[Flyin'Dutch']

Up to the meter is the supplier's responsibility, anything after that is the owner of the property's.

[PeteSpencer]

Up to the meter is the supplier's responsibility, anything after that is the owner of the property's.

Quite: Our water meter is in a cluster of 5, 50 yards away from the house, our supply then follows the road to our house and crosses our boundary.
It was fun sorting cover for any leaks.

Peter

[cockney steve]

One of my farmer-friends pays a considerably lower rate for his water....as he used to work for NWW (affectionately known as "not worth working" ) and it's privatised incarnation United Utilities...I'm wondering if his "Agricultural supply" is a "staff-perk" just like coal-miners were kept toasty with a free supply allowance.

[Charliesixtysix]

Pipes ( and leaks) downstream of a meter are the responsibility of the meter account holder .
If it were me, I would have a look at the other meters and see if any of those are moving. If so, a call/ heads-up to your neighbour(s) that might have the pipes servicing their properties/ fields might be much appreciated as many people don’t check meters on a regular basis and would only find out about a leak on receipt of the next bill.

[TheFarmer]

Carl

You really need to get rid of the old folks home pillar lights in your garden. If you’re not careful, you’ll have all sorts of octogenarians wandering around your garden in loose fitting pyjamas, weeing on your roses, and unsure of their way back home.

[Bill Haddow]

Try divining rods....it really does work I was a total sceptic when a local builder said he was calling a diviner to track a pipe across a field......bent a couple of bits of welding-rod and had a go.

It certainly does. I've used the outer casing of Bic type ballpoint pens with the copper earth wire of TC&E flex (bent into L shapes) mounted in them.

I still don't understand it, but it's worth a try.

It's really just Lenz's Law. You're moving a parallel pair of conductors through a magnetic field (the Earth's) thus inducing an emf in, and a magnetic flux around, them. When the local magnetic field suddenly changes (due to something buried relatively close to the surface), the emf and flux suddenly change - causing the conductors to swing. The same thing happens if you suddenly speed up, or slow down, the speed you're walking at, hence the need for a steady pace.

Bll H

[carlmeek]

Carl

You really need to get rid of the old folks home pillar lights in your garden. If you’re not careful, you’ll have all sorts of octogenarians wandering around your garden in loose fitting pyjamas, weeing on your roses, and unsure of their way back home.

Ha ha! I inherited those from the previous owners. They are a bloody nightmare and have constant arguments with the lawn mower about staying upright. However I quite like it not being dark.... any suggestions on what to replace them with that’s less OAP?

[Charliesixtysix]

https://www.atgairports.com/lighting-so ... y-lighting

So much choice....

[rikur_]

One of my farmer-friends pays a considerably lower rate for his water....as he used to work for NWW (affectionately known as "not worth working" ) and it's privatised incarnation United Utilities...I'm wondering if his "Agricultural supply" is a "staff-perk" just like coal-miners were kept toasty with a free supply allowance.

Domestic water charges is often a third for the supply of water and two thirds for taking waste water/surface water away again, whereas on agricultural tariff you just pay for supply.
We're on a domestic tariff, but last summer needed to fill a pond. A couple of phone calls to Yorkshire Water and they were happy to do the pond at agricultural rates ... just give them a before and after meter reading when filling it. Saved £100s.

[Foo Gee]

When we were buying our house a few years ago there was a growing puddle not unlike your own in the photo which caused us some alarm. The agent told us it was the supply to us and both neighbours coming in to our garden from the field at the back of it. On further consultation we found that the leaking pipe was the neighbour’s responsibility because the supply had, at that point, split from ours. We were also told that had it been under a patio and caused damage, they would have to pay for any repairs and make good any damage.

The neighbour was fully aware of their responsibility and the leak was promptly fixed. The pipe in question was a very old metal type and looked to be in a dreadful condition. Shortly after this they moved and one of my first conversations with the new neighbour was to let them know their pipe was leaking in our garden and that it was their responsibility. However, it was just before Christmas and so I said they should wait to get anyone out and avoid being charged an extortionate rate to fix it as it was not causing us any damage.

A short while afterwards I built our house and whilst the garden was a building site I dug new channels and replaced the old supply for us and both neighbours with new plastic pipe and fittings to avoid any further nuisance for them or us.

If I were you I would dig a ‘test’ hole to see what the pipe is. If it’s an old metal one I’d find out who the pipe belongs to and work out a plan with them as to what to do - if it’s leaked once it will leak again in time. If it is plastic I would probably just get on and repair it myself once I’d worked out why it had caused to leak because, in reality, fixing a plastic pipe is such a simple job. I would also work out who each supply goes to and make everyone aware that the supplies run through your property just in case any problems arise in future.

We were told that Southern Water’s responsibility stopped at the stop cock in the field. From there it was all three householders’ responsibility until it split. We had a situation whereby we had responsibility for us and neighbours A & B, us and neighbour A, us and neighbour B, solely neighbour A and solely neighbour B all under our garden!

[carlmeek]

I now have some further info. I’ve dug a test hole and water is gushing upward from under my path.

I have reviewed photos from 5 years ago when we trenched under the path for the ground source heat pump and have found a photo of the four black plastic water pipes that run through past the leak location. One clearly shows a repair joiner which is quite obviously where this leak is coming from.

I spoke to my next door neighbour who are building an extension. During their foundation dig they disrupted two black pipes (same ones, in line!) and the next two houses down the road complained that their water had been cut.

So.... it’s three neighbour pipes. They are black plastic. And my ground source installers clearly repaired one 5 years ago.

Next job is to go and find the meter, turn it off at the cock, and find out who it belongs to.

Then, it seems it would be their responsibility technically, but If the repair was done by my builders 5 years ago it’s my fault really.... so I guess I just need to crack on and fix it.

It’s obvioualy a bit disappointing that a plastic joint didn’t hold. I wonder why it took 5 years to leak! (Note... still assumptions until my path dug up fully!)

[Bill McCarthy]

Water supply lines changed from black alkathene to blue several years ago. You can fix it with brass compression fittings with olives and copper inserts at each end bore (there is a strong chance that the copper inserts had been omitted) or replace with the more modern push fit plastic fittings, specifically for alkathene. You will need plastic inserts, instead of copper, for the bores. If you can get the water isolated, it’s a very simple and straightforward job. Alkathene pipe external diameters changed with the colour change - just make sure you get the “O” rings for the black stuff in the new fittings.

[Charliesixtysix]

I use these guys for our (commercial quantities) pipe and fittings supply - Very fast supply of quality kit at competitive prices and they have a good customer service team too.

https://www.pipestock.com/mdpe/mdpe-pipe-fittings

[cockney steve]

@Bill Haddow . Thanks for your explanation , which, whilst being totally credible, does not explain the old country -craft of using a forked Hazel twig as the "divining-rod"
I have also heard that if, when divining , one clutches a sample of the sought-substance in one's palm, the divining will give selective results specific to that substance. PS anyone got a lump of gold i can borrow, a business- opportunity has just become apparent.

[Bill Haddow]

Thanks for your explanation , which, whilst being totally credible, does not explain the old country -craft of using a forked Hazel twig as the "divining-rod"

Well I've generally found dried out Bic biros and scrap lengths of TC&E more readily available than hazel twigs, forked or otherwise !

I suspect that the twin "forked" legs of the hazel twig, with mineral loaded sap, act as conductors in much the same way as 2 copper wires.

Try out the method I suggested (not my invention, I can't claim credit). Hold the plastic biro barrels tilted slightly forward, so that the copper wires are pointing ahead, and slightly downwards (to prevent them from swinging all over the place), and walk steadily.

Bill H