How do you know if you are literally pouring money down the drain?

If you are on a metered water supply, it is so easy to check whether you have a leak or not by doing a simple test with your water meter. Here is how to check and read your water meter, in order to determine if you have a leak somewhere in the piping system of your home, which could be dripping in the walls and causing all sorts of problems.

Reading the Meter

You may want to do a little bit of research if you are a new home owner or have never read a water meter before, although it is very easy to do. The water meter basically shows you how much water you have used over a given period of time and is usually located somewhere outside the house near your property. The water meter works by measuring the flow of water through it on it’s way to your property and it measures down to an individual litre of water. Your water bill will tell you how many cubic metres of water you have used. A cubic meter is 1000 litres of water

water meter

Conduct a Test

The easiest way to tell if you have a leak in your home is to shut off every tap and water consuming appliance in your home and make sure no one uses the bath, shower or toilet. After you are sure that there is no demand for water from the property, you can be certain that your water meter should stay at the same spot, without turning at all. You can either write down the number on the water meter, or you can simply snap a picture of the meter to let you know where it was at. After about an hour, you can come back and check the meter. If the meter has gone up, you have a leak. If the meter has remained the same, you are in the clear. If the meter has increased you can do the same test having turned off the stopcock within your property. If the meter stops turning, you know the leak is within the house, if the meter still turns then the leak is before the stopcock.

Calling a Leak Detection Company

If you perform a leak detection test and discover that you are have a leak, it is absolutely imperative that you take care of the situation as soon as you possibly can. Each cubic meter of water will cost you more than £2 in water and sewerage charges, so if you are losing 300 cubic meters of water per year, this is something to take very seriously. To put this in context, 300 cubic meters is a large glass of water every minute, not a gushing torrent by any means, but with serious consequences to your household bills and the fabric of your property. Just look at this quote: “A significant or long-term escape of water – possibly from burst or leaking pipes – can wash away the fine particles of the underlying soil. When this happens, the volume of soil beneath the property reduces and the property foundations subside.” Financial Ombudsman Service

If you think you have an undetected leak, call The Leak Team now on 0800 4640330