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Funny but not so funny

EBEBRATT-Ed
EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 17,281
in THE MAIN WALL

I don't know why this popped into my head today.

Sold my house 4 years ago. When I bought it in 86' and we moved it I noticed if I got up at night or if the house was really really quiet and you went into the bathroom or stood by the kitchen sink you would here a faint humming noise. Only noticed this at night.

It would sound like you held one of those Conch shells up to your ears.

Fast forward a couple of years the water pressure which was never great seemed worse. I had a friend who worked for the water dept in town and I had wired his new house. I talked with him and he said " the water pressure where you are isn't the best but we don't get complaints around there, we will come over and check it out could be the meter or sometimes the valve coming off the main get corroded". So they put a new meter in and shut the water off. Hooked up a hydraulic hand pump to the water line and with the main turned back on pumped something like a piece of cardboard back into the main to break off any corrosion. After that the water pressure improved a little.

Fast forward 10 years and during the winter the road in front of my house was buckling up a little. The town came out and fixed it.

Now its 12 years later and I am packing up to go on vacation for 2 weeks. The last thing is to cut the grass. I am down by the road cutting and the grass is soaked. This is in 90 degree July.

So I figured my water line was leaking even though we still had water in the house.

So I had that dug up and fixed what a mess, mud all over the yard.

Turns out the house had a septic tank which I knew.

When the house was switched over to sewer they hit the water line, so it leaked. For 12 years or more the water went into the old septic leach fields unnoticed

Except for the faint humming noise in the house which was caused by the leak and it was only herd at night when the water pressure was higher, and no houses were using water.

At some point the septic system had enough and the water got under the street and buckled that.

😊😊🤔🤔

SuperTech

Comments

  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 11,860

    as long as it is before the meter…

    sdodder
  • sdodder
    sdodder Member Posts: 5

    WOW- I also have good hearing and many times hear stuff my wife doesn't. I agree with the above comments. I wonder how many water leaks (before the meter) remain undetected. I myself have a well, and the pump is in the basement where I can here it. I guess each system has it's drawbacks- Steve

  • ratio
    ratio Member Posts: 3,922

    I too have a funny-not-so-funny water story. Some time ago, they repaved my street. The very next day, I could hear water running into the storm sewer, not far from where I expected the old galvanized water service to be. By coincidence, there was a water dept truck parked a few lengths down. I called him over & said "You hear that? It started yesterday." He listened for a minute, then his eyes got big & he replied "You should tell someone about that!"

    I said "I just did."

    The landlord of that place has filled the sinkhole in the yard several times now.

    EBEBRATT-Edjesmed1
  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 17,281

    I wonder how much water the water deps give away for free?

  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 11,860

    the people that run any big municipal water system have an idea of how much water they put in to the system vs how much gets billed to customers. I suspect the loss is in the 10%-20% range.

    Intplm.
  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 11,860
    https://www.epa.gov/sustainable-water-infrastructure/water-efficiency-water-suppliers#:~:text=Water%20Loss%20Control,systems%20is%20lost%20to%20leaks.

    Looks like the average is 14%. Many water meters will under read as the components wear too.

  • jesmed1
    jesmed1 Member Posts: 1,073

    The Delaware Aqueduct north of NYC has been leaking an estimated 35 million gallons per day since the 1990's. They're building a 2.5 mile bypass around the main leak area so they can shut that section down for repairs. My sister lives near there and gets her water from that system.

    https://www.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/723-24/mayor-adams-launches-final-phase-historic-project-secure-future-new-york-city-s-water
  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 17,281

    Imagine how much water my service pipe leaked in the 10-12 years it was leaking underground.

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