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Huge ESB bill due to plumbing fault

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  • 06-09-2016 9:15pm
    #1
    looperman1000
    Registered Users Posts: 544 ✭✭✭


    My ex is living in a rented house. She has ESB in the house and the bill is in her name.
    She has ran up a massive bill of over €1500

    Plumber called and said there was a massive leak of all the hot water in the house. The immersion was on all the time as the water was leaking out....so it was constantly heating water

    Citiziens Advice was rang and they said because the esb bill is in her name...she is liable. Is this true...any advice? Anything she can do...apart from the obvious... pay the bill...which she really doesnt have the money for?

    Is there any way the landlord can cover some of the cost because of the plumbing problem/leak?

    Sorry if wrong forum....


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    #2
    runawaybishop
    Registered Users Posts: 9,507 ✭✭✭runawaybishop


    looperman1000 wrote: »
    My ex is living in a rented house. She has ESB in the house and the bill is in her name.
    She has ran up a massive bill of over €1500

    Plumber called and said there was a massive leak of all the hot water in the house. The immersion was on all the time as the water was leaking out....so it was constantly heating water

    Citiziens Advice was rang and they said because the esb bill is in her name...she is liable. Is this true...any advice? Anything she can do...apart from the obvious... pay the bill...which she really doesnt have the money for?

    Is there any way the landlord can cover some of the cost because of the plumbing problem/leak?

    Sorry if wrong forum....

    Any chance the landlord specifically told her to leave the immersion on all the time?

    How long was the 1500 bill for, 2 months or more?


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    #3
    Ericdravancrow
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 147 ✭✭Ericdravancrow


    runawaybishop wrote: »
    Any chance the landlord specifically told her to leave the immersion on all the time?

    How long was the 1500 bill for, 2 months or more?

    The immersion has a switch, why didn't she just switch it off!!......
    .....where did it leak too, surely the leak would've been obvious.


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    #4
    intheclouds
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,175 ✭✭✭intheclouds


    Did she not think it was weird and going to be expensive that the immersion had to be on all the time?

    Where was the leaking hot water going? Didn't she notice it?


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    #5
    Fuzzy Clam
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,293 ✭✭✭Fuzzy Clam


    The immersion shouldnt be on all the time as there's a thermostat.
    1500 for 2 months is excessive.


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    #6
    Effects
    Registered Users Posts: 9,760 ✭✭✭Effects


    Fuzzy Clam wrote: »
    The immersion shouldnt be on all the time as there's a thermostat.
    1500 for 2 months is excessive.

    A stat is no good if the hot water is leaking. The stat won't reach the desired temperature to switch off.


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    #7
    runawaybishop
    Registered Users Posts: 9,507 ✭✭✭runawaybishop


    Plenty of people leave the immersion on as if your tank is well insulated the costs to keep it topped up are not much more and you have buckets of hot water when required.

    Telling the op his ex should have it turned off doesn't really help now.


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    #8
    intheclouds
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,175 ✭✭✭intheclouds


    Never heard of anyone leaving it on all the time.

    Thought it was a known joke about an Irish childhood that you were constantly told not to leave the immersion on.


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    #9
    Fuzzy Clam
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,293 ✭✭✭Fuzzy Clam


    I'm on the phone so can't post Effects reply to me but if the leak was so big that the immersion wouldn't switch off then the op would have a far bigger problem than a high ESB bill.


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    #10
    mickdw
    Registered Users Posts: 23,360 ✭✭✭✭mickdw


    I'd be on to landlord about the defect that caused this.
    See if they can do something.


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    #11
    jsd1004
    Registered Users Posts: 719 ✭✭✭jsd1004


    intheclouds wrote: »
    Never heard of anyone leaving it on all the time.

    Thought it was a known joke about an Irish childhood that you were constantly told not to leave the immersion on.

    My immersion is on 24/7. well insulated tank. Costs about 60 euro a month. Cheaper than electric showers if you have a number of people.


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    #12
    intheclouds
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,175 ✭✭✭intheclouds


    jsd1004 wrote: »
    My immersion is on 24/7. well insulated tank. Costs about 60 euro a month. Cheaper than electric showers if you have a number of people.

    Technology must have moved on since my childhood.

    Still doesn't explain how OPs ex didn't notice the leaked water?


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    #13
    looperman1000
    Registered Users Posts: 544 ✭✭✭looperman1000


    Unfortunately i don't have all the details to hand. I don't know why the immersion was on all the time. I am not sure how well insulated the tank is..and where the leaking water was.


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    #14
    mickdw
    Registered Users Posts: 23,360 ✭✭✭✭mickdw


    intheclouds wrote: »
    Technology must have moved on since my childhood.

    Still doesn't explain how OPs ex didn't notice the leaked water?

    It was obviously leaking somewhere that didn't actually result in the water entering the dwelling


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    #15
    whiskeyman
    Registered Users Posts: 12,564 ✭✭✭✭whiskeyman


    Was any damage caused by the leaking water?
    Just wondering if home insurance has this covered and if any of the bill could be covered by it.

    Seems unlikely though and unless your landlord is very sound, your OH is liable for it


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    #16
    Cuddlesworth
    Registered Users Posts: 13,995 ✭✭✭✭Cuddlesworth


    mickdw wrote: »
    It was obviously leaking somewhere that didn't actually result in the water entering the dwelling

    Not in any Irish house I have ever seen.


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    #17
    Fuzzy Clam
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,293 ✭✭✭Fuzzy Clam


    Back of the envelope calculation. Immersion is 3 Kw so Max 60 cents/hour rounding the rate up.
    Equals to 864 Euros for a 2 month bill MAX excluding other usage.
    Something else going on here.


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    #18
    davo10
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,926 ✭✭✭davo10


    mickdw wrote: »
    It was obviously leaking somewhere that didn't actually result in the water entering the dwelling

    Hot water from the immersion is already in the dwelling, it goes to hot water taps and showers, not directly outside. A leak of the magnitude to cause a bill like that would be plainly obvious, even it it was under the ground floor, tiles/wood floors/carpets would be damp, the walls would be damp. If it was upstairs, the ceiling would be stained/falling down. A hot water leak does not lead to a bill of that size if nothing is visible.


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    #19
    runawaybishop
    Registered Users Posts: 9,507 ✭✭✭runawaybishop


    davo10 wrote: »
    Hot water from the immersion is already in the dwelling, it goes to hot water taps and showers, not directly outside. A leak of the magnitude to cause a bill like that would be plainly obvious, even it it was under the ground floor, tiles/wood floors/carpets would be damp, the walls would be damp. If it was upstairs, the ceiling would be stained/falling down. A hot water leak does not lead to a bill of that size if nothing is visible.
    Could easily have leaked into an empty flat below the tenant. Does it really matter anyway?


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    #20
    davo10
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,926 ✭✭✭davo10


    runawaybishop wrote: »
    Could easily have leaked into an empty flat below the tenant. Does it really matter anyway?

    I think it does if the tenant wants the LL to pay for something that may not be wrong. Even if it leaked down, damp rises up.


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    #21
    Dr.Rieux
    Registered Users Posts: 674 ✭✭✭Dr.Rieux


    How long is she in the house? Has she had 2 estimated bills now this is the first read one? If the house was previously unoccupied the estimate could be very low, and this the guts of 6 months worth of bills since the last reading.


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    #22
    _Tombstone_
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,006 ✭✭✭_Tombstone_


    Fuzzy Clam wrote: »
    The immersion shouldnt be on all the time as there's a thermostat.
    1500 for 2 months is excessive.

    My sister got a whopper of a bill one time, the pump in the septic tank was on a chain and chain broke and the pump starting trying to pump 24/7 (something like that), bill was north of €2000.

    It took hours to find the cause when the bill landed. Rang ESB for a chat and they said check meter and it was flying round-->Turn off stuff-->check the meter-->still flying round-->turn off more stuff-->still flying-->must be a broke/mistake-->hit the switch on fuse box-->not flying anymore-->jaysus, it's not a mistake-->turn off everything-->still flying:eek:-->haha.


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    #23
    ballindud
    Registered Users Posts: 4 ✭ballindud


    Landlord should fit a flow switch / pressure switch on hot water circuit, this would shut off Immersion immediately. Perhaps the Landlord has insurance policy which would cover this type of situation - I know that for my house if a fault happened like this then the house insurance would cover the expense incurred but not the fixing of the problem. In your case this would be the responsibility of the landlord. If he declines then just call the ESB and have the bill xferred to him - end of story.


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    #24
    Fuzzy Clam
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,293 ✭✭✭Fuzzy Clam


    Well done Tombstone but I've done the sums. Even running 24/7 the immersion can't run up that bill over 2 months.

    A pump would have to be running continuous for many months, possibly years, to clock up a 2000 bill.


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    #25
    looperman1000
    Registered Users Posts: 544 ✭✭✭looperman1000


    well i did check...and there is nothing else going on! That's what the bill is!


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    #26
    jennyhayes123
    Registered Users Posts: 471 ✭✭jennyhayes123


    Immersion on all time shouldn't cause that bill. In my house I leave immersion on all time. I have meter, I put an extra €5 a week on. 6 of us living here. Maybe something else shooting up bill i
    On her


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    #27
    runawaybishop
    Registered Users Posts: 9,507 ✭✭✭runawaybishop


    looperman1000 wrote: »
    well i did check...and there is nothing else going on! That's what the bill is!

    For 2 months usage?


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    #28
    Fuzzy Clam
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,293 ✭✭✭Fuzzy Clam


    @looperman1000. Can you confirm whether there was a previous estimated bill or bills.

    And also is this for a 2 month bill.


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    #29
    looperman1000
    Registered Users Posts: 544 ✭✭✭looperman1000


    yes for 2 months usage.


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    #30
    looperman1000
    Registered Users Posts: 544 ✭✭✭looperman1000


    id have to find out if previous were estimated....but she was talking to the electricity crowd, and i presume this is current correct reading?

    would it matter anyway if this was an actual reading, and the previous one or ones were estimated? Id have thought not?


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    #31
    antoinolachtnai
    Registered Users Posts: 9,793 ✭✭✭antoinolachtnai


    The occupier is responsible for the electricity bill. The supplier will not 'transfer' it to anyone else. The landlord does not have to pay it from the facts stated. Maybe if you could show the landlord was somehow negligent there would be a better chance. But there is no negligence here that I can see, just a water pipe that burst.


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