D.I.Y. Blog

High water bill? Do you think you have a water leak? Want to do all you can yourself before calling for help?

When your water bill climbs or spikes for no apparent reason don’t be anxious, there is usually a pretty (compared to the accumulative water bills) inexpensive fix. In fact it is not uncommon for a leak to develop in your plumbing system that you can’t readily see. The most common “Mystery Leak” is caused by a running toilet. Yes, toilets can leak gallons of water and you not even realize it. The average leaky toilet can waste about 200 gallons of water per day. That’s over 6,000 gallons a month ($70.06*) for just one leaking toilet! Multiple toilets “leaking”, “running”, or “hanging up” can cause bills to exceed $400-$800 or even more!

If you think you have a leak, don’t worry! Follow these simple steps that you can do yourself to confirm that you have a leak, and even narrow down where it is before calling for professional help.

1. LOOK AT THE METER. You don’t have to be a super technical person to read these things. Better yet, most meters have a leak detector built in! Just look for the small triangle or dial and see if it moves while no one is using water in the house. The one in this picture has the dial in the center.

2. If the answer if yes, the dial or spinner moves when no one is using water, all you have to do is turn off each toilet at the emergency shut off valve below the tank one by one. Go look at the meter after turning off each toilet and see if the little indicator is still moving. If it stopped moving (and hopefully it did) you have found the leak! Having a licensed plumber come out to rebuild the offending toilet tank usually doesn’t cost more than a couple of hundred dollars – that is if you can not make the repairs yourself.

3. If the answer is no – that is, the meter is still moving after turning off all toilets – then make sure you don’t see anything obvious leaking, or maybe make sure the nephew did not leave a garden hose on after watering the dog in the back yard (yes, we have had this call). If you can’t find anything at this point, it may be time to reach out and call for an expert with some specialized equipment. There may be an underground leak that has not surfaced above the leak. Not all of them do.