How to Find Water Leaks - Water Meter Hasn't Stopped Spinning
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- čas přidán 25. 08. 2024
- How to Find Water Leaks - Water Meter Hasn't Stopped Spinning - Leak Detection
A customer, and friend of mine told me his water meter hasn't stopped spinning in a day. So we loaded up the leak detection equipment and the cameras to go see if we could find it! While we're out I'm going to tell you more about how I find leaks and some tips that can help you find leaks too!
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Thanks for watching! I'm Roger Wakefield, LEED AP, The Expert Plumber and welcome to my channel. On this channel, I teach homeowners how to save money on their plumbing by doing DIY plumbing projects. I also teach plumbers and plumbing company owners how to be the best plumbers in their area and run successful plumbing businesses. My goal is to teach you everything you need to know about plumbing.
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What do you think about this leak?
In my area near Asheville NC, the digital meters are similar. I have on a few occasions, found meters installed with no check valve at the meter. This allows back flow at the meter. Two meters I've encountered, were faulty, showing water going to the customer, but it was actually going back into the city's system. The city replaced the meter, and the problem was solved. What brand of leak detection device are you using in this video?
Toilet
Toilet bad flapper and the fill valve kicks on
We had a toilet that ran occasionally just a little because the little tube from the valve was run just a little too far down the overflow standpipe.
Just one potential cause that can drive you insane trying to find it.
I wish my City would have notified me that my meter was going nuts rather then send me a 3000 bill
Roger: let's take a listen to see if we can hear anything.
*blasts heavy rock music*
it was cring worthy
I dont care for the music inserts. I like to hear everything as is. That being said, your videos are awesome and keep me interested in the trades.
Agreed! That way we know what to look out for ! It’s gives it a more realistic approach to things ! Other than that great informative video !
4:26 that pipes got some rockin' music in it, glad he let us hear what he's hearing!
😂😂😂😂
@@editorgrayson1073 It's a bit loud, though, especially in comparison to Roger talking.
I learned a lot from this video. Water has the uncanny ability to find its way.
Scully's House of Thrillers water always takes the path of least resistance. Thanks for watching and commenting.
@@RogerWakefield one could say it follows the richest roads
As the doctor once said "well sure it's airtight, but that doesn't mean it's water tight"
Always look for traffic?
@@HurremDurrem Yep, anytime you get out of a vehicle, or getting gear. You have the ones who don't care and could hit you. One of the causes of death for tow truck operators.
An intermittent leak like that is almost always a leaky toilet flapper. A few drops of food coloring in the toilet tank will confirm if it bleeds through into the bowl. Next check the relief valve on the water heater for signs of leakage, it may be corroded or otherwise damaged and not working properly. Total cost for self-performing that service call is about a penny.
Your videos are so professionally filmed, it's amazing, the only thing I'm not a fan of is the very loud music that plays in certain parts, has me constantly needing to adjust the volume.
I agree 💯 about the music🌹
Music is unnecessary.
I have music.
When we heard that music, it means there are musicians trapped inside that pipes save them fast! :D Nice videos i accidently found you and it was totaly worth it. Subbed!! Love it so far keep doing your great work. Best regards, from Europe.
I watch your vidios all the time as a plumber myself and small business owner im always learning new things from you always need to feed the brain😎😎
I don’t know anything about plumbing, but I want to move to Texas just so I can hire him to be my plumber. Love this guy and I don’t know why aha
Didn't expect plumber POV but I'm hyped 🤣
.33 gallons occasionally sounds like automatic ice machine or something. Make sure the freezer side of the fridge isn't full of ice 😂😂
Could be a toilet !
3:25 I Really need to get me one of those mic's.
I never heard the water sound that good.
THE QUALITY OF THESE VIDEOS IS ABSOLUTELY INSANE. You deserve my tuition fees for trade school more than the school I attended!
Arrives at customers house...
Gets out to set up camera
Gets back in car to show him arriving at customers house
You've gotten me genuinely interested in plumbing, which is not something I ever thought I would have an interest in
“Keep looking for water .... everywhere ! “ .... Standing water everywhere ...
It had rained two days before...
Either rain or the sprinklers system ran a cycle or kids played in the hose right before showing up . Life always throws curve balls .....Just saying it makes looking for a water leak a lot more difficult .
Intermittent flow. My guess toilet flap. Tank keeps topping off.
The evil Phantom Flush! I have the Mansfield tower style system. When I replace the seal, it takes a few hours for the replacement seal to seat and get some phantom flushes til it seats. Not sure if there’s a trick to get it to seal immediately. If anyone has an idea, please comment!
I really like the system as it allows you to do a short flush for just liquids, a normal flush for solids or even hold it open if you have a slight clog and just need a little more water.
I am some times glad that I work for the water department. Hey... you have a leak....see ya 👍🏽🤣
Same! Then they always say "It's the meter!!"
@@YoureASquidYoureAKid I have three houses currently and the only water leak I've had was just on the city's side of the meter
I ain't used that much water. 5 kids and 3 adults in the house, but there's no way they used 4000gallons. Must be the meter.
New subscriber here...loved your video. We are a retired couple living in NJ and got our winter quarterly bill for 624,000 gallons of water use at a whopping cost of $1400.00! All outside water spigots were turned off and no one had access to our home. Also we were away for 3 of those 12 weeks. They claimed we had a leak somewhere or that something happened that we don't know about. Our master plumber did an inspection and confirmed this was not possible. They took the meter for testing (It's a Hersey analog meter) and found it to be running too slow but we knew before sending it in that it was working fine because since we got the bill we have been monitoring it and we use about 100 gallons per day. The Business Administrator of the town feels they did their "due diligence" by testing for water flow but no mechanical test was ever done, nor did anyone from the town believe that we didn't use that water either neglectfully or willing. The "leak" apparently "fixed" itself as we never had any repairs done. Our toilets are in fine working order and do not have an outside irrigation system. PSE&G had done work in the street and in our home (new gas meters being installed) that quarter and we don't know if that could have caused the meter to go haywire. Roger, how is this possible? Any help or insight you can give us would be greatly appreciated. Thanks and have a nice day.
So every time you listen to pipes you listen to hear music then. Do you hear music when it's leaking or not leaking. I'm just curious. So what was the final result of this? Have you found out?
Could you please add the device's sound instead of the music when listening for leaks/etc. in the next video?
Thank you.
any update on this video? i dont know why, but this is interesting to me since i am not a plumber
If there is going to be a follow up vid, it should just be edited into one vid. I’m curious if it ended up being a faulty meter or a leak? I once had my meter read as though I filled an Olympic swimming pool two months in a row, with no leaks. The city tried to blame it on a faulty toilet flapper but that wasn’t correct. They ended up replacing the meter and it was fine thereafter. I’m not sure whats inside a water meter, but they do fail.
Awesome detective work. I actually am at a point where I like challenges. Makes u a better plumber.
Spot on video; Love the editing!
9:13, put subtitles on haha
Bruh lol XD
Lol
i have had that happen a couple times and its always a toilet. The life of a landlord.
I’d dye test all the toilets because an intermittent leak is often caused by leaky flapper or flush valve ...great video by the way. Where can I get that equipment for listening to water pipes. Edit: - I just saw in the description for the equipment-
We use some great listening equipment
Have you ever run into a faulty meter? The city just changed out to a new meter with a sensor a week ago and low and behold they've detector water usage everyday since the new meter install. I've looked everywhere, shutoff every supply valve, and no change. The indicator dial is spinning extremely slowly and sometimes spins backwards. I also noticed that the meter is not tight and can be moved by hand about 1/8" and also is very vibration sensitive. Not sure if that's normal. The city claims they've never seen a failed meter in 5000 installs. Being an engineer, I know failure rates aren't zero on anything.
What was the culprit? Where and what was actually leaking?
I don't know why I like watching your videos, i pretty sure I'll never use this information, probably because I'll forget it but still cool videos,interesting and informative
Hey I have been a plumber for roughly 7 years. No where as experienced as you. But 1 thing I have always done is checked toilets to see if there's a bad flapper that makes them turn off and on randomly.
I enjoyed this video roger! I always like seeing the troubleshooting process. Definitely would like to see more of these kinds of videos!
More to come!
Thanks ROGER great video except the music was loud but thumbs 👍information.
Cheers from dallas tx
That meter appears to be a Neptune meter. Depending on the model that brand has the ability to produce a report commonly known as a Data Log. This report will tell you when a leak began and how much water moved by Daily and/or Hourly. My town uses mainly Neptune and Sensus brand water meters. Although the meter cannot tell you *where* a leak is the meter can give you the exact moment the leak began. Often times, homeowners will have water using utilities replaced and the Data Log will show that it. I live in Utah so your area may not use either brands. Also! Please talk with your City to know if you and/or your plumber is allowed to turn the meter off/on otherwise you could receive a Meter Tamper Violation Charge
Hi Roger. Congratulations on your growth.
Thank you sir. You are doing well too!
You can use a double check backflow preventer on irrigation in Texas? In Indiana they only allow a vacuum breaker or an RPZ. I love that leak detection device, we have one similar but it has a pinging device that attaches to a pipe and lightly knocks in it, that way you can locate buried lines and the source.
Testable double check is required for irrigation
Lol I had that happen a few months ago and the landlord hired a plumber that said it was just a cartridge leak in the main shower even though you could hear water running throughout the house. He still just replaced the cartridge after I told them it’s a leak in the crawl space because you can hear water running and there’s no way a bad cartridge would cause a meter to run that much. Needless to say he was back a week later crawling in a muddy crawl space replacing a section and sweating pipe.
You guys are soo lucky you don’t need to deal with winter frost... bringing in heavy equipment to chisel down 4-6 feet of frozen dirt to get to lines...
That's why we're in Texas... LuvzIt!!!
What is the name or brand of the listening device you are using?
What?
If I had been there. . .
1. Why is the meter submerged? The box makes up above grade, so surface water ought run around it.
2. Did we ever actually PROVE that we are on the correct meter? That is, where is the test shutting down the meter stop and then checking that the domestic side is dead?
3. Shutting down the feed to the meter, and then (?) checking for flow would only tell you that the curb stop is bad, worthless information.
4. The dual check being shut down (supposing that it does feed only irrigation) might possibly reveal a leak on the potable side, but as is, there is no way to invert the test, and prove integrity on irrigation only. There is a missing main SOV. Look indoors near the tank or softener?
5. This vid is an excellent example of why I hate digital meters! The sample (to be meaningful) should have been first to isolate the entire system at meter. Wait 15 minutes, and recharge, provided owner knows to open NO valve or faucet. THEN check flow to see if it is still dancing between 0 and .33 (gpm?). The static pressure ought drop with clock time, if a leak is present, and so, a surge upon opening up the ball valve will tell the story.
I appreciate you videos... thank you for being so informative and not a bunch of talking on and on. You're the best.
The thing that amazed me the most is that they actually called the person and informed them about their meter running wild, in my country, they would just read it as usual and later charge you an obscene amount of money for the "used" water, if you don't realize you have a leek somewhere yourself, good luck. They will sue you for the money even, at best if you are good with someone who works over there you might get a bit of a "discount" due to your problem. Hilarious things. xD
The IT field also do have its moments. Sometime you get to the root cause of a problem quickly and is able to resolve it. Other times it take a lot of time, patience and effort just to isolate and find the cause of the problem.
Luck also play a part in this.
I have a lot of irrigation leaks to fix, some easy and some not. The easiest way I find them is when I mow the lawn, there is always the same wet spot, which doesn't make sense because the rest of the yard dried up. The last leak I found was a pin hole in an underground pipe. After that, my solution is that all outside lines need to be replaced because who knows where else a leak will form.
Do u when inside and check the toilet tank
When you put the headphones on to listen, does the water really sound like that music? Lol jk great video. As always
great video buddy , and i love this social distancing mic your using to check for leaks that things a cool bit of kit
Glad you enjoyed! Thank you for watching and commenting. I really do appreciate it!!!
I can’t find out why i like watching these videos 😅😂but i love watching them
Thank sir please video for water pipe leaks in size the wall
Knowing that the leak only showed every once in a while on the meter using 0.33gpm I would have deduced its a ballcock on a toilet kicking on when the leaky flapper or aqua piston let enough water out to cause the Ballcock to trip. Locating which toilet it is as easy as dye test or magic marker the water lever line in the tank of the toilet. All you done at the begining yes isolate everything narrow your search but as soon as I seen the time frame in which it was registering a leak on the meter and then the subsequent amount of water being used toilets would have been the next thing I would have looked at. Not knocking your style but I would have checked those before I called it.
he said the leak is not on the potable side, its on the irrigation side...
@@nsaylorable no he shut the irrigation off and still had the leak. Irrigation is constantly live it would not fluctuate from leak to no leak
@@derrickfeltner6634 its not real clear but doesnt he say the .33 flow stops when the irrigation is valved off @ 11:46?
@@nsaylorable I thought he said said it wasn't I watch again and get back with you later
@@nsaylorable and for the record irrigation is potable it all comes from the same source, the city main.
Thats a neptune digital meter and it will have a hose bib icon one the left side of the meter screen when it registered a constant water passing through it, and will let the city know thru there system.
Key sentence “ I know because I’ve been up under there”. Never underestimate people piping things wrong u/g or in the wall etc..
Important tip for everyone!
Always check for traffic
What leak detection equipment were you using?
After checking those things, why didn't you check the toilets? We had the same issue, only our meter was running all of the time. We called a plumber who came out and he ran around the house like a crazy person. Went back to the basement to check the meter and it was still running. Charged me $250.00, told me he had no idea and left. The next day, my husband and I turned off all of the water valve shutoffs in the entire house. Nothing registered at the meter. One by one we opened each valve and discovered that one of the toilet tanks was leaking. We changed the flapper, but that wasn't enough. Called another plumber to come and replace all of the parts in the tank. Charged me $165.00 and no more problems. I hope you didn't charge the customer for two home visits.
Peggy, the customer was ill and didn't want anyone in the house if they didn't need to be. We isolated the irrigation line and that resolved the problem. No second trip charge or fee.
@@RogerWakefield Thank you!
Nice Jeep 👍👍... 👍👍
Excellent detective video!!!!!👍👍👍
By the way, what is the name or brand of your water leaks detection listening device?????
Thank you, Barry
There’s Always work in that part of Dallas, there’s weeks where we just work at different houses or commercial buildings there
Hey I love you channel I think I've been in a field a long time I think you got a leaking water closet
It was the irrigation system. Toilet would have been next...
3:50 man that water makes epics sounds
Before i left the page i wanted to comment on how great these vids are. Got another sub. = P
Why is there standing water in the meter box?
Fluidmaster BCV
Water can be more destructive then fire in a lot of situations.
Oh yeah, water is terrible for destroying foundations, disrupting banks, making slopes unstable and not to mention joists, wooden frames etc, etc
being from indiana, its so weird seeing water lines so close to the surface like that. ours up here are all 4 feet in the ground!
3:35 that water gas some jam
What is the device you are using?
Can you make a video on determination if your hot water tank requires a expansion tank. I live in mass and I’m on public water hook up. My water meter does not have a check valve. But my current water heater has both a expansion tank and a vacuum breaker installed. Do I really need an expansion tank?
Just started this video, when you say "double check" (for irrigation) do you mean the backflow preventer?
Also, when you came back from the jeep with your listening device, I thought for a second you had divining rods in your hand. Haha I almost threw my phone. Lol
I've recently subscribed to your channel and love how informative you are
Newer neptune meters have a built in leak detection system and it will read countinous leak. It has a system that records usage every 15 mins or so and if it notices usage during all or most of those no matter how little it will throw a continuous or intermediate leak message. The city should have been able to provide a print out of the times and amount used if they have the special reader.
Water company came out twice in two weeks. Then I got a notice of high usage by over 10,000 gallons. What is it that they did to cause that?
I don’t live in a house on slab I have a basement and my meter and shutoff is In the basement
Jacks plumbing Videos that's wonderful. And great for you.
3:40
That's a good sounding water meter
If 100% sure no water leaks. All taps closed. The water keeps running. What do you advise ? Thank you.
Turn off the house potable water and the irrigation to separate the two and put a gauge on the hose bib that you said was on the potable side... thus eliminating or confirming which side is leaking... plumber in Vegas
as a homeowner I would shut off toilets and maybe even the water heater, that periodic reading of water flowing is weird but I don't know plumbing....
My renter got a notice like that too I looked at the meter & it was running fast I shut off the house main still running so I had a broken pipe in the yard only one pipe and one system an easy one to diagnose
Thin flexible black irrigation lines. How do you fix a leak?
Seems like you could put a splitter for the audio to that listening ear so you and the camera could both hear and we in turn could hear what you are hearing so we could know what to listen for
Couldn't find a leak on the house and potable water is tied into sprinklers. Did you test irragation to see if there was a broken line or heads that could being using the excess water?
He knows because he's been up under the house before.
i woulda vaccumed the water out of the meter box and checked to see if the union was dripping. problem wasnt found. would have isolated the shut off at house and checked meter over 15 mins to see if possibly a toilet flapper letting water by and a fill valve running for a few seconds (you most likely here as its a small amount of water for a few seconds every once in a while)
I think you my good sir need a TV show i like the music with the job it makes me feel like a watching a TV show so... Maybe look into that sort of thing, just saying I mean you have a likable personality, great knowledge of you field of work and a fan base already kind of a great idea if I say so myself. I mean look at how Billy the exterminator blew up, could be you next! =)
Do y'all service McKinney, TX? I like that you're in Highland Park in this video. :)
My first thought when you described the issue, did anybody verify the email message? The results here do not match the complaint either. A 0.33 gpm occasional flow is not "Stopped Spinning". The old meters had a triangular trickle indicator. So then the newer meters do not? But might not be desired since the meter can read to 1/100th accuracy. As dirty as the meter actually was they do not physically read the meter every month. So that would indicate an electronic reading system. They usually are just short range. So how is the main office going to know if the meter was running continuously? Did they send out a truck and driver to sit there for 24 hours to monitor the meter? Then decided to just send an email message? With online systems today, they might actually have an email address on record for the property. But it would not be required for service, except for an online website account. Normally a person would not know there is a problem until they receive the water bill. So many things wrong with this post. This is the first time I have viewed anything from this creator. It just showed up in my suggested feed for some reason. Your investigative areas here are OK, I noticed nothing wrong there. Just the overall scenario of the issue. Like something was just fabricated for the video.
My online account with my city a couple of cities north of Roger's office has readings about every 4 hours. While it's not continuous, it would be unusual to have water flow every 4 hours. I also have electronic billing, so they know my email address. And no, they don't drive a truck through the entire city every 4 hours. So, it's not as contrived as you might think
Any time a professional goes old school and uses a tool to listen for noise I trust them. My friend is a mechanic and he uses a stethoscope type device to pinpoint sound origins.
what is the tool you used when you were listening ?
What Is the name of that tool
is there a follow up to this?
Honestly if I could go back before I went to college i would 100% get into the trades, but I already have debt for school and I cant afford it now. I still enjoy your videos however!
I know that house. We installed a new door on it about a year ago
Isn't that standard when you get caught breaking into someones home?
so what the name/model of this leak findinger your using thanks
Hello Roger, what water leak detector do you use?
i have a leak right now its leaking 7 gallons a minute and cant find where its coming from
we also have a french drain system in the front yard
Nice video
Thanks
I like this guy