How do I check for a hidden water leak?
Shut off every tap, appliance and ice maker. Find the meter in its box at the property line and note the reading or watch the low-flow indicator — a small triangle or dial that spins on any flow. Wait an hour. If it moved, water is escaping.
- Turn off all taps, showers, the dishwasher, the washing machine and the ice maker
- Open the meter box lid and locate the low-flow indicator
- Note the exact reading, or watch whether the indicator turns
- Leave it an hour with nothing running
- Check again — any movement means an active leak
Run it overnight if an hour is inconclusive. A slow weep may not register on the indicator but will show as a changed reading over eight hours.
How do I tell if the leak is inside or outside?
Close the interior main shutoff, leaving the meter live, and repeat the test. If the meter still moves with the house isolated, the leak is on the buried supply run between the meter and the building. If it stops, the leak is inside.
This single step saves real money, because it decides whether anyone needs to open a wall or dig a yard. On Bend’s larger west- and south-side lots that buried run can be long, and a leak on it is invisible from the surface until the meter or the bill gives it away.
What are the signs of a leak besides the meter?
A water bill that climbed with no change in use, a warm or permanently damp patch on a floor, staining or soft drywall with no visible source, a musty smell in a crawlspace, or the sound of running water with everything off.
One Bend-specific pattern is worth knowing. Not every pipe that freezes bursts outright — plenty split partially and weep a few ounces an hour into a wall cavity or crawlspace, quietly, for weeks. If a line froze last winter and something has seemed off since, that is worth checking before it becomes a framing problem rather than a plumbing one.
What is a slab leak and how do I recognise it?
A leak in a supply line running under the concrete slab. The tells are a warm patch on the floor if it is on the hot side, the sound of running water with everything off, flooring that stays damp, or an unexplained bill increase.
Slab leaks matter more than an equivalent leak elsewhere because the water has nowhere obvious to go and can undermine the slab before it ever surfaces. The repair options are genuinely different too — breaking through to the pipe, or rerouting the run and abandoning the section in the slab. Which one makes sense depends on the pipe’s condition and depth, and that decision comes after locating it, not before.
Can a leak be found without cutting into walls?
Yes, and that is the point of locating properly. The sequence is non-invasive first: isolate sections, pressure-test individual runs, then confirm the position before anything is opened. A leak found precisely means one small access point to patch afterwards.
A leak found by guesswork means several access points, and you pay to open and close each one. That is the difference between a locate fee and an afternoon of exploratory demolition.
When you call for water leak repair, tell us the result of your meter test. It changes what we bring and saves diagnostic time you would otherwise be paying for.
Should the leak be repaired or the pipe replaced?
One failure on an otherwise sound line is a repair. Two or three on the same run means the pipe is failing along its length, and patching those individually costs more over two years than repiping once.
Galvanized supply in Bend’s pre-1960s core — concentrated around Downtown, Old Bend, the Orchard District and River West — is the clearest example. Once it starts weeping at threaded joints, the thinning is general rather than local. You will get both numbers so the comparison is in front of you rather than implied.
Last reviewed 2026-09-21 by Bend Plumbing Pros, Bend, OR.