# Leak in system, HELP?



## dosercody (Oct 27, 2021)

Hey guys. So I bought a new home and I've been experimenting with the irrigation system trying to find which valve is to which zone and so on. That was pretty easy, and I did find a spigot at the back of the property that must be hooked into the irrigation somehow as when I shut off the main valve to irrigation only it does not flow.

1 zone in the front, 3 in the back. I was surprised due to the size of lawn. It seems they had bubblers installed on the main lines for some of the shrubs/plants. Don't know where or how the spigot is connected to anything, never had that or done that before.

Here's the trouble: There's a leak somewhere in the system, and a good size one.
Water is shut off at the house and my meter is still running. So I haven't messed with valves and irrigation much as a whole, so I thought the point of the valves is to regulate when the water goes to the sprinklers, usually automatically with a controller. But when the system is off, I still have a good leak going (about $45 a month in water from what i can tell or 1/3 of my bill). I hired a pro to come out and look as I thought it would just be a valve issue that I didn't have time to explore, though he was fumbling around and seems not to think so. He ended up replacing a ball valve that shuts off water to the system which is great but didn't fix the issue. Isn't that the only place it could be, in the automatic valves? If the main water line runs to the valves, and the valves shut off the water to the irrigation system, shouldn't then there be no leaks even if there was a sprinkler head issue or a spigot issue? Please help me where you can  as I'm lost! Fortunately winter for the next few months, and just got my most recent water bill which was $100 less since I shut the irrigation off with that main ball valve!

Thank you in advance.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

It could be a valve internal seal leaking or a crack pipe/connection that feed those valves. The first thing to try now with the system off is to take the valves apart (remove the top) and inspect for debri/damage to the internal seals. Turn it back on and see if your meter starts running again (= leak is still there). If you still have a leak, then the next step is likely digging from the point of the ball valve to the irrigation valves.


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## dosercody (Oct 27, 2021)

Thanks g-man. You know I thought the same but what is so weird is that The valve box doesn't really show any water. As much water is being leaked I would had thought that water would be showing up there. What sucks is the box is surrounded by concrete, but let's give it a go!


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## Utk03analyst (Jun 8, 2019)

When I had a leaking valve the value didn't close all the way. When I turned off all the zones I could hear water running in the valve box. But it didn't drip in the valve box. Depending on the valve you have you should be able to buy the same type and only replace the valve internals and not the body as in my case. I also noticed that my lowest sprinkler head in that zone was always wet.

If the leak was in your supply line to your valve manifolds not sure of rainfall in your area but I would think that if you irrigate near year round in CA, if you stopped running your schedules one spot of the yard would stay green depending on how deep your lines are to help identify the leak.


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