going to get a plumber round but wondered what could cause a 1 litre per hour leak.