- Apr 20, 2013
- 494
- 9
- 18
So a man from the water company came by January 13th around 5pm and told us they got a high reading on their computers saying we've used 196 units since December 18th. A unit of water is 748.5 gallons or a little over 2800 liters.
November 18th the meter read 84900 and December 18th it read 85300. So we used 4 units, which is about our average. Right now, January 15th the meter is at 117500. I don't know why they'd say it was 196 units, when the meter difference is 322 units.
From the water meter to the front of the house is about 50 feet and underneath the house you can see the line go about 12 feet in, passed the first room and up into where one of the walls is. All the pipes for water are in the ceiling.
Underneath the house (other than the 12 foot line) is just drainage and sewer pipes. The entire area is bone dry. Not even a drip of water anywhere. Up in the ceiling where the pipes are there's no leaks anywhere. If it started leaking the day of it being checked it would have to have leaked more than 9,000 gallons per day and since there is absolutely no signs of water inside the house I have to assume the leak is somewhere in the 50 feet of line leading to the house. The guy had a reader thing that showed us where the water line is under ground and said it was between 8-24 inches underground.
The guy from the water company didn't seem confused or phased by the fact that 240,000 gallons leaked from a line 2 feet underground in 26 days and there was no signs of water leaks in the house or even puddles of water within a 100 radius of the house.
We have no loss of water pressure and there's no dirt or mud in the water.
I can't find the price of a unit of water in my area, but the surrounding cities are between $2.16-$3.64.
So I'm looking at a bill that could be anywhere from $695 to $1172 if I don't use anymore water until it's fixed.
At the meter itself the meter spins around once every 42 seconds (So 7.4 gallons every 42 seconds) and has a very loud water flowing sound when the water valve is open.
Is it even possible for this to happen? No water signs inside or outside, no loss of pressure, water is perfectly clear
Could the ground absorb that much water without a single puddle when it's 2 feet underground? Has anything like this happened to you?
We had the city come spray paint color codes where sewer, power, water lines are so we where not to dig. We were advised to dig a few pot holes maybe 10 feet apart all the way down to the pipe and wait for one of them to fill with water. Slowly finding the source of the leak.
Best case scenario we find the leak on the fist hole and fix it. Worst case scenario we find the leak and it's under the driveway.... Or even worse we totally dig a trench exposing the entire line and there is no water leaking anywhere.
Any thoughts or advice?
Here's a picture of my front lawn with the water pipe drawn in red and a picture of a 250,000 gallon tank which is about what we have supposedly leaked.
November 18th the meter read 84900 and December 18th it read 85300. So we used 4 units, which is about our average. Right now, January 15th the meter is at 117500. I don't know why they'd say it was 196 units, when the meter difference is 322 units.
From the water meter to the front of the house is about 50 feet and underneath the house you can see the line go about 12 feet in, passed the first room and up into where one of the walls is. All the pipes for water are in the ceiling.
Underneath the house (other than the 12 foot line) is just drainage and sewer pipes. The entire area is bone dry. Not even a drip of water anywhere. Up in the ceiling where the pipes are there's no leaks anywhere. If it started leaking the day of it being checked it would have to have leaked more than 9,000 gallons per day and since there is absolutely no signs of water inside the house I have to assume the leak is somewhere in the 50 feet of line leading to the house. The guy had a reader thing that showed us where the water line is under ground and said it was between 8-24 inches underground.
The guy from the water company didn't seem confused or phased by the fact that 240,000 gallons leaked from a line 2 feet underground in 26 days and there was no signs of water leaks in the house or even puddles of water within a 100 radius of the house.
We have no loss of water pressure and there's no dirt or mud in the water.
I can't find the price of a unit of water in my area, but the surrounding cities are between $2.16-$3.64.
So I'm looking at a bill that could be anywhere from $695 to $1172 if I don't use anymore water until it's fixed.
At the meter itself the meter spins around once every 42 seconds (So 7.4 gallons every 42 seconds) and has a very loud water flowing sound when the water valve is open.
Is it even possible for this to happen? No water signs inside or outside, no loss of pressure, water is perfectly clear
Could the ground absorb that much water without a single puddle when it's 2 feet underground? Has anything like this happened to you?
We had the city come spray paint color codes where sewer, power, water lines are so we where not to dig. We were advised to dig a few pot holes maybe 10 feet apart all the way down to the pipe and wait for one of them to fill with water. Slowly finding the source of the leak.
Best case scenario we find the leak on the fist hole and fix it. Worst case scenario we find the leak and it's under the driveway.... Or even worse we totally dig a trench exposing the entire line and there is no water leaking anywhere.
Any thoughts or advice?
Here's a picture of my front lawn with the water pipe drawn in red and a picture of a 250,000 gallon tank which is about what we have supposedly leaked.
