The Leak Has Been Found

And it's probably been there since the pipe was laid

I haven’t been working at the ‘pit’ full time. Because Rain, Heat, Tired, or just plain didn’t feel like it today, (I’m old, sorry!). I’d pretty much figured out that the leak was from a bad union. Because it was slow and that tends to mean the leak is a plumber failure, not a parts failure or a wear out/abrading failure (folks, I almost became a plumber - used to work for one between aerospace layoffs - I actually enjoy the work and I even have all my own tools - still!)

So first I switched gears and dug up the front lawn faucet, which was 14 feet away. Turned out that wasn’t the leak (did that yesterday). Today I started back in the pit, following the pipe towards the faucet. Now, I don’t know if they were using 10’ sticks, 20’ sticks, or scraps. But if they’re using ten foot, well, I should be getting there soon.

So today I dug up 2 feet, then another 2 feet. As I was digging I started to see purple stains on the pipe. Dead giveaway that the union is near and that the whoever put it in, wasn’t very good. Sloppy work means it’s probably a bad joint. Spilling cleaner everywhere means sloppy work.

The picture below (or maybe it’ll be above) has a red circle around the union and a blue line showing the leak. It’s very much a ‘pinhole’ leak and it was obviously a bad union the second I cleaned it all off and took a step back and looked at it. Anyone with plumbing experience will see it instantly as well (Probably even in as bad a picture as this one).

What is wrong with this picture? The pipe isn’t straight coming out of the union/coupler.

This was probably leaking before they even threw dirt over it. If it wasn’t, it was leaking soon enough after. That leak has been there since creation and it explains a whole bunch of other issues we’ve seen over the years.

Tomorrow or Monday I’ll splice in a new section. I’ve got like eight feet of pipe exposed now. I’ll probably take a regular coupler, grind the ring out of the inside so I can slide it up and down the pipe, so I can fit it in without having to try and bend the pipe (which would probably break it, and would give a crap joint if it didn’t).

Oh, and this is why you twist the joint, or the pipe, when you put it on. To make sure it’s fully seated and to make sure that there aren’t any air passages or weak areas in the glue that will leak. This entire issue is because the installer did a shit job and couldn’t be bothered to check his work, or fix it if he saw it was leaking.

In any case, I think my water bill just dropped by 50 to 100 dollars a month.