Need help finding water leak in yard

Deplorable

Deplorable

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2017
Location
Asheville
How?!?!?!?!?

So, had an almost $300 water bill. Obviously there is a leak. Turned off water inside the house and meter still turns. Has to be in the yard somewhere. Dig up one of four frost proof faucets. Water in bottom of the hole. Boom. Capped off PVC and waited a couple hours. Turned water back on and no leaks around the cap. Thought I was done.

Nope. Checked meter and triangle is still spinning. Outside of other three faucets, have absolutely no idea where leak could be. To make matters worse, don’t even know where the line is because of the four faucets in the yard. I assume it zig zags around. There is no puddling or excessive grass growth...

How does one go about finding a leak without digging up the entire 2 acre yard?
 
Deplorable said:
How?!?!?!?!?

So, had an almost $300 water bill. Obviously there is a leak. Turned off water inside the house and meter still turns. Has to be in the yard somewhere. Dig up one of four frost proof faucets. Water in bottom of the hole. Boom. Capped off PVC and waited a couple hours. Turned water back on and no leaks around the cap. Thought I was done.

Nope. Checked meter and triangle is still spinning. Outside of other three faucets, have absolutely no idea where leak could be. To make matters worse, don’t even know where the line is because of the four faucets in the yard. I assume it zig zags around. There is no puddling or excessive grass growth...

How does one go about finding a leak without digging up the entire 2 acre yard?
Click to expand...
trace back from known saturation with a prob rod....I got a good friend who is like a blood hound finding this sort of thing.
He uses a few methods. Probes, a lot of experience, and even
upload_2018-10-30_21-6-14.jpeg
. In the right hands it works very well. A fancy electric probe could be used to trace the line. Then prob or dig test hole til you hit pay dirt.
 
Same thing here a couple years back. Line from meter to house, but unsure how the line was run, & it was 1'' black plastic. Plumber came over, got to probing near a mid size tree. Found the wet spot! Figured a root had cracked it. Instead of digging it up, he lubed up a 3/4" line & fed it through. It was Tough, but he along with his helper, got it all the way through. As I'm on high pressure City water, the 3/4 is Fine. Only thing that got disturbed, was the meter box!
 
Start poking around in the yard where you think the lines are the wet spot will be a lot softer then everything around it


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I had the same thing. After seeing the type of water line that was ran, I decided to run a new line all all the way to the house. I knew the direction of the original, kind of. I just ran the new one a different direction. If it has one leak, you will probably have more, more often. Bite the bullet and redo it. Imo


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Mine was easy to find just walked around till my foot sank in the mush . That is only about a month of leaking. I would start back at first first hydrant. If you have pvc in yard the harsh winter we had last year you may of had frost heave which is snapping at the fittings. Black poly should be used.
 
Deplorable said:
Dig up one of four frost proof faucets. Water in bottom of the hole. Boom.
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Just FYI, Non freeze yard hydrants are supposed to drain off the water to prevent freezing and bursting. Typically they should be installed with a 12" base of gravel (prefer #67 stone) for proper drainage. If it's just buried in dirt, it will clog the drain

nfyh.JPG



What year was the supply piping installed? I.E. what year was the house built?

Mid-90's?

If so, I'm shocked it took this long. Hopefully your meter isn't in a concrete driveway with the supply line running under the concrete. A good friend of mine had that Polybutylene supply piping under his driveway and the leak created a sinkhole that swallowed his pickup one morning
 
CasterTroy said:
Just FYI, Non freeze yard hydrants are supposed to drain off the water to prevent freezing and bursting. Typically they should be installed with a 12" base of gravel (prefer #67 stone) for proper drainage. If it's just buried in dirt, it will clog the drain

View attachment 279066


What year was the supply piping installed? I.E. what year was the house built?

Mid-90's?

If so, I'm shocked it took this long. Hopefully your meter isn't in a concrete driveway with the supply line running under the concrete. A good friend of mine had that Polybutylene supply piping under his driveway and the leak created a sinkhole that swallowed his pickup one morning
Click to expand...
we put ours in with a band clamp holding a sort of foot. foot prevents it from burying up deep in the gravel base. sort of like a floating footer..... normally scrap angle or such laying around to create a leg.
 
CasterTroy said:
Just FYI, Non freeze yard hydrants are supposed to drain off the water to prevent freezing and bursting.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reminder. The faucet I dug up had not been used in weeks. We have four in the yard and only use one. The previous owner installed them in 2004.

I thought about a new supply line, but would really rather not if I can find the leak...
 
Rent a trencher and buy a spool or two of 1" pex. Total cost outlay is $2-300, depending on how long the run is. It should take about a half a day.
 
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