Your water bill jumped, but every faucet is off, the floors are dry, and nothing is dripping under the sinks. A high water bill with no visible leak is frustrating, and it usually means water is leaving your plumbing somewhere you cannot see. It can slip silently down a toilet drain, soak into the soil around a sprinkler line, or escape from a pipe buried under your slab.
The good news is that you can narrow down the cause yourself in about an hour with a few simple checks. Here is what Edmond homeowners should look at, in order, and how to tell when it is time to call a leak detection specialist.
First, Rule Out Billing and Usage Changes
Before you go hunting for a leak, compare your current bill to the last few months and to the same month last year. A few things can raise a bill without any plumbing problem at all:
- A longer billing period than usual, or an estimated reading followed by an actual one
- Lawn watering during hot, dry stretches, which drives up summer usage across central Oklahoma
- Houseguests, filling a pool, or a new water-using appliance
- A rate change from the utility
If none of these explain the jump, your next step is the water meter.
Do the Water Meter Test
Your meter is the fastest way to confirm whether water is moving through your plumbing when it should not be. In most Edmond neighborhoods, the meter sits in a ground-level box near the street or sidewalk.
- Turn off every faucet, fixture, and water-using appliance. Pause the sprinkler controller, and make sure the dishwasher, washing machine, ice maker, and water softener are not running.
- Open the meter box lid carefully. Lids can be heavy, and boxes sometimes hold spiders or other pests.
- Look for the leak indicator. Many meters have a small triangle, star, or dial that spins when even a trickle of water is flowing. If it moves with everything off, you have a leak.
- Write down the full meter reading, then wait 1 to 2 hours without using any water. Check the reading again. Any change means water is going somewhere.
If the meter moved, close your home’s main shutoff valve and watch the meter again. If it stops, the leak is inside the house. If it keeps moving, the leak is likely on the service line between the meter and your home. Keep in mind that sprinkler systems are often tapped in before the house shutoff, so an irrigation leak can also keep the meter moving.
Leave the valve inside the meter box alone. It is typically the utility’s equipment, and forcing it can damage it.
Check the Usual Suspects
If the meter confirms a leak inside the house, start with the places silent leaks hide most often.
Toilets
Toilets are one of the most common sources of silent water loss. A worn flapper or a fill valve set too high can let water trickle into the bowl around the clock, with no sound you would notice.
Try a dye test. Add a few drops of food coloring to the tank, wait 15 to 20 minutes without flushing, then check the bowl. If color shows up, the tank is leaking into the bowl. Also check the tank’s water level. If water is spilling into the overflow tube, the fill valve needs adjustment or replacement. A running toilet is usually a simple bathroom plumbing fix, and if your toilet refills on its own between uses, our guide to ghost flushing explains why.
Sprinkler and Irrigation Lines
Irrigation leaks are easy to miss because the water goes straight into the ground. Walk your yard and look for soggy spots, puddles near sprinkler heads, patches of grass greener than the rest, or heads that bubble when they should spray. Check the controller too. A zone valve stuck open or a schedule changed by mistake can run up a bill fast.
Water Heater
The temperature and pressure relief valve on your water heater has a discharge pipe that often runs to a floor drain or outside the house. A steady drip from that pipe can go unnoticed for weeks. Look for water in the drain pan, rust streaks, or moisture around the base of the tank. If you have a tankless unit, check the connections underneath it.
Water Softeners and Filtration Systems
A water softener stuck in its regeneration cycle can send water down the drain nonstop. Reverse osmosis systems under the kitchen sink also send some water to the drain as they filter. If either one seems to run constantly, it may need service.
Outdoor Faucets and Pools
Check hose bibs for drips, especially any exposed to a hard freeze last winter. Freeze damage can leave a cracked pipe inside the wall that only leaks when the faucet is turned on. If you have a pool with an auto-fill valve, a leak in the pool or its fill line can show up on your bill before you notice the water level drop.
Signs of a Hidden Leak or Slab Leak
If the meter shows a leak but none of the usual suspects are to blame, the cause is likely a hidden water leak inside a wall, under the floor, or underground. Many Edmond homes are built on concrete slab foundations with water lines running beneath them. Central Oklahoma’s clay soil swells when wet and shrinks as it dries, and over time that movement can stress the pipes under a slab.
Watch for these signs:
- Warm or hot spots on tile or wood floors, which can point to a hot water line leaking under the slab
- The sound of running water when everything is off
- Damp carpet, warped flooring, or new cracks in floors or walls
- A musty smell or mold with no clear source
- Low water pressure at more than one fixture
- A water heater that seems to run more often than it should
- Water pooling around the outside of the foundation
Older copper lines can also develop pinhole leaks from corroded pipes, and those leaks often start small inside walls or under floors. Any of these signs paired with a moving meter is a strong reason to schedule professional leak detection instead of opening walls or floors on a guess.
When to Call Hi-Tech for Leak Detection
Call a professional if your meter shows water moving with everything off and you cannot find the source, if you notice any slab leak signs, or if your bill keeps climbing month after month.
Professional leak detection is designed to pinpoint a leak before anything gets torn out. Depending on the situation, technicians may use line pressure testing and thermal imaging to locate a leak under a slab, inside a wall, or along a buried line. Finding the exact spot first means smaller repairs and less damage to your home.
Once the leak is found, repair options range from a spot repair to rerouting the line or trenchless pipe rehabilitation, depending on where the leak is and the condition of the surrounding pipe. For larger repairs, plumbing financing is available.
After the repair, keep your invoice. It is worth contacting the City of Edmond’s utility customer service to ask whether any billing adjustment applies to your situation.
Hi-Tech Plumbing, Leak Detect & Drains has served Edmond and the surrounding communities since 2001, and our team is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you are dealing with a high water bill with no visible leak, call (405) 241-2985 or request service online, and we will help you track it down.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a hidden leak really raise my water bill?
Yes. Leaks under a slab, inside walls, along the service line, or in an irrigation system can run around the clock without any water showing inside the house.
How long should I leave the water off for a meter test?
One to two hours works for most homes. To catch a very slow leak, take a reading at bedtime and another first thing in the morning before anyone uses water.
Is the leak my responsibility or the city’s?
In most cases, the homeowner is responsible for the line from the meter to the house and everything inside. If your meter test points to a problem on the street side of the meter, contact the City of Edmond.
Does a slab leak mean my floor has to be torn up?
Not always. Depending on where the leak is, it may be possible to reroute the line or use another method that avoids breaking through the slab. Accurate leak detection is what makes those options possible.
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