Water leaks , consult with the experts

1

Hi colleagues, my name is Alex.
I do home inspections in Clark County Washington State.
I want to consult with the experts.
My client has had a significant water consumption on his water meter for the past month. Meter just run even if all faucets are shutting off.
I advised him to close the main shut-off valve. After that, the water meter stopped.
Tomorrow I’m going to his place to look for a leak. Has anyone encountered a similar problem? What should I pay attention to?
Thanks in advance for your help.

Quick update)))
All faucets is OK
Toilet tanks is OK
No visible leaks in the crawl space and around the house
No visible signs of leaking inside the house.
BUT !!! When he off hot water valve on water heater, meter is stopped!!!

2

Our water meter is by the street with a “curb stop.” High water consumption with no internal plumbing leaks means the inlet pipe is leaking into the yard. If flow stopped with interior stop valve, leak must be in the house. Toilets running - flapper valve leak?

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3

Are you talking about main in the house or the street main?

Either way, report what you see and recommend a Licensed Plumber to make corrections.

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4

Yes, that? ^^^^^^

Either way, since you’ve booked the gig, check all the places water goes or water flows.

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5

This is quite a recognized problem here in the Atlanta Metro area, considering the age of pipes and quality of construction during the early 80s. Turn the meter off at the street and do or have an inspection done from that point through to the house.

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6

I have seen a few instances similar where the barbed fitting immediately after the meter was leaking on the poly feed to the home.
If it cannot be found, I would recommend that your client carefully digs down on the home side of the meter and confirms if soil is dry or saturated at the meter.
It could also be leaking in the yard, but I have only seen it at the meter, and always on the homeowner side of the meter.

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7

Thanks for sharing valuable information

8

Thanks for sharing valuable information

9

So if the meter stopped moving after turning off the water heater valve, could the TPR valve be failing and purging water outside via the TPR valve extension? :thinking: Check where the TPR valve purges to.

Best case, needs new TPR valve and/or thermostat. Worst case, new water heater.

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10

If you can’t see where it’s going, remember the discharge line should be cold a foot or two from the TPR itself.

Is the TPR plumbed into a drain? If you’re purging water, it’s going somewhere.

If it’s a block house, a pipe could be leaking inside of the block voids and winding up somewhere you’re not seeing.

Is there a recirc system? That’ll add a new level of annoyance to noodle out.

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11

Hi Thanks for supporting. TPR is terminated in a garage.

12

Thermal camera might help it it is hot water leak.

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13

That is only partially true.
With a quality TIC, it should be able to observe any temperature differential beyond ambiant, regardless if Hot or Cold water!
A cheap ass camera that most HI’s like to waste money on, will typically need 10-20 degrees differential to maybe get a distinct observable result.

14

As written, my statement is 100% true. “Thermal camera might help if it is hot water leak”. Not arguing with your further explanation but saying something is only partially true infers that there is part of it that is an untruth. This is why I wrote what I did with Qualifiers. Simple sentence and hard to be misconstrued but you managed.

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15

Your own words contradict your own claim!

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I think you might have a problem with reading comprehension if you think there is even a hint of any untruth in that statement. Do you think a thermal camera CAN’T help if it is hot water leak? I said nothing about any other situation including cold water. I’m done, argue with yourself.