our water provider said we may have a water leak in our garden as our water consumption is higher than normal for us. This is a maison secondaire and we do not get to use it that much, unfortunately.
the water board replaced our existing water meter at the end of last year, presumably for a smart meter. It is located at the edge of our garden bordering onto the lane behind a hedge. our friend has looked at it to see if the numbers on the meter are still turning when the water is turned off at the meter and inside the house too but the photos he took were a bit indistinct. If the main stopcock is turned off by the water meter then the water won’t flow to the house, will it? grateful for any advice. our water board has suggested 2 plumbers to get in touch with and have looked on pages jaune too for plumbers for when we are there, which is quite soon
Likewise if all taps and toilets etc are turned off at their respective stopcocks the dials/little dial hand should not move either. Quite common for toilet cistern flush valves to let by a trickle as the rubber parts harden with age
If there is a leak between the meter and the house, then a permanently wet patch of ground (even in dry weather) will be a tell tale. Alternatively, with the water turned on at the meter, but everything turned off in the house, you can listen for the leak along the rough route of the pipe in the old fashioned way. Arm yourself with a metal rod and an empty baked bean tin (or similar). Place the rod firmly onto or into the ground, place the base of the empty can on the top end of the rod, and then place your ear close to the open end of the can. As and when you can hear a muffled whooshing sound you have found the leak. The neighbours will think you are crazy but it does work. It’s a home made version of the listening poles that the water board used to use at 3 or 4 in the morning to find a leak under a road.
Also worth reading up on the “loi Warsmann” if you do have a leak in the pipes, as there are funds made available to soften the blow of a sudden and excessively high bill.
If this is a leak between you meter and your house the last thing you need is a plumber
My water meter is a long way from our house and the pipes are the old 4 bar ones not the current 16 bar ones. About fifteen years ago Veolia sent me a letter saying they thought I’d a leak. So I called a leak company and they came out in a little truck which reversed into our back “garden”. The leak guy then pumped gas into our water pipes and with some sniffer device discovered the approximate area of the leak about 200 meters from the house. He then came back up and opened up the back of the truck and emerged Thunderbirds like in a little digger. He rushed off into the undergrowth and dug a few hols and fixed the leak.
The bottom line was that the leak discovery was covered by my house insurance but the leak repair was down to me. I can’t really remember but I think it was 300 or 400, but that was back then. I then sent a letter to Veolia with the repair receipt and the didn’t charge me for the excess usage.
Yes track and trace is normally covered by insurance. They often use compressed air as the air bubbles make quite a noise which they can pickup via a microphone. Similar kit used for leak detection on swimming pools
Ours flagged that our consumption was higher than expected and it turned out to be a porous pipe so no noise. We had to get a guy with a gas system that sniffed for the gas being leaked.
Our “excessive usage” was caused by a toilet cistern that was ever so slightly overflowing. The water itself was hardly visible (or maybe I should’ve gone to Specsavers), but the bump in the bill was certainly noticeable
Because it was inside the house and not a leak in the pipes, we weren’t entitled to access the water company’s funds for leaks
thanks for taking the time to reply, I appreciate it. That sounds like a possibility for us too, our bill for water went up to double the normal amount. I guess some of the increased costs probably came from an increase in the water costs anyway. Shame you could not have got any back under the fund, I know what you are referring to. I did get in touch with our insurers and they told me we are not covered for leaks outside of the house. We did make a claim years ago for a water leak coming out of the walls inside the house and our insurer was really helpful and put in a claim for us which was refunded.
thanks, John. If it is not a plumber, what is the technical name for who we need to detect the leak, by using the system you used which sounds just right for us. I imagine our pressure in the pipes is probably the same as you found as they are very old, the house must have been restored in the late 60’s or early 70’s judging by some of the decor! Now replaced.
have looked at the pages jaune for detecteurs de fuite d’eau on their website and it has come up with about 5 companies who should provide this for us in our area. They seem not to be keen to replying to an english email address so I have sent the list to our french friend in the hope that he will get a reply and that we can get this problem solved when we are next over in France which will be soon. Thanks to everyone for helping with our water leak problem. much appreciated.
We had a leak just inside our property… the meter reading men discovered it and then fixed it!! (We didn’t notice the damp patch because of two months of rain)
They told us about the reclaim and that we had one month to get the leak repaired properly. Alas, we were unable to get a plumber to come and re-repair it, Sigh.
If you enjoy living in the middle of nowhere there are sometimes consequences.
not called a detecteur de fuite d’eau then? the link you so kindly sent is for the other end of the country to us, we are in the north, Normandy. Thanks for the message anyway. I googled the detecteurs on the page jaune and although it came up with about 4 plumbers offering this service it seems that they don’t offer it when looking on their websites. our french friend rang some of them and no one wanted to offer a gas based exploration for detecting the leak. Back to square one now.
