How do I find a water leak?

[bubbleboy]

Hi all......I have a water leak somewhere in my plumbing system at home. I know this as with every thing turned off the water meter still ticks over slowly. I have tried isolating all the appliances inside and the meter still ticks over. If I was to call a Plumber, do they have some kind of tool or gauge that they can detect where it is coming out of? There are no water marks or water inside the house and no water pooling on the ground outside. There are a few cracks in the concrete but nothing extensive. I dont want to take a stab in the dark and start smashing up concrete trying to find it. Any suggestions? Thank you in advance....Scotty

[patty]

did you turn the hot water supply off as well?

[patty]

also check anyother taps like in the back yard etc

[bubbleboy]

Hi Patty........yes I did. I actually had to isolate the out side taps as they had plumbed it with sprinkler system hose which had split. Problem is I cant get to the point where they connected it to the house mains as it is under concrete. I suspect it is leaking from there but it will be a big job to rip up the concrete and tiles. Are there sensing devices to confirm this.? Maybe I am going to have to bite the bullet so to speak and do it!...Scotty

[Fuzzie]

There are plumbers/leak detection teams who specialize in locating leak points. Basically they turn off the mains and blow compressed air down your house pipes and use a listening device to locate tell tale below ground hissing.

They bloke that worked on ours had problems locating our leakS because the house was plumbed with polypipe externally in sharp gravel under thick concrete

[bubbleboy]

Thanks Fuzzie....all I can see is big dollar signs! What did yours end up costing and did they find the leaks?

Scotty

[Fuzzie]

It was a few years ago and cost $200 or $300, I can't remember exactly. Whatever it was less than my excess water charges!

Our site is not typical, it is on the edge of a ridge of granite boulders and the building site was back filled with gravel and sand. Just perfect for draining away leaking water without noticing it!

The leak finders gave a guarantee and the initial visit by the high school student on work experience, couldn't locate anything other than a small drip from the old about to expire, hot water service. The boss came back the next day and made one positive detection. Instead of letting him dig it up and pay extra my wife suggested he leave it and I could dig it up. About a sq metre of paving and a cubic metre of gravel later I capped that leak, but made no noticeable impact on the water meter reading, so the leak finder came back again and scratched his head and located another possible, but that was under the concrete carport apron. We then decided to cut our loses and just replumb the existing supply to the house, 30 year old poly in gravel was just going to keep on breaking. All interior plumbing was already copper.

When excavating for the new pipe run we found the other 'possible' about a meter away from where the finder suggested it might be. I think the gravel and concrete made an exact fix almost impossible. On a normal flat block I expect it would be much easier.

You should be able to find leak detectors in the yellow pages or local papers. If not just ring a local plumber and they should be able to tell you who does it in your area.

IMO it is worth several hundred dollars to not have to randomly dig up the garden and concrete slabs.

Cheers,

[silentC]

We had a leak somewhere in our line from the mains, but rather than try to find it, I just paid the plumber to run a new line and left the old one buried in the ground. So I will never know where the leak was. He did it as part of a renovation we were doing, so it didn't cost a heap. Couple of hundred I think.

[munruben]

We had a leak somewhere in our line from the mains, but rather than try to find it, I just paid the plumber to run a new line and left the old one buried in the ground.

Sounds like a good idea to me, thats the way I would be going.If part of the old pipe has broke down its probably indicates the old pipe is just about stuffed anyway. Would be costly to start breaking up and replacing the concrete and you still may have to replace the pipe. Good luck

[patty]

is there any way of exposing the ends where you think it is broken before and after the slab the plumber might be able to push another smaller in diameter length of copper up the pipe that is broken under the slab then re-connect at both ends?

[peter_sm]

I am glad we only have 8 metres of pipe from meter to house, and then all is above ground under the house. This sounds like a real pain.

[bubbleboy]

Thank you all for your advice, I appreciate it. Where I think it is leaking is where they cleverly joined the sprinkler system poly pipe to the copper house pipe. Problem is it is under the tiled entrance floor so you can imagine what the repairs are going to be! Some folk are just stupid! I will wait to get my water bill any day now and see if it is getting worse. I calculated it is costing us about $10 a month in water. I know any wastage is a shame but how much is it going to cost to fix this!

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Problem is it is under the tiled entrance floor so you can imagine what the repairs are going to be! Some folk are just tupid!

The ones who laid the slab over the connection sure were.

I'd say that Silent has suggested the cheapest way out of it, depending on where the rest of your plumbing runs. I'd look at running a replacement feed line to the house & a take-off for the sprinkler. If it's less than 2' down, you could also add an isolation valve for the sprinkler straight after the tee and run a length of 4" PVC stormwater pipe down to it for access, using an end-cap to prevent junk falling in. Keeping the cap flush to the ground makes for easy mowing, maintenance, etc and it's barely noticeable.

As a bonus, the pipe/cap acts as a marker so it's obvious where 'tis for any future paving/construction. We did this for our old tank & pump system, marking every underground elbow, valve & junction with a capped pipe. Easy access and by running a string line between each cap we knew exactly where all the pipe runs were.

[bubbleboy]

Hi Skew....great advice. Trouble is my mains comes off the street into the side of the house and the part that is joined to this useless poly pipe is out the back of the house. Not as easy as laying a new pipe. I would have to get access to the joint which is under all the concrete! AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!