Leaky Water Meter

[TitanTim]

We pay £27 a month metered - 4 bed house but only us two left in it When our second daughter left home all utilities were a lot less - anyone with teenage daughters will know what I mean -ie lights left on continuously ( even in summer ) the same with heaters ( we don't have gas so have to rely on storage heaters with back up ones during the day ) telephone bills to mobiles and not forgetting toilet rolls ( what do girls do with all that toilet paper - at least one full roll a day !! )

I think the IOW was the first place in the country to have water meters made mandatory ( PVR will have a comment to make as he clearly loves the IOW )

Thanks gov, yours sounds about right in terms of amount, same as alot of my friends who have 2/3 teenage kids using water like its going out of fashion and yet paying 30 quid or so and thats unmetered. Its actually made me quite angry now and felt I've been well and truly shafted over the years. I'm going to be very interested to see what my future bills come down too and wandered if I have any case to get a rebate although probably unlikely.

Tim.

 

[dr_john]

I checked out my water bill as I thought yours looked very high Tim.

Mine comes in at £30 per month, unmetered, with Severn Trent. That's for a 4 bed detached house.

 

[Havard]

I checked out my water bill as I thought yours looked very high Tim.

Mine comes in at £30 per month, unmetered, with Severn Trent. That's for a 4 bed detached house.

That sounds bloody cheap. We are paying £71 a month for an extended 3 bed semi. I know having 2 bathrooms means we pay an additional premium but it is getting silly. We are moving at the end of the year but I dread to think how much money we have wasted in the 15 years we have been here.

H.

 

[dr_john]

I checked out my water bill as I thought yours looked very high Tim.

Mine comes in at £30 per month, unmetered, with Severn Trent. That's for a 4 bed detached house.

That sounds bloody cheap. We are paying £71 a month for an extended 3 bed semi. I know having 2 bathrooms means we pay an additional premium but it is getting silly. We are moving at the end of the year but I dread to think how much money we have wasted in the 15 years we have been here.

H.

Wow, shows how much it varies. I pay 8 payments of £45 during the year, which equates to £30 a month. We have 3 bathrooms. I don't think we would do any better by going onto a meter.

 

[Havard]

I checked out my water bill as I thought yours looked very high Tim.

Mine comes in at £30 per month, unmetered, with Severn Trent. That's for a 4 bed detached house.

That sounds bloody cheap. We are paying £71 a month for an extended 3 bed semi. I know having 2 bathrooms means we pay an additional premium but it is getting silly. We are moving at the end of the year but I dread to think how much money we have wasted in the 15 years we have been here.

H.

Wow, shows how much it varies. I pay 8 payments of £45 during the year, which equates to £30 a month. We have 3 bathrooms. I don't think we would do any better by going onto a meter.

We should have gone on to a meter ages ago but with young kids reaching teenage years I thought our excessive water usage was ahead of us and stuck with the rates. In fairness we don't use a great deal of water.

H.

 

[TitanTim]

I checked out my water bill as I thought yours looked very high Tim.

Mine comes in at £30 per month, unmetered, with Severn Trent. That's for a 4 bed detached house.

Thanks John, yes I'm with ST too at Stafford, 2 bed bungalow, one bathroom, my partner has her own place, thank god :? otherwise my bill would be twice as much I don't understand why my property has a high rateable value for my bill to be 70 a month :x

Tim.

 

[pvr]

Washing cars must take its toll I guess

I pay £200 per 6 months

 

[TitanTim]

Washing cars must take its toll I guess

I pay £200 per 6 months

Motor gets a weekly wash, I get a monthly bath :lol:

Tim.

 

[MHZ4C]

Based on how spotless your cars always look, I reckon you've got one already, but having a waterbutt, or two, really helps. Even more so, as I can drip dry the car without water spots. It must save approx. 100 l per car wash too.

 

[TitanTim]

Based on how spotless your cars always look, I reckon you've got one already, but having a waterbutt, or two, really helps. Even more so, as I can drip dry the car without water spots. It must save approx. 100 l per car wash too.

I've got 3 water buts around the house and thought about using rainwater but what do you do about all the crap in the water? Silt/grit etc. I think my Karcher has a filter on it but then I don't use it often on the cars as I have a standard hose snowfoam attachment and just use the hose. It's very rare I need to use a pressure washer.

Tim.

 

[MHZ4C]

There is a bit of moss etc off of the roof, but not too much silt. They look pretty clear at the bottom. You can fit gauze filters to the feed line too. I haven't as they would need regular cleaning or would block, but it would stop much of the moss getting through. There could still be grit from the roof though.

The butts have a wide opening, so I take the water off from the top using watering cans. I don't use a pressure washer on the car (need to advance to snow foam), and don't take water from the tap at the bottom. I get minimal debri in the watering cans. When one butt gets 1/2 full I switch to the other butt. Then wait for the butt to refill with the rain.

Doing this means the rubbish and grit at the bottom of the butts never gets disturbed.

It may not be good enough as prep to polish the car (incase there's any grit), but it works for an easy drip dry without water spots.

 

[pvr]

In the drought, I bought the Karcher submersible pump that filters the water and does not produce high pressure load on the hose.

Never used it though ...

 

[TitanTim]

There is a bit of moss etc off of the roof, but not too much silt. They look pretty clear at the bottom. You can fit gauze filters to the feed line too. I haven't as they would need regular cleaning or would block, but it would stop much of the moss getting through. There could still be grit from the roof though.

The butts have a wide opening, so I take the water off from the top using watering cans. I don't use a pressure washer on the car (need to advance to snow foam), and don't take water from the tap at the bottom. I get minimal debri in the watering cans. When one butt gets 1/2 full I switch to the other butt. Then wait for the butt to refill with the rain.

Doing this means the rubbish and grit at the bottom of the butts never gets disturbed.

It may not be good enough as prep to polish the car (incase there's any grit), but it works for an easy drip dry without water spots.

Thanks for the info Something to explore, I guess I could drain the water butts and jet wash them out and fit some waterbutt filters http://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Square-Downpipe-Water-Butt-Filter/p/158991#

A couple of years ago our mains waterpipe burst onder the centre of the house (seem to have a theme going here )which meant using water from the waterbutts to flush the toilet and was surprised how much rubbish was in the water but then the tap is at the base of the butt where all the crud sits.

Tim.

 

[TitanTim]

Well after 2 months my water bill has decreased from 69 to £16 per month after having the meter fitted. How on earth STWater worked out 69 a month was beyond me and just goes to show what bollox the billing system can be

Tim.

 

[mr wilks]

Well after 2 months my water bill has decreased from 69 to £16 per month after having the meter fitted. How on earth STWater worked out 69 a month was beyond me and just goes to show what bollox the billing system can be

Tim.

Do you live alone Tim ?
£69 a month is probably based on the house having full occupancy of 4/6 people ?
4 here in my household & water bill per year with a meter is £550/£600

 

[pvr]

I find washing cars is the biggest contributer to mine

 

[TitanTim]

Well after 2 months my water bill has decreased from 69 to £16 per month after having the meter fitted. How on earth STWater worked out 69 a month was beyond me and just goes to show what bollox the billing system can be

Tim.

Do you live alone Tim ?
£69 a month is probably based on the house having full occupancy of 4/6 people ?
4 here in my household & water bill per year with a meter is £550/£600

Yes I live alone most of the time lol as my GF has her own place so its two-ing and frowing so I use more water at her place :lol:

My neighbour, same property, lives alone pays 45 a month unmetered which what got me looking at having a meter fitted in the first place as I was paying nearly 25 a month more, just seemed crazy to me on the differences. I'm guessing if unmetered your bill is based on the rateable value of your property whuch was set years ago rather than the number of occupants. Basically I was paying the same as for a large family :|

The motor is washed weekly without fail so now I can wash it daily and still be in the money or get the GF to wash it round her place :?

Tim.

 

[domsz4]

if you found the meter was more expensive cant you get it taken out after a yr?

i used to play the how cheap can i get my bill game when i lived alone with my electric and gas. in the summer i think my gas bill was £10 and my electric was £15

 

[TitanTim]

if you found the meter was more expensive cant you get it taken out after a yr?

i used to play the how cheap can i get my bill game when i lived alone with my electric and gas. in the summer i think my gas bill was £10 and my electric was £15

I think if you're unhappy with your adjusted bill after having a meter fitted then you can have it removed before 12 months is up and you go back to a guestimated bill. Its not so much how low I can get my bill I just don't wish to be paying the same as a family of four, fair doos if I was a heavy user but I'm not.

Tim.