"DAVID ALEXANDER" wrote in message
...
To update the group on the latest, let me give some more facts:

1. I live on a three acre plot and there's no way that neighbors could be
stealing water. No construction in the area either, and I haven't done
anything lately involving digging.
2. Turning off the main valve stops the flow.
3. I can hear water hissing as the main valve is turned off.
4. The main valve is next to the street, about a hundred feet from my
house.
5. I don't have an underground sprinkler system.
6. I've turned off everything possible inside the house (toilets), and
the
water still runs.
7. The water meter is mechanical, not electronic. I can't vouce for its
accuracy, but I know that water is coming into the system.
8. I did find one toilet with a silent leak. It drained about half the
tank in an hour. It's something to definitely fix, but not the cause of
the
major leak that I have.
9. The fact that the leak stopped for several hours has made me question
my
own sanity, but I know it did.

Yesterday, I went home early once again to attempt to find the shutoff
valve next to the house. I went to the outside faucet where I believe the
water line enters the house. I could hear water hissing as I got close to
the faucet. I called my plumber and he's supposed to come by this morning
and check it out. Hopefully, he can determine something.

I also dug down by the footing of the house under the faucet where I heard
the hissing, but didn't find a water line. It must enter the house at a
different spot. The faucet is located on the north side, so the line must
enter at the northeast corner since that's the direction the main line
points to from the meter. Naturally, there's a large shrub bed at that
corner to inhibit digging. I'll let the plumber's younger crew do the
digging. Hopefully, the leak will be found outside the house since it's
built on a slab. I just hope it doesn't require tearing into the slab to
try to determine where the leak is.

You would think a 4000 gallon per day leak would be easy to find, but I
haven't seen any evidence of it yet. There are damp areas on the north
side
of the house, but we had a good rain a few days ago and that area is in
shade, so it's not surprising that it is damp.


You might consider hiring some minimum wage workers to dig
and find the leak. It would be a lot cheaper than having plumbers
do it.

At least you know that you have good drainage around your house.

Bob