Some water leaks are obvious, like when a faucet drips. Other leaks take place out of sight. These have the potential to produce costly water damage due to long-term water penetration into your home. When you know how to confirm an invisible water leak, you can halt the damage and solve the problem. To protect your house from hard-to-detect leaks, get in the habit of monitoring your plumbing and water usage.
Tools 
- Pen and paper
- Flashlight
- Shovel
- Leak detection device
How to Confirm an Invisible Water Leak Step by Step
- Look closely at your water bill every month. Your usage and spending will vary with the seasons to some extent. If you notice an ongoing increase in water usage that you can’t explain, your plumbing is leaking somewhere.
- Make a list of the faucets, toilets, and water-consuming appliances in your house.
- Go around the house and check for dripping faucets and wet patches.
- Wet patches from invisible water leaks may be hiding in cabinets below sinks.
- The floor beneath a leaking dishwasher could reveal water damage.
- A leaking supply line to a refrigerator could send water into the wall or floor.
- A hot water heater or boiler could have leaks that are quietly dripping in hard-to-see places.
- Check your toilets multiple times a day, especially when no one has used them. A tank slowly dribbling into the bowl may not make much noise. Although the water goes down the drain properly, the tank leak is costing you money.
- Throughout the day, pay attention to the loss of water pressure.
- If you see water pressure drop, shut off everything using water.
- Turn the tap back on. If pressure is better with everything shut off, you have a leak somewhere.
- Mark off each item on your list after inspection with notes about anything suspicious. In addition to wet patches, red flags include water heaters that run constantly and strange, moldy odors.
- Because a leak may be outside your home, shut off the main water supply.
- Look at your water meter. If the numbers still spin with your water shut off, your leak is outside your home. If the meter records nothing, then you could have an inside leak.
- A sign of an outside leak is grass and plants that are greener than surrounding plants. An abnormally muddy area indicates a leaking underground pipe.
- Dig into the suspicious area to locate the pipe and inspect it for leaks.
- If you believe you have a leak but cannot find it, try using a leak detection tool. Several devices are sold at stores that use sensors to detect excess moisture.
- Place the leak detection tool on plumbing and monitor the results.
- Whenever you find a leak, take swift action to fix it. You may be able to do some repairs yourself. Otherwise, contact a plumber from Oliver to remedy your leaking pipe.
Trust the Pros at Oliver with Leak Repairs
Our licensed technicians at Oliver are trained to work on all home systems that could leak. We have plumbers and heating and cooling technicians skilled at diagnosing the source of leaks. To maintain a healthy home, leaks require attention as soon as possible. Contact Oliver about any of your plumbing concerns today.