Leaking water in your home may be one of the most stressful issues you can deal with as a homeowner. How do you know if you are leaking? How do you know where to look? How do you find the answer to the questions about leaking you are looking for? Here is a helpful guide to signs and water leak symptoms, inside or outside of your house, and what to do about them.
Water Leak Symptoms Include a Very Wet Yard
In Western Washington, it can be hard sometimes to know if your yard or driveway is wet from the weather or if you may have a pesky underground leak causing the moisture. If you see pooling water in your yard or on your driveway, you have water leak symptoms that may indicate an underground leak. Other signs you have an underground leak may be a very green and lush patch of yard.
A Letter from the Water Company
No one wants to get the dreaded letter from the water authority saying you may have water leak symptoms. If you get a letter like this, first check the inside of your home. Do you hear any running water in the walls or under the floor? Do you have toilets leaking or running? If the answer to these questions is no, then your leak is most likely outside in your line between your meter and your house.
To confirm an outside leak, shut the water off to your house and go out and look at your water meter. If the meter is spinning with the water shut off at the house, you have confirmed an outside leak.
Inconsistent or Low-Pressure Water Leak Symptoms
Is your shower stream just a trickle? Is the water not running as normal? It could be water leak symptoms indicating something in your outside main line. When the mainline has a defect, the water cannot get to your home efficiently. This can cause low water pressure. You will often see low water pressure coupled with another symptom of a leak.
Water Leak Symptoms and a High Water Bill
A high water bill is often the first clue that you have water leak symptoms to check out. We often have clients call reporting double or triple water bills. This is useful information for your leak detection specialist, who may follow up with more questions.
Your water bill has lots of numbers on it which can provide more information regarding your leak. Look at your consumption or usage rate on your bill and check the comparison from the past year. Has your consumption increased? How much? Also, water usage is normally read in cubic feet. 1 cubic foot of water is approximately 7.5 gallons. You can do that math and divide out your extra consumption until you have a rate that shows your extra consumption per day or hour. That is the number the leak detection company is going to want.
For us to do the best job of finding and identifying the location of the leak, we would want your leak rate to be about ten gallons an hour. If you have a shorter water line, we may be able to hear the leak if it is at a rate of less than ten gallons an hour.
You Say I Have a Leak Where?
Houses can be built with crawlspace or on a concrete slab. If you have crawlspace, it can be easy to find out if you have a leak by climbing under your house and looking for running water. A leak under your slab can be trickier. You may never know that you are leaking under your slab until you get a notice from the water company.
It is counterintuitive for some customers, who think that a leak inside the house means you would see water leak symptoms in the house. Slab leaks can be large or small. A large slab leak may have you hearing water running either under your floor or in your walls. A small slab leak may have no symptoms but a higher water bill or consumption. Either way, a leak detector is a great idea for a slab leak. Detection technology makes it possible for us to mark where your leak is within inches, making your repair and damage to your home less costly than ripping up your entire slab.
To Dig or Not to Dig, That Is the Question
We often get asked by customers if we think they should dig and look for the leaking pipe in their yard. Although we do have some customers who have success digging for their leak, we see a larger share of people with a yard full of holes who are no closer to the source of their water woes. Digging is really a combination of guess work and luck. If you have a leak detector out, you can reliably expect for your leak to be found. Once you are our customer of Simply Leak Detection, we see your issue through to resolution.
Remember These Steps if You Have a Leak:
- Look around your house and yard for visible water. This includes toilets, outside spigots, irrigation, yard, and driveway. If you see water, you can call for leak detection.
- Do you not see water? Turn off the water at your house. Is the meter spinning with the water shut off to the house? A spinning meter confirms a leak between the meter and your home in the main line. If you are able, take a video of the meter spinning for your leak detection company. The faster the meter spins, the larger your leak.
- Call the water authority. Most water authorities are extremely helpful and will give you a leak rate to give your leak detector and plumber. They may even give you our number and put you on a great path to solving your water issues.
- Finally, once you call a leak detector, take a breath, and know that although irritating, your water problem is only temporary. Most people we serve are one-time customers who have their leak found, fixed, and never have another problem.
Simply Leak Detection loves helping our customers deal with their leak issues in a friendly, fun, and fast manner. Please call us with any questions you have concerning a leak, we are here to help.
Sincerely,
Michael Fend – Owner
Simply Leak Detection
