Find household water leaks with the meter and food coloring

Leaks in the average household waste more than 9,300 gallons of water a year, and 9 percent of homes have leaks that waste 50 gallons or more a day. Fixing the easy ones can save about 10 percent on a water bill.

The checks take an afternoon and need only the water meter and a bottle of food coloring. Start with the meter, because it tests the whole house at once, including pipes you can't see.

What you need

• Access to the water meter, and a phone to photograph its reading
• Food coloring
• A flashlight for under the sinks
• Plumber's tape, sometimes sold as pipe tape, for a loose showerhead or hose connection

Steps

1. 1

   Read the meter

   Pick a two-hour stretch when nobody will run a faucet, the dishwasher, the laundry or the sprinklers. Photograph the meter's reading at the start.

   5 min

2. 2

   Read it again two hours later

   If the reading changed, water is leaking somewhere. Use the two hours for the next steps, which use no water.

   120 min

3. 3

   Test each toilet

   Put a few drops of food coloring in the tank and wait. If any color shows in the bowl after 10 minutes, the toilet leaks. Flush once the test is done so the dye doesn't stain the tank.

   15 min

4. 4

   Check the faucets

   Look for drips at each spout and for water on the outside of the pipes under the sink. A faucet that drips once a second can waste more than 3,000 gallons a year.

   10 min

5. 5

   Check the showerheads

   Watch the showerhead after the water is off. One leaking 10 drips a minute wastes more than 500 gallons a year. Wrap the threads with plumber's tape and tighten it if the leak is at the connection.

   5 min

6. 6

   Check the hose and the sprinklers

   Run the garden hose and watch where it meets the spigot. If it leaks, replace the washer and tighten the connection with pipe tape. Inspect an in-ground sprinkler system each spring for frost damage.

   10 min

7. 7

   Read the meter once more after the fixes

   Repeat the two-hour test. If the reading no longer moves, the leaks are fixed.

   120 min

When the meter moved and nothing else showed

The meter test can catch a leak the other checks miss. A buried line between the meter and the house is one, and a pipe inside a wall is another. If the reading moved and every toilet, faucet and hose passed, have a licensed plumber trace it.

Your bill is a second check. A family of four using more than 12,000 gallons in a winter month, such as January or February, could have a serious leak. Compare a winter bill with the one from a year earlier.

In a sprinkler system, a leak about 1/32 of an inch wide can waste about 6,300 gallons a month.