livemusic
New Member
It's hard to make this short and I'm trying, lol. This boils down to... I have a continuing squabble with the city about the metered water usage at my house. I tried to get this problem ironed out August of last year. They didn't come through on their end and now I get a big bill. Suffice to say, I am now going to assume I have a leak and it's significant... 1,000 gal/day. That's what they just billed me! I will fight them on that due to my attempts to get it fixed long ago and their man never showing up. As for how would I not be able to see a 1,000/day leak, we have had a horribly rainy winter, we are 20 inches rain above normal! So, you couldn't tell what's going on in the yard. When I turn the main valve off, it reads zero now. She said they changed the meter, I can't tell. Why they never alerted me to the supposed change is another beef... what with my ongoing inquiry about the meter and the billing, they should have alerted me to a meter change. Anyway, if I open it, it does show water flow even if everything is 'off' in the house. So, I assume I have a leak and I assume it's outside. Nothing inside the house is leaking far as I can see.
It is SO wet, it's hard to dig and when you do, it fills with water. I empty my hole and it fills in with water within ten minutes. Over and over again, I pump it out dozens of times and I don't see it slowing down. Could be the ground is so saturated, I could do this for weeks? So... I am thinking... it's between the house and the street (meter). But where? If I had to guess, I could narrow it down to about 100 feet. But it's a total of 400 feet house to meter. I don't want to dig the whole thing up but I guess I might need to? Replace the whole thing? House was my parents, it's 60 years old, and I assumed every pipe around the house has been replaced with PVC but I do not know about the house to meter line. Whatever... replace whole thing or just find the break and fix?
I thought of getting a trencher or even a backhoe but either will cost quite a bit? And the ground is so soggy! It will be hard to find a man who can dig that up by hand like we used to do but I guess I might be able to find somebody. My health at this time is not such that I can dig that much. I give out due to age and heart disease.
What about running some kind of line from the meter to my house, above ground, until my yard dries up. Heck, it's going to rain some more. It might be a month or two before the water table lowers. What kind of line? A roll of plastic pipe? I don't know much about this stuff. At least, I would have water at my house.
As for a fix, I also thought of installing a valve at where I think the leak-probable area is, say, 300 feet from the meter. Then turn on the valve and see if the meter runs. That would mean it's between there and the meter. Kind of isolate it. But I don't know how much trouble it would be to install a valve.
Any ideas? If you do, try to detail it, as I do not know as much as you guys. Thanks.
It is SO wet, it's hard to dig and when you do, it fills with water. I empty my hole and it fills in with water within ten minutes. Over and over again, I pump it out dozens of times and I don't see it slowing down. Could be the ground is so saturated, I could do this for weeks? So... I am thinking... it's between the house and the street (meter). But where? If I had to guess, I could narrow it down to about 100 feet. But it's a total of 400 feet house to meter. I don't want to dig the whole thing up but I guess I might need to? Replace the whole thing? House was my parents, it's 60 years old, and I assumed every pipe around the house has been replaced with PVC but I do not know about the house to meter line. Whatever... replace whole thing or just find the break and fix?
I thought of getting a trencher or even a backhoe but either will cost quite a bit? And the ground is so soggy! It will be hard to find a man who can dig that up by hand like we used to do but I guess I might be able to find somebody. My health at this time is not such that I can dig that much. I give out due to age and heart disease.
What about running some kind of line from the meter to my house, above ground, until my yard dries up. Heck, it's going to rain some more. It might be a month or two before the water table lowers. What kind of line? A roll of plastic pipe? I don't know much about this stuff. At least, I would have water at my house.
As for a fix, I also thought of installing a valve at where I think the leak-probable area is, say, 300 feet from the meter. Then turn on the valve and see if the meter runs. That would mean it's between there and the meter. Kind of isolate it. But I don't know how much trouble it would be to install a valve.
Any ideas? If you do, try to detail it, as I do not know as much as you guys. Thanks.
