Yesterday's monthly water account was 950 baht, never gone over 350 previously.

No taps on in the house, and the water meter is ticking over slowly.

We've been eight years in the house (new build for us 2018) I have no idea where the pipes run and it's all concrete the side of the house where the meter is, guessing pipes run up the side of the garage to the laundry, bathroom, then the length of the house to the kitchen.

We're not in a city - rural town of 9000. Three weeks ago the town switched over to a new improved water system - a big and very noticeable increase in water pressure so maybe we'd already had a slow leak before then.

Reluctant to let some clown loose to smash his way along the concrete in search of the leak.

In a place where tradesmen plumbers know what they're doing, how would the leak area be identified?

Thankyou!

You are saying that the meter continues to run, with everything off, correct?

If so, turn the main off going into the house, and see if the meter still runs.

Next, try a dye test in each of the toilets.

Of course, look for damp areas.

My wife put a blue thingy in the toilet cistern wrapped in a plastic net. After the blue has disappeared the plastic net got stuck in the flush valve so the cistern never filled completely and kept the water running.

Local PWA have guys with mechanical listening sticks. They are quite efficient at finding leaks under roads/concrete walkways et al.

1 hour ago, gomangosteen said:

. . . . how would the leak area be identified?

Acoustic detectors (available on Lazada).

Had the same problem. Turn off the valve into the cistern to locate which toilet/bathroom had the problem. Check to see if the meter has stopped spinning. Also had the worry of smashing through the walls because piping was tiled over. Fortunately, he never had to smash through any walls. There were two problems, the cistern was leaking as the washer around the bottom of the siphon was falling apart, and also a tap which had been fitted on the pipe leading up to the shower head was leaking. New cistern/ballcock, new valve/tap, no spinning water meter!

On 7/8/2026 at 4:35 PM, VocalNeal said:

My wife put a blue thingy in the toilet cistern wrapped in a plastic net. After the blue has disappeared the plastic net got stuck in the flush valve so the cistern never filled completely and kept the water running.

Local PWA have guys with mechanical listening sticks. They are quite efficient at finding leaks under roads/concrete walkways et al.

We’ve also used the MWA guys in Bangkok. After looking for wet spots inside and outside and finding nothing, then this is the first place I’d go for help.

Pressure went up and using more water, as you said maybe you already had leakage, but now increased.

Check critical all devices on leakages, taps, toilets. Watch carefully if the toilet is shutting off, the ballfloat valve, which controls water inlet. Check connections on devices, maybe you have a crack on a connection.

Look for wet spots at the devices and surrounding. Look for wet spots on walls.

There are pvc water pipe detectors for sale, however they are limited to a certain distance. Maybe 2.5 cm.

Of course there are quality differences with them. Maybe another is doing 3,5 cm deep.

Also detecting on which material can effect the sensitivity.

With that device you can follow pipe in your house, mind distance of measuring.

Your water pipe all the way through house is probably in crawling space under house and too far away?

Are you happy with new pressure? Was old one ok? Then you could buy a pressure regulator for water , to be fitted after meter. Then you can reduce the pressure again and maybe extra water will stop.

Probably meaning then, the leakage is further closed again, BUT still exist.

However the time you already had higher pressure could have done a bigger permanent damage and then regulator is out of options. Only mentioned it, but you have a leakage and can get bigger in time.

You have to do a real search for the leakage.

My 3-bedroom bungalow has two toilets, a kitchen sink, and a water storage tank with a pump. There are two of us living here in Udon Thani province, and my bill is never over 100 baht. I suspect you already had a leak, and the extra pressure has made it worse, or have the authority put the price up to cover the new improved system?

An update. Water authority man visited yesterday and confirmed meter is ok and there's a leak (somewhere) our side of the connection.

In terms of usage, family of four 300-350 has been fairly average but this sudden leap to 965 obviously something wrong. Water man did suggest the new high pressure local system may well be responsible for increasing what may have been an existing slow leak.

We're not alone! A neighbour across from us. House built same time 2017-18 has same problem - he's alone so plainly a leak there. Until now my biggest maintenance cost has been changing long-life lightbulbs - seems long-life means 7-8 years..

Next, water detection!