How do I check for a water leak?
Turn off all water in and outside of your house. DO NOT TURN OFF THE MAIN SHUT OFF VALVE.
CHECKING FOR LEAKS
1. Determining if there is a leak in the home.
a) Locate and look at your water meter and take notice if the small triangle on the face of the meter. Is it moving? If no water is being used, there would be no movement of this triangle. If the triangle is moving, there is a leak in the home or in your service line.
2. Locating the leak in the home.
From our experience, ninety percent of the leaks in residential plumbing systems are found at the toilet tank. To check for a leak do the following:
a) If you have checked the meter and the triangle is spinning, you then should go to all the toilet(s) in the property and shut them off at their shut off valves. Recheck the meter to determine if this stops the triangle from spinning. If it does, then proceed to turn on, one at a time, the toilet(s) at their shut off valves until you can determine which one is causing the triangle to spin.
OR
b) Drop a few drops of food coloring in the tank (the back) of the toilet and wait a few minutes. Do not flush the toilet. If the food coloring
makes it's way down to the bowl of the toilet there is a leak. When the toilet is running properly there will be no food coloring in the bowl.
c) Check all faucets and spigots in or on the property to verify they are properly shut off.
d) Other possibilities for inside leaks are malfunctioning water softeners and humidifiers.
3. Locating the leak in your service line.
If you have completed the steps above and have found that you do not have any water running in side the property and all outside faucets are off shut off the main shut off valve coming into the building. If the triangle is still moving it is likely that you have a leak in your service line and you will need to contact a plumber to have this confirmed and repaired.
IT IS IMPORTANT TO HAVE YOUR LEAKS REPAIRED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE TO AVOID
HIGH WATER/SEWER BILLS SINCE THESE BILLS ARE CALCULATED BASED ON THE
CONSUMPTION REFLECTED BY THE METER READINGS.