Water line leaking - how to find it

[SenileTexasAggie]

All,

I reside on 160 acres in western Arkansas. My driveway (and water supply line) is about 1/2 mile long. The water line is leaking somewhere between the gate and the house but I have not found where. The water line is about 20 years old and so the seals around the PVC may be leaking. I forget the name of this type of piping, but the piping is not glued to each other. Instead a 20' section of pipe is made with a male end and a female end. There is a gasket (O-ring) in the female end that seals the male end of the next pipe. These pips are laid out and then covered over, They work great as long as the ground is not disturbed and the seals don't fail (which apparently starts to happen around 20 years).

My problem is that I don't know exactly where the water line is buried. I know where the line is about 1/4 of the way from the house, as it leaked there and was repaired back in 2020 (that was an adventure but a story for another time). The water meter is located at the gate, so that is the other end. But where the line is in between is a mystery. I see no signs of leakage in the pastures, but the water line crosses a small creek at an unknown place, so it may be leaking there. We had a really dry summer and there was no sign of water entering the creek, as it was completely dry, but maybe the trees there are absorbing the water that is leaking.

So what do you folks recommend: (1) find the leak and repair it, (2) replace the entire water line with a water line that won't use gaskets/seals that will deteriorate, (3) something else?

All recommendations are welcome. Thanks in advance.

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[grsthegreat]

There are companies out there that can locate water leaks underground. Our water district uses a few when we have issues.

youll have to do internet searches in your area. Not cheap, but better than digging 50 exploratory holes.

 

[JPRambo]

How deep is the line buried?
I have had good luck locating within 8 inch either way using a couple pieces of wire. 2 lenghts (about 16 inches each) of wire. Bend both 90° at 4 inch. Hold one in each hand. And hold short ends loosely in fists with the end balanced on little finger. Hold long ends level, pointing away from you. As you walk over the area of the pipe they will cross each other.

 

[steve tym]

Dowsing as JPRambo does.
Hire someone with listening equipment to do leak detection.
Isolate the line at 50% intervals and narrow the search.
Replace it all, sounds like that is in your future anyway.

 

[Chewwy]

All,

I reside on 160 acres in western Arkansas. My driveway (and water supply line) is about 1/2 mile long. The water line is leaking somewhere between the gate and the house but I have not found where. The water line is about 20 years old and so the seals around the PVC may be leaking. I forget the name of this type of piping, but the piping is not glued to each other. Instead a 20' section of pipe is made with a male end and a female end. There is a gasket (O-ring) in the female end that seals the male end of the next pipe. These pips are laid out and then covered over, They work great as long as the ground is not disturbed and the seals don't fail (which apparently starts to happen around 20 years).

My problem is that I don't know exactly where the water line is buried. I know where the line is about 1/4 of the way from the house, as it leaked there and was repaired back in 2020 (that was an adventure but a story for another time). The water meter is located at the gate, so that is the other end. But where the line is in between is a mystery. I see no signs of leakage in the pastures, but the water line crosses a small creek at an unknown place, so it may be leaking there. We had a really dry summer and there was no sign of water entering the creek, as it was completely dry, but maybe the trees there are absorbing the water that is leaking.

So what do you folks recommend: (1) find the leak and repair it, (2) replace the entire water line with a water line that won't use gaskets/seals that will deteriorate, (3) something else?

All recommendations are welcome. Thanks in advance.

Senile Texas Aggie

Searching for a leak in water line of that length can be time consuming and therefore expensive, even if you knew its location. I would suggest no. 2, replace the entire water line with a water line that won't use gaskets/seals that will deteriorate.

We had a leaking water line somewhere between the meter and our two structures. We replaced the entire line over 25 years ago, right at 1,000 feet of 1” pvc. Cost including, trenching, was less than $1,000. Probably at least twice that now. We’ve had no problems since.then.

 

[lman]

I would use something like this.

1" x 1000' SIDR 11.5 160 PSI Excel Potable Water Poly Pipe

1" x 1000' Excel 160 PSI Flex Water Pipe

www.menards.com

 

[etpm]

I have read about how water leaks can be found by the sound they make. I wonder ifyou could use a stethoscope type setup to listen for the leak. Maybe shut the water off at the meter and pressurize the pipe with air so you can listen for the hiss.
Eric

 

[ruffdog]

I would replace with the black poly pipe like Iman stated above. Do it once and forget it.

 

[2manyrocks]

All the previous responses make good sense to me. I would only add that if one O ring is leaking now, how many will fail sooner or later? That suggests replacing the entire pipe may be a very good option.

 

[plowhog]

Q- how do you know it is leaking? Pressure loss?

Dowsing for it is an option which may or may not work.

If you have access to either end of the pipe, or could gain access, you could map out the entire route with an underground locator device. I believe you can rent those. Some models have a transmitter that you push along through the underground pipe while the detector at ground level follows it.

Just fyi, when I drained my irrigation lines this year I discovered something quite interesting. Way up the hill, I heard hissing in two places. Air was rushing into the pipe to compensate for drainage below. It alerted me to two areas I need to repair. Now I am thinking of pressurizing the entire set of pipes as a way to check for additional leaks after I fix those. I suspected a water leak in one of the areas that started hissing, but it was always a guess. But the hiss was unmistakable.

If you use air, be sure to keep the pressure at or lower than your water PSI.