water leak ,how to find it ?

[i claudius]

dont know if i should post here but as we are in Pattaya , our water bill has gone up recently so the wife got the water board to check and the guy showed her that although we are not using anything ,the meter is slowely going around , he said there must be a leak somewhere ,well i cant find one ,any ideas who we could call? any help appreciated

[ignis]

It is not easy if the pipe work is split/broken in under the house...

my last leak was not a leak at all but the ball-cock in the water tank not closing 100%, over 10 year with that ball-cock, so replaced with a expensive one... [range in hardware shop from 100 - 350 baht]

some year ago was a leak, no idea where, used the old ways, long wooden dowel, past it all over the floor in bathroom and kitchen the other end in my ear, could hear the leak under the downstairs bathroom, as I had no mind to take up the floor, simply by passed the downstairs bathroom to the rest of the house and ran new pipe work outside to that bathroom.... [for me was not difficult as I was on site a lot while the house was being built so remembered where they the builders laid the pipes]

The Guy that lives in the next house down in the Village has the same problem with a leak, so far last Sunday was the 4th person to have a look and try to find it.. at moment he turns off the water in the road, as there normal bill was under 200 baht month, suddenly went up to over 500 baht.

[thaipod]

It's difficult to tell I've got the same problem, the meter is slowly moving, back home the plumbers had a pressure test kit where they pump air into the line . There is a leak for sure as when we get a water bill for over 100 Baht and the place is not lived in.

I believe the leak is under the car park, so i will put all pipe work above ground level to the pump and if it's under the house i will need to break the floor up and put a new line in a sand bed and cover again.

[Guderian]

my last leak was not a leak at all but the ball-cock in the water tank not closing 100%, over 10 year with that ball-cock, so replaced with a expensive one... [range in hardware shop from 100 - 350 baht]

Yes, I had the same problem three or four years ago. Fixed it with a more expensive sealed float.

[ignis]

It's difficult to tell I've got the same problem, the meter is slowly moving, back home the plumbers had a pressure test kit where they pump air into the line . There is a leak for sure as when we get a water bill for over 100 Baht and the place is not lived in.

I believe the leak is under the car park, so i will put all pipe work above ground level to the pump and if it's under the house i will need to break the floor up and put a new line in a sand bed and cover again.

to be sure why not cut the pipe before your tank/pump and add a inline tap, at least then you will know it the leak is before the pump.......

after the pump you can normally tell because there will be air in the pipe when you turn a tap on.. difficult if not lived in but the pump would start and stop if a leak after the pump.

[Pib]

Do you have any cutoff valves "after" the water meter, especially any such valves that feed into your residence. I know my home four cutoff valves after the water meter that feed into different sections/rooms of my house. Like one for the kitchen, one for the a side room, one for the second story, etc. And usually commode water inlets will have a cutoff valve...or at least my do....a commode can be leaking and you don't even hear it....take the top cover off the commode water storage tank and look/listen to see if water is continuing to slowly flow into the tank...a slow leak can really rack up significant water usage over X-days/weeks. If you have any such valves, try using them to narrow down the leak location.

And assuming you have a water pump, does it kick-on frequently when you don't have any water taps turned on, not using the washing machine, not using the commode, etc.? If it is turning on without any known water usage occurring in your residence then that indicates the leak is somewhere after the pump vs before the pump. And once again, check your commode for internal tank leaking.

[jaywalker]

I rented an identical house next to my American friend in Eakmongkol 4 for a few years. We both had 4 people living in each house.

My water bill never budged. It was 510 baht every month.

His would range all over between 700 to 1100 or so.

For about 3 years they never noticed that 2 identical houses sitting right next to each other, had vastly different water bills.

My water meter was stuck/broken. His actually worked, so, you never know in the land of OZ.

EDIT:

Oh yeah, I left his house extremely sauced one night and managed to get tangled up in his ABOVE GROUND plumbing, that was outside his front wall, on the soi.... I tripped on the pipes in my Roman sandals, and broke his water main.

I do so love Thai plumbing!

Edited September 29, 2015 by jaywalker

[i claudius]

Thanks for all the info , i have checked the ball cock ,thats ok ,the pump never kicks in except when we use water and the only cut off i have is one that just shuts everything off , the only thing i can think off is there is a leak under the house , its not really bad ,our bill has gone from 250 to 400 , but as we all know things do not get better only worse.

[Pib]

Yea...like transam said if your pump is not kicking on and off when your know you are not using water then the leak is most likely between your water meter and the input to your pump. Hopefully the distance between your pump/storage tank is not too far from the water meter (or your lines buried deep).

[wpcoe]

One way to detect even a small/slow leak from the toilet tank is to put a few drops of food dye in the tank. Won't harm anything, but if you see the color in the bowl without flushing, you know it's leaking.

[StefanBBK]

We do have a leak. Got somebody from water authority coming today to check. They have fixed rates. It is definately after the pump, as it keep on switching on frequently without usage.

The way they found a leak previously is with something like a stethoscope listening to the pipes....

[i claudius]

Thanks for the tips , yes i do think its between the meter and the house ,just hope its not under the drive ,

[onemorechang]

Before you dig it all up.

Can you run a new main above ground, round the perimeter

of your home and pickup on or around the same old main entry point.

Just a thought.

[Pdavies99]

If your pump ain't switching on and off then it is the feed from the meter to the pump/tank. If that is under ground you gotta start digging.. I have done that twice, under my kitchen floor...

I agree with above, but many times it is the below ground water tank itself that is leaking, nearly always this, PROVIDING the pump is not starting often.