Water Meter

A question about : Water Meter

I am thinking of changing to a water meter and worked out that I will save about Ј50 per year if not more.

My concern though is if there is a leak between the service outside my garden and inside (ie I do not know about it).

Is there insurance to cover the involuntary 'usage'?

Best answers:

• Check your household insurance,this is usually included
• I installed my own meter and placed it inside my house.
  Maximum length of pipe is 'their's', minimum is 'mine'...
• My meter was installed by Severn Trent Water - and it's inside the house. So there isn't any external pipeage for me to lose metered water through.
• Because we are due to have our boiler exchanged soon, they will have to drain the system. I rang Anglian water and asked if I could claim anything as I am on a meter. It seems they allow Ј2 for every one hour of water lost due to central heating drainage. I have to "time" this when it happens and let them know.
• I had a meter installed about 5 years ago. After a couple of months Anglia Water contacted me and said that , because of a high consumption rate they suspected that I might have a leak . After some investigation they found that the leak was in the driveway, between the meter and the house. So AW came along and, at their expense, dug the drive up, replaced a length of pipe and made good. The leak was in a joint just before the pipe entered the house. On top of that I received a cheque from AW of over a Ј100 to compensate for the over-charge because of the leak.
  What I cannot understand is the fact that I always thought that the water company's responsibility ended at the meter. Perhaps they thought it was their fault for not checking before the meter was installed . So well done Anglia Water.
• As luck would have it, On the Level in yesterday's Sunday Telegraph (9/1/05) included a few lines on leaks in water pipes between the main and your house. Apparently, the Water Companies (... ys?) agreed with Prescott that, as part of a leak reduction drive, they would repair that section of pipe free.
  As is the way of these things, my newspaper collection day is today, so my copy's gone: it's not online yet (www.telegraph.co.uk/jeff).
  SJB
• I am not sure if it would detect very tiny leaks.
  I am not sure you could rely on it for that.
  My meter (which was installed recent) has something that spins round (it's not a dial).
  It spins very fast, so I assume it would show a small amount of water but I don't know about a drop.
• In the five months since we've been on a water meter, we have been extremely carefull/cautious not to waste any. Quite simply because we had no idea what to expect in the way of a bill.
  I have a medical condition that at times can and does require I may have to bathe more frequently than usual. (No, I'm not incontinent but I wear a urostomy pouch and that can and does cause problems), so any savings that can be made throughout the day/night, compensates for extra bathing.
  Ages ago, someone mentioned to us that they had applied to the local water company for compensation due to the loss of water due to a central heating/boiler drain and that the water company will do just that. Hence my enquiry to Anglian Water. It was THEY who asked me to time the drainage, it was THEY who said it is about Ј2 an hour. However it is "I" who probably won't bother.
  I hope that helps to clarify the point I made. Islandman
• IslandMan,
  I can only assume that the person you asked at the water company doesn’t know what they were talking about as it makes no sense to time the drainage of a central heating system to work out the water used.
  A cubic yard of water costs about 80p(plus you pay for sewerage). If my memory serves me right a cubic yard is about 170 gallons of water. Ј2 an hour equates to some 420 gallons an hour – 7 gallons a minute.
  The quantity of water in central heating radiators is very small - a few gallons in a house at most - and a boiler, say, 40 gallons. If compensation is to be paid than it surely should be purely on the amount of water the system holds.
  The speed at which you can drain central heating system varies but it is normally pretty slow as it uses small pipes and you can make it as slow as you like by restricting the air getting into the system.
  If they are prepared to stick to their Ј2 an hour pledge, I suggest you get the draining to last all day!!
• Thankyou for your informed responses.
  There are two issues here and I'm unsure which to do.
  1) phone Anglian Water again, simply to see what another advisor advises or
  2) forget the whole issue of compensation.
  My initial response is to persue this a little further, just to clarify the position. islandman