Pool, drip system or slab leak? Leak detection services in Nevada

What this page is, and what it is not

This site connects homeowners with crews that find and fix leaks in water lines under the slab. It does not offer pool repair, irrigation repair or landscape plumbing. Those are different trades, and they will do a better job on those systems.

The reason this page exists is that yard systems cause the same symptoms as slab leaks. A rising bill, a spinning meter and a damp patch near the house can come from any of them. Spending a few minutes ruling them out saves a visit if the cause is outside, and it tells the crew more if the cause is inside.

The test is simple: shut things off one at a time and watch the meter. The sections below go through each, and what each result means.

Why the yard so often confuses things

Pools and irrigation draw water from the same supply as the house, and they usually come after the meter. So any leak, fill or valve fault shows on the meter just as a leak in a wall would.

Drip systems run on timers, at hours when no one is watching. A broken emitter line, a split tube or a regulator that has failed can lose water for hours every day. Because the timing matches a schedule, the meter may move only at certain times, which people often miss.

Pools top up through an auto-fill, or lose water through evaporation, backwash or a crack. In summer, a pool can lose a lot of water through evaporation alone, which is why a pool level check across a day is better than a glance.

Sprinkler valves can stick partly open. They do not make a loud noise, and the water that leaks out soaks into soil. Many homeowners find the valve box full of water only when they look.

Step one: irrigation off

Find the irrigation controller. It is usually in the garage or on an exterior wall. Switch it to off, or set it to rain-delay or turn off the master valve if there is one.

Now do the meter check: everything inside off, watch the indicator for two minutes. If it was moving before and is still now, the leak was in the irrigation system. You do not need a slab crew. A call to an irrigation specialist is the next step.

If it is still moving, the irrigation is probably not the cause. Some systems have a separate manual shutoff at the valve manifold. If you know where it is and it is safe to reach, you can close it and recheck.

If you have drip lines to trees and beds, look at the emitters and tubes for wet patches. Dry soil in the middle of a Nevada summer is normal. A patch of green or damp ground on a bed that is not scheduled is a clue.

Step two: the pool

A pool can lose or gain water in several ways. If your pool has an automatic fill, close the fill valve, then repeat the meter check. If the meter stops, the fill was supplying the pool, and the question becomes why the pool is losing water.

To tell evaporation from a leak, use the bucket test. Fill a bucket with pool water to match the pool level and set it on a step so the water inside is at the same temperature. Mark both levels. After a day, compare the drop in the pool with the drop in the bucket. If the pool dropped more, water is leaving the pool.

If the pool is losing water, that is a pool repair question, not a slab leak. If the pool is not losing water but the meter is moving with the fill off, keep checking the house.

Pool equipment pads can leak too. A wet pad or a pump that primes constantly can show up as a meter movement. These are for a pool specialist.

Step three: the yard line

The line from the meter to the house is the homeowner’s responsibility in most cases, and it can leak too. It runs underground for some distance, and a leak can turn the ground damp, grow a patch of green or create a sinkhole.

If the meter keeps moving with irrigation and pool excluded, and the main shutoff at the house stops it, the leak is in the house. If the main shutoff does not stop it, the leak is between the meter and the shutoff, which is the yard line.

A yard-line leak is handled by a different crew than a slab leak, although some slab crews do both. Tell the person who answers the result, and they will explain whether the crew is the right one.

Hose bibs and exterior taps can leak too. Check them for drips, and that includes any sprinkler vacuum breakers on the side of the house.

If it is none of those

If the meter keeps moving after irrigation, pool and the yard are excluded, and it stops when the main at the house is closed, the likeliest places are fixtures and the water lines inside the house. A toilet is the commonest cause. Check each one with color in the tank.

If fixtures are excluded, the lines under the slab are a prime suspect in a slab home. Signs include a warm patch, a hiss, a heater that runs often or a stain on baseboards. See warm spot on the floor and sound of running water.

At that point, the technician starts with isolation of the hot and cold lines and then uses locating tools. Slab leak detection goes through the visit.

Why this matters in Nevada

The Las Vegas Valley has a high share of homes with pools and irrigation. In the planned communities, front and back landscaping is on timers, and many yards have long drip lines. Southern Nevada summers mean those timers run for hours, so a leak in a drip system can spend a lot of water.

A pool in an older boom-era home may be close to the house plumbing. Pool lines and house lines sometimes run in the same part of the yard, and a leak in one can look like the other. The technician can sort it out with locating equipment, but only after you have done the exclusion checks.

In northern Nevada, irrigation systems are drained before winter and re-started in spring. A system that has been restarted with a cracked line can start losing water immediately, which looks like a new leak. Check there first.

In rural Nevada, wells and pumps change the picture. A pump that cycles often may indicate a leak in the house lines or the pressure tank, not a meter reading. Mention a well when you call.

What to tell the crew

Give them your results in order. What the meter did with everything off. What it did with irrigation off. Whether the pool fill was closed. What happened with the main closed. Whether any wet spots are visible in the yard.

Mention if you have not been able to do a check, and why. A crew can often do the check on arrival in a few minutes. If you have a pool, say so, because the technician will ask about the fill and level.

If the crew finds that the leak is outside the house, they will tell you so, and you will have avoided the guesswork. That is a good result. It means the slab is fine.

Where this comes up in Nevada

Yards with pools, irrigation and long supply lines are common across the state. Local pages that cover the homes and conditions around this topic include Spring Valley, Moapa Valley, Washoe Valley and Gardnerville.

The pages cover yards and outbuildings as they differ by place. Other towns are on the areas page.

Common questions

Related reading: slab leak repair.