Help Needed Solving Outside Leak

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celife

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I'm trying to figure out how to approach an outside leak. I called a leak detection company and they charge up to $375 depending on equipment used, so this struck me as a good opportunity to try some DIY for locating, then fixing the problem.

The leak first appeared as a large puddle on my porch about 3 months ago. Since we were still in the rainy season here in Northern California, and I live down a hill, I didn't think much of it. Now that we're in a drought it must be coming from a pipe...but I've been unable to find the source.

One confusing thing is that the problem is intermittent...once every 2 or 3 weeks...though it may be becoming more frequent (twice in the last 3 days). I figure if it's a water pipe under constant pressure then it would be consistent.

Regarding the 3 attached images...

- Though I'm not sure, the leak seems to occur at night.

- During the day you can see moist soil in the shaded area.

- The larger pipe is a drain pipe from the garage's roof (no water likely from here due to drought). There are 2 pipes with about an inch diameter to the right, once on top of the other. They come from the direction of both my water meter & gas meter. I'm curious if anyone can tell if they are both water, both gas, or one water/one gas? And if they're both water, could someone explain why there'd be two water pipes leading to my house?

The adventure begins...

water_night.jpg

water_day.jpg

water_pipes.jpg
 
I work in Leak Detection and i would guess that the only reason you notice it more at night is because its cooler then and as generally the water pressure rises at night then the leak gets bigger.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
leaksireland, thanks for your help. I'm curious as to why water pressure generally rises as night?
 
The pressure goes up at night because the demand for water in nieghborhood is down. In the morning pressure wil go down when people are getting ready for work. City pumps enough psi to feed the nieghborhood
 
Thanks, journeyman...that makes perfect sense.
 
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