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Pete C.

wrote:

On Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:35:50 -0800, Zz Yzx
wrote:

I just discovered a leak in my water service lateral between the meter
and the shut-0ff valve where the pipe enters the house. It looks like
the buried pipe makes a straight shot from the meter to the valve, as
the leak is right where you'd expect if so. It'sa fair-sized leak
too, probably 1 or 1.5 gallons per minute.

BUT, the soil around the leak is saturated with water, and the holes
I've dug to expose the pipe are full of muddy water with nowhere to
drain. I can't find the pipe or be exactly sure where the leak is.

I've called some plumbers but none are immediately available. Is
there anyway to find the pipe and leak aside from digging up the whole
planter?

I finally got a plumber and the guy from the sity to look at it. The
plumber said "We'll start digging at our full hourly rate, and once we
find the leak we'll give you a repair estimate and roll the cost of
digging into it." Whilke I was out bying repair supplies, the guy
from the city brought out a "hog pump" (hand-operated pump and
dewaterd the hole. And then watched it fill back up. "Yup, you got a
leak in the service lateral".

So I took out a landscaping railroad tie and finally exposed the PVC
pipe at the point adjacent to the leak. No break or obvious leak, it
looks to be in fine shape. But I can still see water roiling up from
the base of the hole. I'm guessing the leak is up towards the
shut-off valve, under the sidewalk.

-Zz

Rent a concrete saw, cut out a 30 inch strip of concrete above the
pipe, break out the concrete and start digging. You cant leave the
leak, so what other options are there. You can probably mix that
cement by hand

Another option would be to abandon the section of pipe and I guess valve
under the sidewalk and push a new pipe under the sidewalk and install a
new valve on one side or the other. The saturated ground ought to be
fairly easy to push a pipe through.