Water leak but no visible water

[skull]

Here they're either or, seems most the time on newer builds they're outside and older builds inside.

With the length of pipe outside and the amount of water has to be out there somewhere. Try the well witching method.

 

[Ichinisan]

Here they're either or, seems most the time on newer builds they're outside and older builds inside.

With the length of pipe outside and the amount of water has to be out there somewhere. Try the well witching method.

Here we go...

https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/how-do-divining-rods-work.2179631/

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Water meters here are normally inside the building.

We don't have a water meter. We pay about $200 year in taxes to cover it.

 

[Red Squirrel]

We don't have a water meter. We pay about $200 year in taxes to cover it.

Damn that's cheap. Ours keep going up every year, I'm at like $96/mo now, ON TOP of taxes, which are like in the high $300 range. That goes up every year too. Getting ridiculous. I'm trying to pay my mortgage off as fast as possible as eventually these costs will exceed my monthly income.

 

[snoopy7548]

Dang, do you guys have pools? My water/sewer is estimated for two quarters and read for two. I always get billed for the minimum when it's estimated - about $35. During/after the summer when it's read, when I run my sprinkler system a few days a week, it's only ~$95. I probably average around $25/month throughout the year.

Taxes are high though, but they're always high in my area/state. I'm up to $5300/year.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Lot of people have pools but don't know if that's factored in. It goes by the number of "rooms", but it's not defined the same way as real estate listings. Ex: a 3 bedroom house may actually count as 5 rooms, because they count the living room and kitchen as a room. There's not really any logic to it. They should go by the number of people or something.

 

[snoopy7548]

Weird canucks. Our water is billed by cubic feet of usage, with sewer being a certain percentage of water used.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yeah sometimes I wish we had meters here in my city (some cities here do, ours for some reason does not). Though it is my future goal to buy land in an unorganized township (lower taxes and no need for permits and BS like that) and then build there. Well, septic, solar, wind, etc. Would save tons of money in living costs and have more land for it too.

 

[thebestMAX]

Easy test to see if your toilets are leaking. A few drops of food coloring in the upper tank. Wait a few minutes and If you see color in the bowl, you have a leak.

Dont know if this will help you diagnose but a good trick to know. Leaking toilet will go through a lot of water.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yeah could be a very slow leak so you don't hear it, but over time it's still going to be lot of water.

 

[BoomerD]

Water meters here are normally inside the building.

Aren't you also in Canuckistan?

 

[Iron Woode]

Aren't you also in Canuckistan?

yes.

 

[H T C]

Stupid question for OP: have you considered the possibility the meter is not reading properly?

I've had that happen on my father's house and it turned out it was the meter "reading" all the time, even without water (shut off before the meter).

 

[quackagator]

Water meters here are normally inside the building.

Warmer weather states they are outside.

 

[quackagator]

They make leak detectors that you can find leaks under cement.

 

[PowerEngineer]

OP, I would not dismiss the possibility of leak in your supply line based on the rate of water loss. I also saw a doubling of my water bill, but it was the start of the summer and initially caulked it off to my wife's enthusiasm for grass/landscape irrigation. And we never noticed any change in the water supply of the pressure. But then I noticed a small but persistent trickle of water from my gutter drains going into the street and realized I must have a leak somewhere. A little sleuthing made it quite obvious that the leak was in my supply line pipe that runs under the concrete driveway.

I contracted the repair to a company that could replace the old plastic pipe without tearing up the concrete. They dug small trenches to expose the old pipe on either side of the driveway, snaked a cable through the old pipe, and then pulled (with a pickup truck) a knife-like pipe splitter (pushing the halves of the old pipe to either side) followed by a length of new (supposedly better) plastic pipe. They made the water connections to the new plastic pipe, refilled the trenches, and we were back in business. As I recall, the cost was around $1500.

Good luck!

P.S. - This thread would be better placed in Home & Garden

 

[JEDIYoda]

P.S. - This thread would be better placed in Home & Garden or in the Amusing section

 

[BarkingGhostar]

I look forward to learning what is causing the problem. When I returned from an overseas trip back in 2014 I discovered the water bill had doubled when I expected it to be half as much since I was gone for 19 days and had shut off the water as it enters the basement. It seems that some 10,000 gallons leaked and showed no signs of where it went. This was in December of the year so it wasn't like someone was water lawns or anything as the Bermudagrass was already in a winter dormant state. I first had the irrigation guy come out and check that system because it T's off between the meter and the entry into the home. Nope, not leaking.

Turned out that about two feet from the exterior side of the basement wall an almost invisible leak in the black ABS line allowed for street-side pressure to push water out. It was completely underground with no surface indications until the following spring when the ground dropped +3 inches in the are as it bored underneath and around the foundation. I still have the segment that failed as a reminder. Cost me about $1600 to have a plumber dig up the ~15 year old ABS service entrance pipe and replace it.

 

[corkyg]

I had the same problem several years ago. I called in a Leak Detector pro and he found it using audio equipment. It was under the front porch slab where the line connects to the house. The leak was all under the slab. The fix was to cut a 2'x2' hole in the slab, dig down and replace the leaking section.