I will try to make my long story short. I usually use between 1,000 and 2,000 gallons of water per month. My bill has skyrocketed to 13,000 gallons per month. Called the water department. They installed a new water meter. My water meter is located INSIDE my house in the basement. Waited a week for the new meter to take its fancy digital readings. It says I use 30 gallons an hour now. I called a plumber out, he checked everything and everywhere for leaks. There are no leaks. Absolutely not a drip or drop anywhere.

Any ideas people? I'm at my wits end. The water department just says "Fix it, its on your end".

It appears the leak is under ground. Do you know where the pipe is buried? You must probe for it or dig to locate it. What material is the pipe, PVC, Copper, etc? What is the make up of your soil? Any obvious wet areas?



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get a better plumber. the water is going somewhere.

No wet spots outside. The pipe to my house runs under my driveway. They stripped the street shutoff when they installed the new meter inside my house. My inside shutoff works. When I turn off the water inside the house, the meter still runs. Wouldn't that mean I have a leak inside the house?



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it means two things.
your shutoff is not working and you have a leak inside the house..
the most common leak inside the house that you can not see is a running toilet.

Is the shut off valve inside your home a gate valve? If it is not a ball valve you will want to replace it with a ball valve. Once that is done if you still have a leak, it is likely between the curb and the house. Again, what material is the line from the meter to the house? Copper, PVC, CPVC, Galvanized...what is it?

Packy & HJ are both right. Put some food coloring into your toilet tanks. You should NOT see it seeping into the bowl. If you do, there's your leak -- replace the toilet flapper and test again.



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If it's between the curb and the house and his meter is inside his house wouldn't it not be recorded as usage by his meter?

There are some basic stuff you can do yourself.

First turn off all fixtures in your house, nothing is running inside and outside. Check all hose bibs on the outside and make sure there isn't a hose running to fill up a neighbor's swimming pool.

Once you made sure nothing is running, go back into the house and check the meter. If the meter is spinning then something is consuming water (or the meter is defective).

Now turn the shutoff valve to OFF. That should completely stop the flow at the meter. If it does not, then the shutoff valve could be broken and not closing completely. To check which is the case, go turn on one of the faucet in the cold water position and see if water comes out. If no water comes out the shut off valve is doing it's job and I would suspect something wrong with the meter.

You can also go to each fixture inside your house, and turn off the fixture angle valves (under the sink, behind the toilet etc...) and if that stop the meter spinning you have isolated the leaking fixture like a running toilet with a leaky flapper.

The next thing you could do is turn off the cold water inlet valve to your water heater. If that stops the meter from running then your leak is on the hot water side.

quote; When I turn off the water inside the house, the meter still runs

If that is true, the leak would have to outside the house, since you stated that the inside shutoff works. But, since you stated that the meter is inside the house, you have an enigma that requires an onsite inspection.



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ditto Sum

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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

Just another possibility. Take a photo and share here of the “new meter” you waited a week for. Showing it mounted to pipes.

Meter could be outside at curb still with a remote panel/screen inside the basement for ease of reading by homeowner?

Do you REALLY think they put remote readers for the HOMEOWNER'S benefit? That will be the day. They are for the meter readers benefit so they don't have to physically access the meter .