How to Find a Water Leak in Your Home

If your bill jumped and you can't see why, you can usually find the leak yourself in an afternoon.

The meter test. Turn off every tap, appliance and ice maker in the house. Go out to the meter and look for the small leak-indicator dial or triangle — if it's turning with everything off, water is going somewhere. If there's no indicator, write down the reading, leave the house untouched for two hours, and read it again.

Check the toilets first. A running toilet is the most common household leak and it's usually silent. Put a few drops of food colouring in the tank, wait fifteen minutes without flushing, then look in the bowl. Colour in the bowl means the flapper isn't sealing.

Then the usual suspects. Under every sink. The base of the water heater. Washing machine supply hoses — look for bulges and corrosion at the ends. Outside hose bibs. Irrigation zones and valve boxes.

Signs of a leak inside a wall or slab. A water bill that climbed with no change in habits. A musty smell in one room. A warm patch on the floor, which points to a hot line under a slab. Staining or sagging on a ceiling. Paint bubbling at a baseboard. The sound of running water with everything off.

On a well. If the pump cycles on and off while nobody is using water, something is leaking between the pump and the fixtures.

When to call us. You've confirmed the meter is moving but can't find the source. A leak is behind a wall, under a slab, or underground. Or you find it and it's on the supply side of a shutoff you can't close.