Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Aldeer General Forum Water Leak In A Slab House

Does anyone have experience with finding a water leak on a slab? I believe I have a leak on the hot water line going to my kitchen. I have no idea how to find it. I'm thinking about running a line from my water heater up through the attic and down the wall to my sink. Anybody ever done that before?

That is usually how they fix it.

It is in the hot water line more often because of corrosion in my experience. A lot of times it is near the water heater and I have often seen it in the bend of the soft copper where it is thinner because of the bend where it goes into or comes out of the slab. You can often feel a warm spot on the floor where it is leaking. You can bust the slab and fix it or rout it through the attic.

I believe this whole house is PVC and CPVC, no copper. I say it's a hot line because each time you turn on the hot in the kitchen, it has air in the line. In the last week or so, the pressure has dropped by about 50%.

It should be copper or pex under the slab.. Most likely its against a rock and has rubbed a hole in it. Reroute it through the ceiling and be done with it (sheetrock is cheaper to fix)

I had a leak in a copper line in my slab about 20 years ago. I don't want a water line in my ceiling so I dug a trench around my house and ran PVC (cold water) and just drilled holes in the brick where I needed to get in the kitchen or bath. No problems since.

first thing i'd do is pressure test it . that way you dont believe you have a leak , you know you have one .

i'm gonna ask a stupid question . how do you know its air ? water not coming out in a steady stream or are you hearing a it making a noise ?

You should be able to check the leak indicator on the meter. If the little dial is turning and everything is off in the house, then you have a leak

What Reno said. Check the leak detector at meter. Turn off water heater and re-check water meter. I’d make sure the leak was identified before I re-routed waterlines.

When you turn it on, it spits and sputters for a couple of seconds. When the air is gone, it works fine. Or it did until the other day. Now there is hardly any pressure.

How old is the water heater?

This...

They make a device that is much like a stethoscope with a rod on the end of it; I think they are pretty cheap on Amazon. If you put that on the floor and listen until you find the loudest location you will be able to pinpoint the leak if you, in fact, have a leak. We found a leak in the floor of our church with one last year and it was dead on the money.

Do you have a well? If so, what kind of tank do you have?

If you have a tank, there is also a possibility the air control valve on your water tank is bad if you have the older style (non-bladder) tank. This will cause a similar condition that will be more noticeable on the hot water side. If the valve is bad your tank will get too much air in it vs water (basically the opposite of being water logged). This is easy to check, run your hand down the tank and see where the water starts, if it is only in the bottom 3rd or so of your tank when the tank has built up pressure and the pump has cut off, then that is an indication there is too much air in the tank. You can also listen when the pump kicks on and see if that valve about half way up the side of the tank is letting in air out of the tank. If it is working correctly it will let air out until the water level gets high enough to lift the float and cut the valve off, which will allow the tank to finish building up the pressure that it is set for.

If this is the problem it is an easy fix, they are simple to replace.

Not sure. I believe it's 8-10 years, but I have only owned the house for 3 years. It makes loud noises, so im sure it will go out soon, but all the bathrooms have good hot water pressure and don't have the air in the line, so I'm not sure the heater would cause my problem.

I'd make sure to check the cartridge or ball valve in the faucet fixture before I went full blown Bob Vila on any major repairs.

Your problem doesn't sound like a water line leak.

If the line was leaking - I wouldn't think there would be air in the line, because the line would always have a constant pressure of water.

If the hot water line is leaking you'll know when you get the electric bill

The more I think about the condition you are describing, I believe you have more than one problem. When you first asked the question I didn't realize it was only happening on one leg of your hot water, and then with the volume gradually getting worse as well, it leads me to believe you have two problems. You have the one issue causing air to get in that hot water leg, and then the spitting and sputtering has probably loosened up some trash that is clogging up the kitchen faucet as well.

As far as the air in the line goes, I am pretty sure even if you had a leak in the slab you wouldn't have this condition because you would always have a positive pressure condition that wouldn't allow air to be "sucked" into the line. The more I think about it, you may want to check your hot water heater to see if it is overheating causing a vapor lock like condition. If the thermostat has gone bad or is set too high the water in the tank can become steam, and you will get steam in the line vs water which will cause a violent spitting and sputtering coming out of the hot water side of the line. This sometimes affects one leg worse than others, although I would think it would affect all the legs to some degree. I can't think of a condition other than this that would cause the problem of spitting and sputtering in the line on just one leg. If you were only dealing with a volume issue on that one leg, then it could be the valve in the faucet, the screen stopped up, constriction in that leg, busted line etc, but the air in the line on just one leg really limits the things that it could be.

If the water in the tank is turning to steam it will sometimes build up enough pressure to push water/steam out through the pop off/overflow. Check the overflow after the hot water has not been used for a couple of hours and see if there is any indication that water/steam has been pushed out. If so, then that is definitely your problem. If it is not a problem with the hot water overheating then I am at a loss on this one. I would love to know what you find when it is all said and done...

It could be the faucet. If the seal at the base of the spout is leaking when you turn on the faucet it will take a second for the water to get through the spout and will cause what you describe. The valve could have debris in it that will decrease your pressure. Disconnect the supply line and point the supply line into a bucket and turn on the angle stop and see if you are still getting air in the line.

When I had my leak I had a bunch of water coming out from under my slab. If you have a leak there should be evidence somewhere, cut off your sprinklers on the flower beds around the house and see if there is a wet spot.