Friend has a leak between the street connection/meter and his house. Has no idea where the line is ran or where the leak is located. Can see where the water line enters the house, left hand side looking from the street, and the connection to the main is in front of the other side of the house by the road so probably a 250' run and we have no idea if the run is a direct line from the house to the street which is most likely but we've dug a few test holes and can't find the line. Any ideas on how to locate/follow the line and identify the leaky section? He's about ready to rent a trencher and run a new line the entire way.

Any ideas are appreciated. Plumbing sucks!

Dan

Cut line,shove metal fish tape in it ,use locator to find it

He needs a dowser.

Start at meter and dig with a shovel

Does he for sure know he has a leak first off, he will need to be able to confirm water moving through the meter via leak indicator, if its a digital register watch to see if the numbers are moving..also..before i started yankin stuff apart…check the toilets..an i mean..take the lid off the tank..an see if you hear anything..if you dont..fillem full of food colorin anyway an come back an checkem periodically to see if its bleedin from tank to bowl…could be bad tank plumbin. If it aint obvious where the leak is…and you can 100% rule out toilets…then you can proceed to potentially fish taping or having a leak detection service come listen..but make dang sure you even have one that aint a toilet. I do this crap for a livin…an its dang toilets about 85% of the time…i aint sayin thats it…but rule it out…an if its galvanized steel…well you may want to consider runnin a whole new line anyway..good luck…an if more information is given..i might can help more.

How do you know it’s between the meter and the house? Did you close a valve at the house and see the leak indicator still moving?

Great idea to find the line, but how does this help you find the leak?

Just use a probe to track the line. I would imagine if the main line has been leaking for any amount of time you’d see moisture present close to the leak.

Call bama leak or American leak detection

Not necessarily. I had a leak in the line that led a normally sub-$100 water bill to go to 350 one month then 2500 the next so must have been a shitload of water but no evidence whatsoever on the surface, not a puddle not even a wet spot.

Had a similar problem with about the same length of run. I cut the grass and kept driving my truck back and forth down the water line and eventually heard wet ground. Until then there wasn't any visible wet spot. It was more of an accident than anything. But once the crust was broken the area got very wet.
My theory at the time, was to dig down at the halfway point and cap it. That would tell me which half. I was then gonna keep halving it. For instance. If it was between halfway and the house, I would recouple it and go halfway from there and the house and cap that spot.

Luckily I had a cutoff close to the house and another after a hose bib and were it entered the house. I decided to check to make sure that it wasn't by passing the cutoff and leaking in the house. This caused the driving back and forth. I was also visually checking while riding. On the last trip I heard the wetness and even spun the tire a little.

After you find it, dig a deeper hole beside the line so the water will run off and use the bell end off a stick of pipe as a slip coupling.

I considered running a new water line, but I got lucky.

A t handle probe, sharpshooter or spade might work for probing spots. Just thinking if I had to do it again. Dig a scoop out and come back the next day and inspect.

If applicable, make sure you know where the electric and gas lines are first.

Wiitching sticks metal coat hangers can be used. Copper works best. Run water in a sink in the house.. whitch the yard area you think the line is. The wire will cross where the water line is. It will work water needs to be running in the pipe.
https://youtu.be/Ik6lAkzVEQs?si=uQtuYHDUeCEi7uJ_

https://youtu.be/4CGKpmSrN5s?si=1n-RMh0x3o7MluRV

If the ground would ever dry up and you know the exact path of the water line you can look for a damp area.

Thanks for the replies. Yes he has a cutoff at the house and when off the meter still spins. No visible wet spots anywhere in the yard. Probably 75 yards from the supply line coming in the house to the meter. All utilities are marked so he won't be bothering them. Have dug several holes lower than the line should be but no water filling in as of last night. Probably going to dig a few more holes today and hopefully locate. Sending a fish tape thru it and using a locater is a good idea. Any others please post them up. Willing to try anything to help him at this point.

Thank you all for the help!

Dan

This place never stops amazing me

Next time I have an issue like that, Im gonna buy a T handle soil probe made of steel
I'd have a hundred probe holes in the yard, but my yard dirt is hard and I cant dig near as much as I could in my younger days

Dealt with this recently. I was in denial about my water bill being so high. It had been high for over a year at least, nothing crazy high but enough to make me think, hmmmm don't remember it being this high a year or two back. One day noticed a puddle of water in the front yard right along where the water line ran. Luckily I had a strong back in my nephew and a good shovel. Turned out to be like 5-6 pinholes in roughly 3-4 section of pipe, likely due to roots.