How do I find a water leak?? (Austin: 2015, house)

[teasipmom]

My water bill doubled for December and water gallons went up to 44K. I suspect it's somewhere in the sprinkler system. Where do I start?

[LongTimeAustinite]

First thing is to turn the water off to the system where it hooks up to the supply line. Only turn it on when you water. See if your bill goes down. If it does, then your leak is definitely in the sprinkler system.

Before you turn off the water to the system look in all your valve boxes. See if any of the valves are leaking. If the valves are good then look at each sprinkler head. They should be dry. If they are then walk along where you think the pipes are. Look for a soft spot.

[scm53]

Originally Posted by teasipmom

My water bill doubled for December and water gallons went up to 44K. I suspect it's somewhere in the sprinkler system. Where do I start?

Why is your sprinkler system even on?

Be sure if it is a leak, that you get the repair documented. Then, submit it to the city to get your waste water baseline period adjusted so you aren't paying higher waste water bills than you have to.

[FromCalitoSteinerRanch]

Originally Posted by scm53

Why is your sprinkler system even on?

Be sure if it is a leak, that you get the repair documented. Then, submit it to the city to get your waste water baseline period adjusted so you aren't paying higher waste water bills than you gave to.

Yes, this is super good advice, the Wastewater cost is probably half of each bill, and the assessment period ends around mid March 2014, but you would pay the higher amount through the next assessment period in Nov. 2014 - Mar. 2015.

New Calculation Method

Austin Water calculates wastewater costs based on the amount of water used during three late fall and winter billing periods. Wastewater rates will be based on your average water use for all three months. These three periods occur between mid-November and mid-March of each year. Each month during your wastewater averaging period must have water usage billed to be considered in the averaging calculation. If two or three months of the averaging period have no water use billed, the wastewater average will be set at a default wastewater average, which is 5,000 gallons for residential customers, A customer must have at least 60 consecutive billing days of water usage for a calculated wastewater average.

[Dog_Gone]

Where is the grass growing the most on your property and where is it the wettest on your property? That will be your easiest and cheapest non technical approach.

[tom331]

1. Make sure there is no one in your home using any water, check the water meter to see if the meter turn. It is likely your sprinkler system is leaking if the meter turn.
2. Shut off the sprinkler system valve, if the meter does not turn, it is sure the leakage is from the sprinkler system. If the meter turn with sprinkler valve being shut off and no one in your house is using water, it is likely that the leakage is from the water pipe between the meter and the house.

[FromCalitoSteinerRanch]

Also, does your neighborhood have a FB or Yahoo Groups' page? If so, it wouldn't hurt to ask if anyone else had an issue with their bill or had a leak. That will at least let you see if there are any similarities, such as location of the leak, or if the bill just shot up recently indicating a read error. A read error would be caught the next read fortunatley.

[centralaustinite]

Have you had a recent power outage? Some sprinkler systems will reset to DAILY watering after a power outage and if it is in the middle of the night, then you may never know it until the bill arrives.

[Paddy the Plasterer]

Originally Posted by centralaustinite

Have you had a recent power outage? Some sprinkler systems will reset to DAILY watering after a power outage and if it is in the middle of the night, then you may never know it until the bill arrives.

I would they hope they would notice their yard is wet every morning.

OP, your sprinkler system should have a blackflow prevention device, usually a DCA (double check valve, located in ground, in a box with a rectangular green lid), but sometimes an RPZ (above ground, can't miss it) and it may also have a dedicated shut-off (also called an isolation valve, and required by state law if system is newer than 2008). These are generally, though not always, located close to your water meter. Shutting any of those off will not allow any water into the irrigation system. Take a reading on your water meter, and come back and read it in a week. Extrapolate out from that what a months usage would be and compare that number to your last months usage. That will tell you if the sprinkler system is the culprit. Leaving you system off for a week right now (hell several weeks) is not an issue, the ground is pretty moist and the temps cool... your yard can live without the waterings for a bit.

If the leak is a constant leak, i.e a main line leak, then there should be a fairly obvious constantly wet spot in the yard somewhere. If the leak is in a lateral line, they you will only see it when that zone is on (though the there is usually some obvious evidence of washout from those too). Run through each zone manually and visually inspect to see if there is a lateral line break.

[escanlan]

Originally Posted by teasipmom

My water bill doubled for December and water gallons went up to 44K. I suspect it's somewhere in the sprinkler system. Where do I start?

Hello teasipmom,

This was written just for you!

How to check for a water supply leak. | PS Inspection & Property Services LLC

Make sure you use only a licensed Plumber to perform any further troubleshooting and repairs. If the link is in the sprinkler system make sure you use a licensed irrigation specialist to perform the work. Even a Plumber must have the additional license for irrigation work.

Good luck and let us know how it progresses.