Very high water consumption

[JX350C]

When you think of it 580L loss over say 8 hours is "only" 1.2LPM.
If its the UFH then check that the topup system has a auto fill PRV, if so, shut it. If HW and not on the hot side check the cold water inlet tundishes.

Thank you. I will try to locate those once I work out what they look like. I will upload some pictures of the install once I have them off the phone. The tank is a Grant HPFR200PPC/BS Monowave Unvented Single Coil Indirect Cylinder with 50 Litre buffer.

 

[JX350C]

If something was leaking at 1.2lpm that would show itself pretty quick - unless of course it's going down a drain

I do see that there is pipework from the cylinder that appears to go into drain plumbing. Near the start of that pipe is what I now know is a tundish. I've learnt something new today. About half way along that pipework is a T join that appears to go into a pressure meter which is in turn connected to the bottom of a large red cylinder. Looking at the tundish there are no drips or running water through it and it is completely dry.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

So sealed system so won’t be heating

Any pictures of the toilets ?

 

[JX350C]

Ok do you have a cylinder or just a boiler ?

I don't have a boiler because we have an air source heat pump that heats the water. The cylinder is a Grant HPFR200PPC/BS Monowave Unvented Single Coil Indirect Cylinder with 50 Litre buffer.

 

[Murdoch]

What does your landlord say about the situation?

 

[JX350C]

What does your landlord say about the situation?

I have actually just spoken to my landlord, who is very supportive, and I've just spoken to his plumber who originally installed the system and he is coming over next week to investigate.

In the meantime I've just got some food colouring so I can take the top off the toilets and test if they are using any water when they shouldn't be.

 

[JX350C]

So the plumber came over today to investigate. All he did was open the manhole outside to see if there was water running and he checked the stopcock in the house was open. There was no water running down the drain outside. He then wanted to see if the meter changed when water was being used. I put a tap on in the house and the meter was changing. He didn't test anything else and instead suggests that the water company come out and test the meter etc. He says that he thinks the meter does not record litres used in the red portion of the meter reading. He said the black portions of the meter are litres. I have been told by the water company that the numbers in the black portion are cubic metres (1000 litres) and that the red portion are litres. I showed him my meter reading records and he seems to think that they are not litres and seems to think there is nothing to worry about. He didn't do any testing of anything in the house and didn't even look at the DHW or heating system. I feel foolish for getting the plumber over and maybe I have been given incorrect information from the water company on how to calculate the water usage. Maybe I have been given incorrect information from the water company but they are saying that we are using 5 times the usage of a normal household. I have just spoken to the water company and they are sending someone out to do some testing.

Does anyone know how to calculate the my actual usage, as I'm now not sure I am doing it correct? My meter has 8 digits on the reading. 5 are in the black and three are in the red to the right hand side of the reading.

Thanks,

Chris

 

[John.g]

Mine looks like what it says on the tin...... so that reading below is 1,234M3, 670litres, if you use say 580 litres then the reading becomes 01235250.

 

[JX350C]

Mine looks like what it says on the tin...... so that reading below is 1,234MS, 670litres, if you use say 580 litres then the reading becomes 01235250.

View attachment 82209

Thanks for that. That is exactly my understanding but the plumber seems to think that is not correct so left me feeling very confused and stupid and was insistent that I was wrong.

I simply subtract the previous meter reading from current reading to get the amount of litres used over that period.

Here is an example of my meter readings over the last week or so:

16/03/2023 09:09​	00478324​	394​
16/03/2023 12:54​	00478432​	108​
16/03/2023 14:03​	00478435​	3​
16/03/2023 15:00​	00478436​	1​
16/03/2023 15:49​	00478461​	25​
16/03/2023 17:32​	00478465​	4​
17/03/2023 10:32​	00479045​	580​
21/03/2023 15:18​	00481909​	2864​

The third column is the difference between the previous meter reading so, if my calculation is correct, should be the number of litres used between the readings. The meter readings with low numbers are when I had the DHW and underfloor heating switched off. So I am convinced this is being caused by either of those. But he didn't even check those and just said that it can't possibly be them.

Thanks,

Chris

 

[John.g]

All present and correct.

Did you try the consumption with the DHW switched off only and then the UFH switched off only.
The UFH should be the easiest to check out, locate the (red) expansion vesse (or vessels) then locate the filling loop, some filling loops have a flexible hose with shut off valves at both ends, ensure both of these shut off and slacken the hose off at both ends to ensure no water passing. Other systems have a auto fill system where a pressure reducing valve set to 1.0bar keeps the system pressed up, this also has a isolating valve before the pressure reducing valve, shut this.
DHW: There should be a isolating lever or gate valve on the cold mains suppy to the cylinder, shut this.