Deerfield Wood: BIG update

The water line. Fixed it in an afternoon! I think it leaked 8-10,000 gallons so the water bill was... high. But I posted a video on youtube of the leak, sent a link to the video + a copy of my receipts to the city and the bill was adjusted to be about my normal summer average bill. Thanks, San Antonio Water System! Here's how to track down and fix an underground water line leak.

First you need to figure out where the leak is coming from. Water flows downhill, so you have to find the highest wet spot in the ground and start digging. In my case I followed it up, towards the house and into the landscaping. You should also know what you're looking for. If you draw a straight line from your water meter and go towards the water spigot at the front corner of your house you now have a pretty good idea where the main water line runs. My leak was in that line so the water main was the culprit.

So now you've dug down and found a pipe (6 inches down in my case). Continue digging (carefully) uphill and you will locate the actual leak. My leak was a hairline crack about an inch and a half long, probably caused by roots growing around the water line. It shot a spray of water 3 or 4 feet into the air and looked like this:

The next step now that you've found the leak is to shut the water off at the street and remove the damaged section of water line.

Now you get to dig again - about 3 or 4 feet on both sides of your cut because you will have to bend both sections of the PVC line to splice in a new piece. To build the new piece of water line just measure the length of what you cut out and subtract about 1/2 inch. Attach an adapter to both ends by using pipe dope and cement and you're ready to install it.

Make sure you can install it by test-fitting it first. Dig and expose more pipe if you need to. Attach your new section of water line with the pipe dope and cement, and hold it all together for 30 seconds (so neither end of the repair section pulls out while the glue sets) and you're done.