How do you find a water leak and fix it?
If you are worried there may be water leaking in and around your home, learn where your pipes and water meter are located with our handy advice. Here, you can also find out who is responsible for fixing leaks outside your house
Who is responsible for water leaks on your property?
Your home is connected to our water mains by our service pipes, usually ending with an external stop tap and meter located just outside your property’s boundary. The water then flows through your supply pipes to your taps. We own and maintain the water mains and service pipes, while the property owner is responsible for the supply pipes.
If the water leakage is outside of your property’s boundary, you are unlikely to be responsible for repairing it. But this is not always the case. Sometimes, a customer’s supply pipes run across another property, and some are even located in the public highway.
If you have a leak and are unsure of where your responsibility lies, contact us so we can take a look and advise on who needs to make the water leak repair.
Even if the problem is your responsibility to fix, we want to help. If you report a suspected leak to us, we can give a free leak detection service for up to one hour. This service will be able to help find burst water pipes, broken pipes or other leaks outside your house, though we can't guarantee that we'll always be able to find the source of the problem.
Can’t find the water leak in your house?
There aren’t always obvious signs of a leak, such as a damp patch or water bubbling up out of the ground in your garden. Sometimes you have to go looking for it. This simple checklist will explain how to find a water leak in a house.
Find your water meter
It’s usually outside your home, under a small metal or plastic cover embedded into the pavement close to the property. Or, it might be in your garden.
Turn off or stop using appliances
Make sure anything that normally draws water from your pipework is not in the process of doing so. That includes appliances such as washing machines and dishwashers, and also toilet cisterns and water tanks. Otherwise, you will not be able to detect a leak.
Wait 15 minutes
After checking your appliances, wait 15 minutes to make sure nothing in your home is still using water.
Check your water meter
Now check your meter. If the meter dial is moving, then there could be a leak somewhere in the pipework.
Carry out a simple stop tap test
Locate your stop tap and turn it off. Try running your kitchen tap to make sure the stop tap is off – there should be no running water. Then, check your water meter. If the red dial is moving, it’s possible there is a leak between the meter and the stop tap.
If the red dial is not moving
In this case, there might be a fault in the pipework or plumbing inside your home. This is your responsibility, so you'll need to call a plumber to fix the problem. You can follow the link below to find a local, trustworthy plumber.
More guidance on water leaks
Here you can find more advice and guidance for dealing with water leakages.
We’re exploring new technology to find and fix more leaks across our network. We fix around 500 leaks per week - that’s around 25,500 a year. Sensors, satellites, listening devices and even mini robots help us pinpoint leaks 24/7 on our 13,900km of network. We’ve reduced leakage by about a third over the past 30 years and aim to halve it by 2050.
Find out more about what we're doing to reduce leaks.
Firstly, you should turn off your stop tap and open all taps to drain the system quickly. If it's a burst pipe, turn off your boiler as well. Use towels to soak up or block off any escaping water.
If the leak or bust pipe is close to any electrical fittings, switch them off at the mains.
Contact an approved plumber as soon as possible and turn off the taps once the pipework is repaired to avoid more flooding.
If the flooding has caused damage to your property, we advise you to contact your insurance company as well.
Find out how to spot water leaks in your business and see if you're eligible for a leak allowance.
Most meters are found in the public footpath outside your house or in your front garden. They are located in an underground box which is usually under a metal or plastic cover.
Sometimes it will be covered with a large cast iron cover, which you should not lift. Occasionally meters are located inside the house next to the stop tap, which is often under the kitchen sink.
We recommend you contact a reputable plumber or ground worker to make repairs. Using a WRAS-approved plumber means you can be assured of a standard of workmanship and materials.
If you decide to undertake repairs yourself, we can offer advice on types of fittings and where to source them.
If you're paying metered charges, we'll correct both water supply and wastewater charges to reflect the extra amount of water recorded because of the leak, once it has been repaired.
We normally re-calculate your metered charges based on your past water use. Where there is no record of your previous water use, we'll base the adjustment on the average use of a property of a similar type.
For metered customers, we'll adjust charges back to the previous bill.
For customers who have not previously received a bill, then the re-calculated charges will be back-dated to the beginning of the financial year.
There'll be no correction of charges if any of the following applies:
- Another leak happens after a correction for an earlier leak.
- You (or someone else living with you) caused the leak by acting negligently.
- You knew, or could reasonably be expected to have known, that there was a leak and you failed to repair it or tell us about it.
- The leak happened because of faulty pipes or fittings inside your home.
- You did not repair the leak within a reasonable period.
Notification of adjustment
If we can, we will tell you what the adjustment is over the phone. But we will also send you a letter confirming that we've adjusted your bill within a week of us taking the second reading from you.
Please note that we cannot give leak allowances if the leak was because of a faulty pipe or fitting inside your home.
If you've had a leak that has been repaired, we may be able to give you a leak allowance.
If another water company supplies your water, they will give use and allowance details to us and we will mirror their allowance. This can take up to two months.
Please take a meter reading immediately after the repair is fixed. Your contractor can do this for you. We need the reading to process any leak allowances.
Two weeks after your repair has been fixed, please read the meter again. We'll contact you for this reading, which helps us to compare your normal use with that during the leak. If you are a Business Customer, please see more.
Notification of adjustment
If we can, we'll tell you what the adjustment is over the phone. But we'll also send you a letter confirming that we've adjusted your bill within a week of us taking the second reading from you.
Please note that we can't give leak allowances if the leak was because of a faulty pipe or fitting inside your home.
A dripping tap can waste a lot of water – up to 10,000 litres per year. That’s more than a full bathtub each week. Yet most dripping taps just need a new washer, which can be simple to fix.
Fix your dripping tap:
- Turn off the mains water supply at the stop tap.
- Turn the dripping tap on full.
- Unscrew the cover and loosen the hexagon using a spanner.
- Remove the whole tap top.
- Lift out the jumper plate and use pliers to unscrew the nut.
- Remove the old washer.
- Fit the new washer.
- Re-assemble the tap.
- Turn the water on again.
Need a plumber?
If you're having trouble fixing your tap – or have a bigger task at hand – you may want the help of a reputable plumber. Make sure to hire a trusted plumber who is qualified to meet the regulations for working safely with drinking water.
Push-button toilets commonly have undetected leaks. A leaky loo can waste up to 400 litres of water a day, which could increase your bills – so it can pay to know if your loo is leaking.
A higher-than-expected bill is often the first sign you’re using more water than normal. And while there may be an obvious reason for the increase, such as recent building work at home or a new addition to the family, it could also signal a leak in your loo.
How to check if you have a leaky loo:
Wait 15 minutes after the last toilet flush, then dry the back of the toilet pan with toilet tissue. Place a dry sheet of toilet tissue at the back of the pan.
Wash your hands and leave for three hours, if possible, without using the toilet. When you return, check the condition of the tissue:
- If the toilet tissue stays dry – good news, you don’t have a leak.
- If the toilet tissue is a little crooked or wet – you may have a small leak. Use this process regularly to check that it is not getting any worse (and costing you more money).
- If the toilet tissue has broken up and has moved in the water below – the leak is significant and you'll need to get this fixed by a plumber.
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