WARNING: A LEAKING WATER SERVICE LINE CAN CAUSE A SPIKE UP IN YOUR WATER BILL. AND THE DOLLAR AMOUNT CAN BE HUGE DEPENDING ON HOW MUCH WATER YOU’RE LOSING!
What and where is your water service line?
Your water service line is the main pipe that connects your home with the municipal water supply. It starts at the water meter, runs beneath your yard and stops where it connects with the plumbing in your house.
Some leaks in the service line are easy to locate and repair because water will spring up out of the ground and puddle. And sometimes the leak will be at the connection with the water meter. But when leaks lay beneath things like paved walkways, driveways, planters, etc., finding them can be a little trickier. Still worse, if the water leaks down into the community water table, the leak can go undetected until it shows up as an increase on your water bill.
WHO’S RESPONSIBLE?
The water district owns the water meter that sits beneath a cast iron cover in front of your house near the street, usually in the sidewalk (some meters are located in the rear of the home depending on the age of your neighborhood). This meter is fed by the municipal water main and records your water usage in gallons to determine the amount of your bill. The water district owns everything up to and including the water meter. The homeowner is responsible for everything downstream of the meter. So, your responsibility starts with the water service line.
WHAT CAUSES THE WATER SUPPLY LINE TO FAIL?
Water service lines usually last about 30 years. They will fail much sooner if the original installation was faulty. Also, from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s, a problematic material known as “poly” (polybutylene) was widely used for water supply lines throughout Las Vegas, Henderson and the whole Las Vegas valley. Poly plumbing lines are susceptible to deterioration over time from exposure to the chlorine in the water supply. Poly plumbing in particular is not serviceable and requires replacement with a more reliable, modern solution such as PEX (cross-linked polyethylene).
HOW TO FIX IT?
Although it might be possible to repair the leaking supply line in some instances, it’s generally better to replace the line with a new one, particularly if yours is of the obsolete poly variety. You can imagine how brittle a garden hose left out in the yard exposed to the elements might become after a couple decades. Likewise, although buried in the ground, your water supply line ages and become less flexible. So, moving the line to repair a leak could easily give rise to additional fractures (and subsequent leaks) at different points in the line.
Of course, the sooner you fix or replace your leaky supply line, the better. And the local water district will even give you a one-time credit on your water bill if you get the leak repaired right away (talk with the water district to find out how much credit they can give you).
WATER SERVICE LINE RESCUE BY ACTIVE PLUMBING & AIR CONDITIONING
Active Plumbing & Air Conditioning plumbers have replaced many water service lines over the past 27 years. We’d like to do the same for you. Regardless of who you chose to do the work, it’s important that the job be done correctly or you risk premature failure of your new line.
To insure a long service life, it’s critical that your new supply line be set and covered in sand. Doing so gives it the uniform support it needs and minimizes shifting, sagging and vibration. A cut-rate plumber or handyman might cheat you out of a proper installation by back-filing it with rocks and boulders instead of sand.
Choosing Active Plumbing & Air Conditioning means you won’t have to worry about the job because we will do it correctly, satisfaction guaranteed! We will take care of your problem, and you won’t have to even think about it again for decades to come.
Give Active Plumbing & Air Conditioning a call right now to schedule your service.