Thousands of gallons of water gone

11 years ago

Hello,

My problem is an apparent massive water leak. July's bills was for 32k gallons which came closer to August whose bill (before I was just keeping the water off) was for 53k gallons. Yes, that is thousands!

NO water around the foundation outside, no soppy ground in the yard (despite temps as high as 117 and the longest drought this state has had in a long time). I found out when I called a plumber for quotes and he found what he said appeared to be about 10 inches standing in the crawlspace which is when we shut it off to let it dry out.

FF a couple of weeks and a friend came out and looked all around and layed in the crawlspace with the water running all thru the house and NO leaking so he began digging beside the kitchen window for the heck of it I guess. At about 6 inches and just under my foundation bricks (the house is 100 year old wood frame), he comes up with a pretty good streaming trickle but without going in and under the wall, cannot find its source.

Water pressure in the home when I have it on for about 30 minutes every 2-3 days is fabulous, high pressure.

City's rules is that from meter to home is on you regardless of whether it is their pipes and because of an on the job injury in 2010 and a motor vehicle injury last year, I am basically penniless and with no income. What little equity I have will be going toward this years taxes on the home.

Suggestions, tips, hints, ideas please??? Thank you!!

Comments (6)

User
11 years ago
The first thing I would do is check your toilets. Do you have a toilet that runs constantly? A toilet running will use thousands of gallons of water in a month.

Do you have access to see the city meter so you can watch water usage? Is the meter located at the street? If you shut off the main valve where the water enters your home, do you still have high water usage? If so, the leak is between the meter and the house. If not, the leak is after water enters the house.

If the leak is after the water enters the house, close shutoff valves at each sink, toilet, washing machine, etc. Is water usage still high? If so, the leak is occurring somewhere under the house. If not, the leak is at a fixture.
brickeyee
11 years ago
Shut off the house main and then see if the indicator in the meter (usually a small triangle) is moving.
Related Professionals
Channahon Handyman · Adelphi Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Minnetonka Mills Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Clovis Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Kuna Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · League City Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Martha Lake Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Newberg Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Pico Rivera Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Schiller Park Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Westchester Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Phillipsburg Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Forest Hills Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Sharonville Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Wilmington Island Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers
justdontknow
Original Author
11 years ago
Keeping water off with the exception of every 2-3 days for 30 minutes cut loss back to 16k gallons this past month.
As stated in original post, nothing running, nothing leaking (visibly), great water pressure from all of my pipes etc. Yes, the little red arrow spins furiously when the water is on.
kudzu9
11 years ago
From your description, I think you have a leak between the meter and the house. Unfortunately, the only way to deal with that is to locate the leak and repair or replace the line. Leaks can sometimes put a lot of water into the ground without it resulting in noticeable sogginess or wet spots. If digging the line up until you find the leak doesn't appeal to you, there are services that can do leak detection. However, in my area the going rate to find a leak is $300-400.

Unfortunately, I don't think there is going to be a cheap or easy solution for you to get this fixed.
kudzu9
11 years ago
Just re-read everything and I want to be clear on one thing. When I said that the leak is between the meter and the house, I should have said somewhere in the ground between the meter and where the line comes out of the ground. The 53k gallons usage you had in August is about a gallon a minute, even after one accounts for normal usage, like toilet flushing. Unless you have a constantly running toilet (easy enough to figure out), you could not have a leak within the house plumbing using this massive amount of water and not see water damage or a streaming flow. That's why I think that the leak has got to be in the line in the ground.

After the line comes in under the foundation, does it run up in the crawlspace and branch out or what? And do you have a main shutoff besides at the meter?
brickeyee
11 years ago
"Yes, the little red arrow spins furiously when the water is on."

Break in the line after the meter.

They often leave a soft spot above the leak, but not always.
There are many times the water finds a path to simply drain away.

16,000 gallons in 30 days is only 22 gallons/hour.

Not as much as you would think.