Usually my water bill has been around $30-40. I have not been watering anything outside this summer. Last month, holy crap, $90!
I had them reread the meter and they said it was correct, so I started looking around for causes and we found a toilet in the garage that had been running. Figured we’d found it. I guess the flapper needs replacing or something, which is stupid because the whole toilet is only, like, two years old, but whatever. Pulling up on the handle stops it. We found that right after the last bill, so something like a week into the current billing cycle, I think.
Yesterday, $95! Goddamn! I was just about to go under the house and look around when I realized I didn’t really know what I was looking for, so I need some direction first. For one thing, it’s usually bone dry under there, so a leak into that space would be easy to find, but we’ve had a ton of rain lately and it might be damp all over. Luckily, we have a nice big crawlspace that, on the end of the house with most of the water, you can stand up under.
So what the hell is leaking? The house was built in 1928 but has been updated in the last 20 years. The water heater is less than five years old. There’s water running to the garage (there’s a little garage apartment upstairs) which is slab-built, so I can’t get under it. Separate water heater over there, also outside, also new. Nothing is visibly running, nothing is visibly wet.
I’ve got a good plumber, but I really don’t want to call him out if I don’t have to, and I’d really like to find it myself if I can. Help!
Well, the first step would be to locate the water meter. Make sure it is indeed running. Then locate the main water shut-off and shut it off, and verify that the water meter stops running.
You may well have a leak under the slab (that’s what happened to us). If it’s hot water, there will likely be a warm spot somewhere on the floor. Generally, a slab leak is detected by means of a stethoscope.
Probably not hot water - the power bill has been lower than usual, actually. Same gas usage is normal, but the new air conditioner has been a money saver.
Good place to start, but then…
turn on the water, but shut off the valves at each fixture; each toilet, sink, etc. If the meter is still turning, you have a leaking pipe or connection somewhere.
Maybe even underground! :eek:
It’s easier to follow pipes in some houses than others, I understand. However, if you have a basement or crawlspace with the pipes exposed, follow them to their end. If they’re out of reach, get binoculars and a flashlight.
If the meter stays still, turn on one fixture at a time, and check the meter. Toilets are notorious for leaking a bit and you don’t know it.
be cautious shutting off valves that may have not been operated in a long time. if the valve breaks it may be stuck open, closed or leaking. first be sure the main shutoff valve works before trying branch or local shutoff valves.
Eliminate as many possibilities as you can. With everything off, is the meter spinning? If so, there is water flowing.
In my non-expert opinion, the ice maker / water dispenser on the fridge isn’t likely to be leaking. You’re in the kitchen all the time. You’d probably notice the water accumulating in the freezer. You might not notice water leaking behind the fridge. If you can shut off every valve except the one behind the fridge, you’ll be closer to finding the leak. If the meter is still spinning, you’ll have to move the fridge and shut off that valve too.
We just had this problem a few months ago. Like others said, first turn off the main shutoff to the house. See if the meter runs. If so, the leak is between the meter and the house. If not, then try each individual valve.
Our city gives you a rebate on your water bill for water leaked after you’ve reported it. Call them right away to report it and get their advice. Where I am, if the leak is within 3 ft of the meter, they have to repair it.
You didn’t mention it, but, I guess you’re sure there wasn’t a cost-per-unit increase? And I would drop the dollar comparisons, how much water are you actually using?
There wasn’t a big rate hike, no. I can’t find the paper bill, because I usually don’t pay a lot of attention to it, but nobody else got a big bill - and if there were a rate hike that tripled everybody’s bill I think it would have been on the news. I’ll try calling to get the actual water figure.
J-P-L’s suggestion seems likely to me. When my customers have a toilet leaking over a weekend, for example, it can use thousands of extra gallons of water.
And if your fix occurred during their meter read cycle, don’t forget that you probably pay a base rate for a certain amount of water, and then a higher rate per gallon over that. So if you got the July bill, noticed the leak from that, and then fixed it, they may have already read the meter the week before you fixed it. It takes a while for those bills to get through the system and then through the mail. But both reads could have been higher than your base rate, so the bills would both be high.
So try your house shutoff first. Can you open the box where the meter is, or otherwise see the face of it? They usually have a little red triangle that spins so you can see small flows going through, where it might take a full minute to notice a gallon’s worth on the main dial. If you look at it and it’s absolutely not moving, it’s probably not a constant leak. Toilets are sneaky though; the tank will run into the bowl but not actually draw any water until it triggers the float, and then all of a sudden you’ll see movement at the meter.
In my experience, warm spots on the floor can be most reliably detected by means of a cat.
The house I grew up in had the most trafficked spot in the house, the doorway between the kitchen and the dining room, directly above the furnace. We were forever tripping over fuzzbutts. Just one of those little details that would never occur to an architect, but turn out to be significant.
As several posters suggested, first insure that the leak is somewhere after the meter. However even if this is the case, there could be a leak between the meter and the street. Many jurisdictions hold the home owner responsible for the pipes on their property.
So one additional step to take is to listen to the pipe on the street side of the meter after you have closed the main valve. If you hear a quiet, rushing sound, and you probably will, that could indicate such a leak. It will depend upon how loud it is as to whether you are hearing turbulence from the main pipe running down your street or a leak on your property.
The best tool for this is an automotive stethoscope like this one - http://www.amazon.com/MECHANICS-STETHOSCOPE-ENGINE-DIAGNOSTIC-AUTO/dp/B002A1IQ58. They are very cheap and come in handy from time to time. To gauge the meaning of the sounds you hear, try it on your own pipe and then listen to a couple of your neighbors. That will tell you definitively if the sound is normal or an indication of a problem.
If you isolate the leak to someplace after the meter, you can try adding food coloring to the line. If you have a whole-house water filter, you might be able to dump some in the housing (check with the manufacturer first). If that’s not an option, I’m sure the plumbing guys at Lowes or Home Depot could help you out.
Good point. But the stethoscope could still help. If you listen to all of the pipes and don’t hear anything, then you’re good to go (or hallucinating). If you do hear something, it will get louder as you approach the leak, so you can use it as a blood hound to track down the exact location.
If you found the leaky toilet a week into the current billing cycle, then aren’t you still getting billed for it? If the toilet had been leaking for a week before the next billing cycle then your current bill is pretty much what you would expect.
I’ll try calling to get the actual water figure.