My water meter has a small red dial on it and this thing runs at a pretty good speed even when nothing is on.?

Question

We're in a drought and I've been keeping an eye on usage and trying to conserve whenever I can.Due to the closer scrutiny I have noticed this little red dial constantly running.Anyone know if everyones does this or should I call the water works or the local plumber?

Answer 1

First thing you want to do is locate the leak. Find the valve close to the house, and shut it off. If the dial indicator arrow stops moving, the leak is outside, if it still moves, it is in the house. Toilets are the worst wasters of water. Turn off the valve located below and to the left of the toilet. Check the arrow for movement. If the arrow stops, most likely it is a bad flapper. To check if the flapper is bad, put 3-4 drops of food coloring in the tank, and check back in 10 minutes. If the coloring is in the bowl, your flapper is bad. good luck!

Answer 2

The local water works in most cases is responsible for equipment on the upstream side of the meter. Anything from the meter on is yours. We just had a cracked fitting just off the meter. Had to repair it ourselves. Some plumbing outfits have devices that detect the sound from a leak and are able to locate it easier. I would turn off the water to the house and see if the meter quit turning. That should tell you whether the leak is in the house or the line from the meter to the house. There are many suspects as noted in other postings. Irrigation systems would be a big suspect. Most others like faucets and toilets are more apparent. It should be noted that almost any water movement will cause that dial to move so the leak could be small and somewhat hard to locate. Toilets can be isolated at the inlet as can most kitchen and bathroom faucets. Showers can be tougher because they can't be isolated and can drip undetected inside the wall.

Answer 3

For us, each increment on the dial is about a pint of water.
So if that's the case for you, the red needle is showing a sizable leak that has your water bill increased.

You probalby need to call a plumber, but you can start looking for you leak anyway.

A greener thicker patch of grass can be an indicator of an underground leak.

Quiet the house down and try to hear the leak in the plumbing areas.

We can give you more advice if we knew more, like do you have a concrete floor, older home, sprinkler system etc, etc.

Answer 4

The small red dial is a leak detector. It senses any flow of water. You have a leak somewhere. Check your toilet tanks first. This is the main cause of leaks.

Answer 5

the dial should not move if there is no water flow ; you probably have a leak in your system probably in an outside faucet or sprinkler valve or maybe running toilet valve double check and try to find leak

Answer 6

If it's running and your not using water I would check for a leak somewhere..