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OT. How Do I find underground water leak?

cvman

Aluminum
Joined
Mar 27, 2005
Location
Cherry Valley, ca
I have a leak that is seeping from underground near the edge of my asphalt driveway. The asphalt is starting to crumble like it does and it's coming out of the middle of it. I have heard gophers will occasionaly chew PVC. Is there any way to find the source of this leak without digging a hole where you THINK it might be coming from? I'd hate to start digging and then find the source is 5 feet away! :eek:
 
Well, if you resolved to dig yourself a single ten foot diameter hole, you might be lucky and not have to dig two :D

My apologies, sorry. Next up, divining rods ;)
 
i'm glad nothing is leaking in my driveway. i'd hate to have an ICE SKATING RINK!



Dont know what to tell ya, good luck!

-Jacob
 
Its probably showing you where the leak is. I would dig at the wettest spot first. If you want to protect the driveway dig right beside the driveway nearest the wet. Unless its a steep hill, you should be close. Good luck.
 
CVman. Your gonna need enough room to git down in there and work once you do find the problem anyway.I usually wind up with at least a five foot diameter hole. You have to dig back each side of the leak to make things flexible enough so you can work on them . I think the other replies are correct in that the leak is usually under the wettest spot.That crap always seems to happen when it's cold out dosn't it. Good luck!
 
I've seen pool guys put the pipe under air pressure and go listening for the hiss of escaping air.

Dunno if it's practical for this purpose.

Tools
 
are you on city water?if so they would be responsible for repairing it.as far as digging holes or trenches-be careful!cave ins do and can occur even under the best of circumstances even with those (cant think of the corrrect term here) barriers that they drop in to keep it from happening.
 
Leak is by the wettest spot?

You wish!

I've seen somewhat deeply buried pipes leak , and the water pop up 20 feet away. And I've chased that leak across the field as it went along a layer of clay.... under it.... and along the pipe another 15 feet to the real leak.

And here you have asphalt, which by itself may cause a leak in the middle under it to be forced over and pop up wherever there is a weak spot in the asphalt, OR at the edge.

And, of course, for variety, sometimes it IS at the wettest spot, or right at the edge of the pavement, just as it seems.....

Well, I sure wouldn't count on it being where you think.

If it's under any pressure at the source, you may find it the way I have....

Get a long piece of steel rod about 3/16 diameter. Pound a flat on one end. Make sure its dull..not capable of cutting PVC. Chuck the other end in your cordless drill, and commence drilling down in likely spots.

When you hit water, either the flat end will come up wet, wetter than the dirt, or if you are lucky, water will actually come up out of the hole.

I'd drill around your leak, and see if you can trace water away. If not, the leak may be right there, or inaccessible under the asphalt that you probably didn't drill thru.
 
I had a similar situation a couple years ago. I could hear water running at night, it sounded like it was under the house. After investigating found the main water line to the house was leaking somewhere under my concrete driveway. I drilled a couple holes through the driveway and confirmed there was a leak. I was able to determine the path of the pipe by locating both ends at the edges of the concrete. I rented a walk behind concrete saw and cut an 8" path in line with the pipe. Found it was steel pipe and was very rusted, so I replaced the pipe rather than repair it. I ran the new section of 3/4" pipe through a 2" pipe under the driveway section. I figure if it ever leaks again I can pull out the old pipe and slide in a new one. Last step was to patch the driveway.

Richard.
 
My suggestion would be take piece of rebar about the depth of the leaking pipe. Drive it down into the ground about every foot in the direction of the underground pipe. Then take a air hose and displace the water in each hole. See which one fills up first. The water will follow the path of least resistance.
Good luck when I dug up my well pipe it just crumbled and I had to replace about a twenty foot section.
Rustystud
 
A couple of things:

Before you go driving rebar into the ground or digging anything up, call the underground utility locate service. It is free in many states. It is way better then driving a stake through a fiber optic cable, electric or gas line that you didn't know was there.

When you get ready to repair the leak and if it is very deep, open the trench wide enough that a trench wall will not kill you if it collapses. Dirt is very heavy and wet dirt is especially unstable. If a wall of dirt falls on you, you can't free yourself and you will suffocate if you are not crushed. Make it as wide as it is deep where you will be working. I had a friend die this way.

Water can follow along a pipe for a great distance. The wet spot is not always where the leak is.

Often times, it is easier to just bite the bullet, rent a mini excavator or small backhoe and replace a long section of pipe then to pothole all over the place by hand, hoping to find a leak. Such equipment is pretty cheap to rent and pipe is.

Don't use PVC pipe for pressurized underground applications. Most failures are at the joints unless the pipe froze, in which case the pipe will have a spiral crack that can go many feet. Two good choices are copper pipe and Kitec pipe but even a poly of potable grade is better than PVC. Red bronze fittings are the best for underground connections. Don't use galvanized.

Once you locate the existing pipe, dig deeper, along the side of it instead of on top of it. You can sluph the dirt from along the side of the pipe and expose it that way without as much risk of snagging it. Clean the other side and all the dirt will just fall off the pipe without touching it. If you snag the pipe, you can break it 10 feet or more from where you are digging or even pull it out from under your house.

When you dig with equipment and are trying to find the pipe, have someone with a shovel dig a very small diameter hole a foot deep and as wide as your bucket. Clear the excess with your machine and dig to the exposed depth. Have the hand digger go down another foot and so on. Make your helper stand out of your bucket reach while you are digging.
 
What is this, 'National Water Leak' week ?
It's a darned shame that it couldn't be National Frozen Waterline Week. Then, at least, we could talk about thawing the lines with arc welding leads connected to either end, accidentally turning the water to steam, etc. Or National plugged drain week and someone could comment about how they cleared a drain once with a 3/4" cable chucked in their Barfeeder. Now that would be entertaining.
 
Look more where the water line goes into the home. digging flinging or settling ground will frequently source a hole around there.
 
I had a similar situation a couple years ago. I could hear water running at night, it sounded like it was under the house. After investigating found the main water line to the house was leaking somewhere under my concrete driveway. I drilled a couple holes through the driveway and confirmed there was a leak. I was able to determine the path of the pipe by locating both ends at the edges of the concrete. I rented a walk behind concrete saw and cut an 8" path in line with the pipe. Found it was steel pipe and was very rusted, so I replaced the pipe rather than repair it. I ran the new section of 3/4" pipe through a 2" pipe under the driveway section. I figure if it ever leaks again I can pull out the old pipe and slide in a new one. Last step was to patch the driveway.

Richard.

OLD thread, if that was missed, but y'know.. this problem comes up every damned year for LOTS of folks.

That's the right way. Did much the same with a bit of overkill a few years back.

Quarterly water bill for 70,000 gallons whilst I was away for the winter in warmer climes.

Solution involved parallel 37-foot cuts, 28" apart with walk-behind pavement saw, electric demolition hammer to cut 4"+ of rather good asphalt, plus 6" of cement-stabilized subgrade. Previous owner was a paving contractor executive, hence the above norm driveway.

Too bad he didn't realize 9 inches of cover was all that cutting in the driveway left above a 1972 vintage type L copper line that HAD been 2 1/2 feet down before he added the garage & driveway. AND.. that a black-body asphalt driveway picks up solar heat of a winter to melt snow sooner, but.. once bare, also sheds heat faster to the air and night sky than dirt and turf do. On the evidence, that old Type L line had frozen and thawed several times before it finally burst.

Trenched it four feet deep with a 12,000 lb trackhoe, hand cut another six inches with a mattock, laid new, heavier Mueller "Plumbshield" Type K copper, jacketed with PE foam insulation within 3" medium-wall LPE jacket / pulling sleeve.

Poured 1200-1500 lb concrete pulling anchor at each end.

Added sheet foam insulated above the line, backfilled and tamped in 2-3 inch lifts.

Repaved the gap, penetration McAdam style by hand & plate tamper.

At nowhere less than 46" down, if ever it fails again, hundred years or three out, the pulling anchors will stand pulling Type K Copper just as easily as PEX.

All-up, around $2,700 in equipment rentals, $300 or so for Copper line, jacketing, valves, plus my hours. Call it three thousand?

Neighbour lady, same year, same street, same distance from street, ordinary dirt lawn, no driveway nor even trees or shrubs over, had to pay a contractor.

Her cost was $6,000, and all she got was naked PEX 24 to 30 inches down in ignorant dirt and a few bags of sand. That's "Metro DC area" (Loudoun County, VA) for costs.

Don't dick around with "exploratory" potholes and band-aid patching. Start of a regular and recurring project, those can be.

Just run a new line altogether and be done with it, my lifetime and well beyond in my case.
 








 
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