RockRiver
Happy to be here
Unfortunately I have some experience with this. Our water line is about 1200ft long, and it is black Poly. When they installed the line, they should have dug a trench wider and deeper than they needed and packed good clean soil around the line. Instead they just ran a ditch and dropped the line in, rocks and all. All of our neighbors have had issues with leaks due to the rocky soil, and the same type of installation.
Most of the time the leak is obvious in location as there is a wet spot in the yard, usually the leak is uphill a bit from that, it will never be downhill. We had leaks every year and I have fixed probably 3 or 4 this way. It is an easy fix once you find the leak. The trouble is you can dig uphill for tens of feet sometimes before you locate it. Once it's located, you cut the water off at the meter, cut the line in half at the leak, and insert a brass barbed fitting. Put two stainless hose clamps on each side of break to hold fitting. Turn the water back on and make sure it isn't leaking, then bury it back. This is for black poly pipe. PVC will be a bit harder and longer fix I think, but I don't have any experience with it.
The last leak we had was very hard to find. It started small and after a few months my water bill was around $400! There were no wet spots to be found. I was pretty desperate and got quoted on replacing the entire line, black poly inside a 4" PVC sleeve to prevent this from happening again. The quote was WAY more than I could afford, so I hired a leak detection service to come out. They shut the meter off, and charge the line through a spigot close to the house with detectable gas (I think it was helium). They charge 300-750 dollars or so depending on how long they have to look and how much gas they use. Luckily, my leak was only about 20 ft from the front of the house. They detected the gas with this wand thing, then switched it to a probe when they got close. They put me right over the leak, and if you put your ear over the hole they probed you could hear the water hissing. Since they were only there for about 10 minutes they just charged me the $300. Well worth it, considering my next water bill would be higher than that. Upon digging the leak, it was on the bottom of the line and had blown a hole downwards so big I could put my arm in it and not feel the bottom. From there I guess the water was following roots and never really submerging anywhere, or maybe in the woods somewhere by the house.
The detection guy hooked up to the spigot and read the pressure gauge on his bottle. He said "Wow, no wonder you are having leaks out here" The pressure at the house was over 160PSI. I have a pressure reducing valve before the water heater which drops it to 40PSI (I think), but the entire line had way more pressure than it needed. I took his advice and dug up the line on my side of the meter, put in another box, and installed another pressure reducing valve in the box. I adjusted it so that the pressure is around 70PSI before it enters the house. Knock on wood we haven't had another leak in a couple years. My understanding is that the line vibrates when the water is running, so if it is touching any rocks it will eventually wear a hole in it. The high pressure just made the problem way worse.
FYI, once you fix the leak most water companies will give you a good portion of your last bill back, as long as the leak is fixed. Good luck brother, water leaks suck.
Most of the time the leak is obvious in location as there is a wet spot in the yard, usually the leak is uphill a bit from that, it will never be downhill. We had leaks every year and I have fixed probably 3 or 4 this way. It is an easy fix once you find the leak. The trouble is you can dig uphill for tens of feet sometimes before you locate it. Once it's located, you cut the water off at the meter, cut the line in half at the leak, and insert a brass barbed fitting. Put two stainless hose clamps on each side of break to hold fitting. Turn the water back on and make sure it isn't leaking, then bury it back. This is for black poly pipe. PVC will be a bit harder and longer fix I think, but I don't have any experience with it.
The last leak we had was very hard to find. It started small and after a few months my water bill was around $400! There were no wet spots to be found. I was pretty desperate and got quoted on replacing the entire line, black poly inside a 4" PVC sleeve to prevent this from happening again. The quote was WAY more than I could afford, so I hired a leak detection service to come out. They shut the meter off, and charge the line through a spigot close to the house with detectable gas (I think it was helium). They charge 300-750 dollars or so depending on how long they have to look and how much gas they use. Luckily, my leak was only about 20 ft from the front of the house. They detected the gas with this wand thing, then switched it to a probe when they got close. They put me right over the leak, and if you put your ear over the hole they probed you could hear the water hissing. Since they were only there for about 10 minutes they just charged me the $300. Well worth it, considering my next water bill would be higher than that. Upon digging the leak, it was on the bottom of the line and had blown a hole downwards so big I could put my arm in it and not feel the bottom. From there I guess the water was following roots and never really submerging anywhere, or maybe in the woods somewhere by the house.
The detection guy hooked up to the spigot and read the pressure gauge on his bottle. He said "Wow, no wonder you are having leaks out here" The pressure at the house was over 160PSI. I have a pressure reducing valve before the water heater which drops it to 40PSI (I think), but the entire line had way more pressure than it needed. I took his advice and dug up the line on my side of the meter, put in another box, and installed another pressure reducing valve in the box. I adjusted it so that the pressure is around 70PSI before it enters the house. Knock on wood we haven't had another leak in a couple years. My understanding is that the line vibrates when the water is running, so if it is touching any rocks it will eventually wear a hole in it. The high pressure just made the problem way worse.
FYI, once you fix the leak most water companies will give you a good portion of your last bill back, as long as the leak is fixed. Good luck brother, water leaks suck.
