Isolation

[kevinb]

Great idea re cling film John, I should have thought of that, same as you I flush plenty of water down the soil pipe even fill the sinks and pull the plug at the same time as flushing to give a good sweep through the pipe. I've seen these water computers attached to outside taps to water gardens in owners a scene, don't trust these things as they are made of plastic and won't withstand high mains pressure, I use one at  home and came back to find it leaking. Best option in Spain is both meter valves off.

[wilson]

At the risk of getting moderated again for having an opinion that isnt shared by the great and the good of the forum, im with Gavetran dont hide behind scientific or goverment advice because it suits your situation or manipulate the rules to your advantage just do the right thing for the rest of us and stop being selfish.

[bertdove]

Quite agree.  As supply pipes (invariably plastic) are increasingly likely to fail, always switch off at the meter.

Bert

[gaveteran]

Fearful, and I am sorry to hear about the serious damage David and Linda - and also the disgusting clauses of the insurance companies. Not the place to mention it on a public forum, but hwo would the insurance companies_know_ you were not here.... are they canny enough to ask for plane tickets?!

I have investigated moisture sensors and auto-shut off valves. I am here full time, but still feel very vulnerable with the basement. There are sensors you can buy that trigger solenoids to shut valves, and send text messages etc. There are even (more expensive) ones that measure "oddly high" flow and stop the water right in the street... but I have never quite found the right one.

[bertdove]

When I had a leak Hidragua e-mailed me about unusual consumption and also sent out an engineer to check their connection.

Bert

[TRIDENT]

I have posted this information before but here is a reminder. A couple of years ago i got a water bill showing usage although the house had not been used for a year or more. I had closed the valves on each side of the meter so i went to santa pola water company to tell them the meter must be faulty. They sent out a plumber only to find the valve on each side was passing water when turned off. The valves used by Masa are cheap ones with a rubber plunger/seal. Contrary to the UK valves that are brass and can be turned off tight the more you tighten these it damages the rubber. The plumber changed the one on their side of the meter and on my side it was up to me. I would guess that most people who use the house as a holiday home and turn the valves off regular have damaged valves.

[Blue and white stripes]

If you have a huge leak and go to the office in Santa Pola they will reduce your bill by the amount included for the waste element of the bill as they haven't had to recycle it. Unfortunately it's only a small part of the bill.
I have had two leaks both cost about 300 euros extra consumption. A friend had a bill for over 2000 euros.

[David and Linda]

Thank you for all the advice, unfortunately we have a pool so mains needs to stay on.  Plumber did say pipe work that comes into the house isn’t of good quality, surprise, surprise.  Unfortunately it goes below the newly tiled floor so may have problems in future.  Will need to look at it when we can spend more time in our holiday home.  Hope the info given in other posts tho is useful to others.  Take care.

[kevinb]

An owner on our phase a few years ago turned up, opened both the meter valves and one valve unfortunately the input side came out of the valve body  and soaked him and produced a powerful fountain of water, they managed to find a supply vavle to turn the water off and refit the valve.