Water Meter Running When No Water Is Being Used
A meter that moves with every fixture closed proves water is escaping somewhere in your system. It does not tell you where, but it does tell you the leak is real and worth chasing.
What to do right now
Do these first. None of them need tools or plumbing knowledge, and they limit what this ends up costing you.
- Confirm everything really is offEvery tap, the washing machine, the dishwasher, the ice maker, any humidifier, the irrigation controller and any outside tap. One forgotten irrigation zone explains a great many mystery meter readings.
- Watch the leak indicatorMost meters have a small triangle, star or dial that spins on very low flow. It is far more sensitive than the main digits and will move on a leak that the numbers take hours to show.
- Split the house from the yardClose the main shutoff where the line enters the house and watch again. Still moving means the leak is between the meter and the house, which is a very different and more expensive job. Stopped means it is inside.
- Rule out the toiletsPut a few drops of food colouring in each cistern and leave it half an hour without flushing. Colour appearing in the bowl means that toilet is passing water continuously, and a silent running toilet is the single most common cause of a moving meter.
Does this need a plumber tonight?
- The meter is moving fast rather than creeping
- Water is visible somewhere as well as the meter moving
- The leak is between the meter and the house
- A warm patch on a floor along with a moving meter
- A slow creep you have narrowed to a toilet
- A very slow movement with no visible damp anywhere
- Movement that stops when you close the main
What a moving meter usually turns out to be
A silently running toilet, more often than anything else. After that, an irrigation zone or an outside tap, then a genuine hidden leak.
Toilets are first by a wide margin because a worn flapper or a badly set fill valve passes water into the bowl continuously and almost silently. The dye test settles it in half an hour and costs nothing.
Irrigation is a close second in Weber County, because a controller that is still running a programme or a valve that has not fully closed will draw water without anyone noticing. Isolating the irrigation supply and rechecking the meter separates that out immediately.
- A toilet passing water silently, most common by far
- Irrigation still running or a valve not seating
- An outside tap or hose bib left barely open
- A water softener stuck in regeneration
- A genuine leak in a supply line, buried or under a slab
When it is the line between the meter and the house
If closing the house shutoff does not stop the meter, the leak is on the service line in your yard. That is your responsibility in most cases and it is excavation work rather than a repair.
The signs that support it are a soggy or unusually green patch in the yard along the line's route, water appearing at the kerb, and a bill that has risen sharply. In winter the surface evidence can be completely absent.
This is worth confirming carefully before anyone digs, because the cost difference between an interior repair and a service line replacement is substantial.
What this costs to chase
[PLACEHOLDER: PRICING] Pending from the client.
Do the free tests first. The dye test and closing the main cost nothing and frequently solve it, and we would rather you did those before paying anyone to attend.
Questions people ask about this
How slow is too slow to worry about?
Any continuous movement with everything closed is real. A leak indicator that turns steadily can add up to thousands of gallons a year, which usually shows on the bill before it shows anywhere else.
Could it be the meter itself?
Occasionally, and the utility can test it. Rule out toilets and irrigation first, because the meter is rarely the culprit.
My meter stops when I close the main. What now?
Good news, the leak is inside the house where it is much cheaper to reach. Next step is isolating fixtures and listening to narrow it down.
If that is not quite what you have
Not sure how urgent this is?
Describe what you can see and hear. We will tell you whether it needs someone tonight, and what to do in the meantime either way.
Or send it over
Four things and a photo.