I periodically check to make sure the water meter isn't running when we are not running water. I checked today and there appears to be a very small leak somewhere. The little red arrow on the water meter would be steady for a minute or so, and then spin a turn or so, or a partial turn. Then be steady again, then spin a turn. I can't find any leaks. Everything is dry. I turned off the angle stops to two of my three toilets and the spinning sequence continued.


A plumber is coming maybe later today to replace the angle stop for last of my toilets since that toilet might be the leaker. The angle stop is 23 years old so I don't want to play with it. If after shutting down that toilet the leak continues, we might have a leak under concrete or in a wall.


If this was a pin hole leak somewhere, wouldn't the red arrow spin at a constant rate and not start and stop like this??

Thanks.

a tiny leak in the plumbing would do the same to the meter as a slightly running toilet.

Can the source of a tiny leak like this be detectable with a plumbers leak detection system? Or do we need to wait until the thing presents itself more thoroughly (becomes worse)?

I'd like to nip this problem in the bud if I can, but spending money to have a plumber try to find a needle in a haystack might be the wrong thing to do at this point.

Like I said the little needle doesn't move at all for awhile (like up to one minute), then it moves a half turn and stops again. This seems sporadic but probably not related to a leaking toilet as when I turn all three toilets off it still happens.

Thanks.

If there is a leak, the needle should rotate consistently (except when water is being used), not sporadically. Is the needle (triangle) rotating in a clockwise direction or counter-clockwise? I have actually seen a needle move CCW on an 'open' system.

It is rotating counter clockwise. Does that mean something??

In my case, it was the last house on the spur. When there was heavy demand from the houses prior to this house, it caused a 'venturi' effect which spun the meter backwards.

Interesting. Thanks M&M.

So normally the red arrow spins clockwise?

In my experience, yes.

A simple test you can do: have someone in the house draw water at any tap, while you observe the rotation of the meter indicator. Then wait for the meter to 'do its thing' and see if it is in the opposite rotation.



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Turns out water flow does make the arrow turn counterclockwise.

I have isolated the leak to the hot water side. I turned off the flow at the top of the hot water heater and the arrow stopped spinning. I hope this is something simple like a fault in our washing machine hot water valve. I tried to turn that off but the 23 year old valve wouldn't budge easily. When the plumber comes tomorrow we will force that valve to turn off and see what happens. If the valve breaks, probably likely, the plumber is already here to fix it.



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