Water leak question

Is it a mechanical or electronic meter? It could take hours for a small leak to register, especially a leak in a foundation slab. You also need to turn off pretty much anything that could give you a false reading, any toilets that run the fill valve on their own periodically? More reliable matter is to use a pressure gauge and do a decay test.

It is a digital meter, and unfortunately I don’t know the units. I don’t have any toilets that leak and the ice maker is full, so that shouldn’t run.

May have to do a decay test, but that is going to be quite involved, because I don’t know where the water service enters the house and everything is PVC with no tracer wire. Keeping my fingers crossed that there is no leakage!

Grab a corner and pull it back. May save it if you let it dry.

I am finding it very difficult to tear up my own stuff!

The good news is that I have watch the meter for an hour with no change.

The bad news is, I may have to look elsewhere for my source of water…I am beginning to suspect air conditioner condensate line.

The attic is no place to be right now! I plan to get another hour on my meter test and then go up there.

Make sure you give us a resolution. Helps all of us learn.

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Make sure you give us a resolution. Helps all of us learn

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I will do that.

I watched my water meter for two hours and there was no change in the reading. Digital water meter reads down to .01 gallons, which equals 7 teaspoons of liquid. So it didn’t leak more than 7 teaspoons in two hour test period. Given the amount of liquid that the carpet has been holding, I don’t think that I have a water leak.

This leaves two other possibilities that I can think of:

Ground water - 6 weeks ago, I had some foundation work done. That entailed 4-foot holes around the perimeter of the house. No ground water,

AC condensate - is the only thing left. I have a half mind to pipe that out to the eave of the house and see if the problem goes away.

I kinda want to see pics if you are willing, this is interesting.

Welp, I got up in the attic today. To my disappointment, all of the air conditioner drain lines looked to be in place and draining. I still think the problem is air conditioner condensate. Unluee I have a change of heart overnight, I will start busting drywall tomorrow.

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I got up in the attic today. To my disappointment, all of the air conditioner drain lines looked to be in place and draining. I still think the problem is air conditioner condensate.

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Did anyone go up in your attic right before you noticed the water?

If so, they may have stepped on the condensate line (or other water line) and cracked it slightly/made a fitting leak. Even a drop every now and then adds up. There will be a balance achieved between the leak amount and evaporation.

Is the size of the wet area staying the same?

Can you directly look at and feel (sometimes the water travels on the underside of the pipe and you can’t see it but you can feel it) the entire condensate line? Remove insulation if you have to.

Also, water runs in weird ways because of surface tension before it gets to a spot where you see it. Can you trace the wet spot back? Look under the insulation at the edge of the walls of the room where it’s wet.

I would remove a ton of insulation before I start tearing into walls.