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On the water meter in your house there is probably a little red wheel that spins when water is flowing through the meter. The wheel goes around one time for every tenth of a gallon (about one- and one-half cups) of water you use. But when everything — the toilets, the dishwasher, the wash machine, etc. — is shut off, and nobody is taking a shower or using the sinks, that little red wheel should spin… not at all.
If it’s moving even a little bit when everything is shut off, there’s a leak somewhere. If it’s turning quickly, that’s easy to see. But how can you notice when it’s moving very slowly? That’s harder, but here’s a trick: During a time when the house is quiet and nobody’s using any water, take a photo of the meter. Then come back an hour or two later and take another photo and compare. If the little pointer on the wheel has moved even a little bit, you have a leak. Your next move is to locate it.
A dripping faucet may be the culprit, and dripping is easy to spot. Or it’s possible, though unlikely, that the valves on your dishwasher or wash machine are leaking. If they are, you may hear a slight hissing noise, or notice water in the bottom of the machine when you come to use it. But the most common source of an undetected leak? Your toilet.
How can you check? Turn off the valve on the supply line behind your toilet, and then take another couple of photos (during a time of no water use) of the water meter, an hour or two apart. If the little red wheel is no longer moving, you know that that toilet is the culprit. And either a faulty float valve, or stopper — both inside the toilet tank — is the likely leaker. Both are inexpensive and relatively simple to replace.
At my house, I got suspicious when our monthly water bill seemed impossibly high given my wife’s and my water-use habits. I used the little-red wheel test described above and discovered that one of my toilets had a slow and otherwise un-noticeable leak. A new $8 flap stopper from the hardware store fixed the problem.
We were probably losing at least 10 gallons per day — 300 gallons per month! We’re lucky to live in Grand Marais, where water is plentiful and inexpensive to provide. Still, it costs time and energy and money to get water to our houses. And it’s clear that there are much better uses for all that time, energy, and money than sending it down the drain!
Charles Hathaway serves on the Grand Marais Public Utilities Commission, which helps guide the city’s water, sewer, and electrical services.
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