If you're the type of person who likes to fix things around your home or business yourself, American Leak Detection of Central & Eastern North Carolina has some advice to give you!

Our master plumbers have more than 30 years of leak detection experience. Take a look below at the meter and pool testing information to help you find a leak in your home, business or pool.

If you still cannot find where the leak is coming from, contact American Leak Detection of Central & Eastern North Carolina and we'll help you find the leak.

How to Take a Meter Test

• Set aside 30 minutes to take the meter test. During the 30-minute period, no water should be used on your residential or commercial property.
• Record the current reading on your water meter. If you can't locate the water meter, most water meters are in the ground in a box near the front of your home or business.
• Return in 30 minutes to check the water meter. If the numbers are the same as your first recording, you do not have a leak in your pressurized water system and you can stop the test.

If the water meter numbers did change, go inside your home or business and shut off the valves under all toilets and then repeat the test.

If the numbers did not change after shutting off the valves, the leak is coming from a toilet in your home or business.

If the numbers change even after turning off all valves, you should schedule a professional leak inspection.

To get an idea of how big your leak is, subtract the numbers showing on your meter of the test from the number you wrote down initially. 

The result will be the total number of gallons of water your leak is wasting (some municipalities have different means of measurement).

For more information, call or text us today

f you suspect there's a leak in your pool and are wondering if the water loss is being caused by a leak or evaporation, a bucket test is the easiest way to rule out a pool leak without having to call a professional for help.

Here's how to perform the bucket test:

1. Make sure your pool is filled to its standard level. With a 5-gallon bucket, fill it 1 inch from the top with pool water. If it's for a commercial pool, turn any autofill valve off and close access to the pool. Homeowners should also check if they have an auto-fill device and turn it off.
2. Immerse the 5-gallon bucket in the pool to about 5 inches. Setting it on the first or second step of your pool should be sufficient.
   
3. Mark the water level inside the 5-gallon bucket and the water level outside the bucket.
   
4. Return to the pool area in 24 hours to compare the inside water level to the outside water level. If the water level outside the 5-gallon bucket has dropped more than the water level inside the bucket, you have a pool leak and need to call a professional leak detection specialist.
   

It's important to check the bucket exactly at the 24-hour mark. If you wait longer,  you'll get inaccurate results. If there is a rainstorm, you will have to wait and start over when there is no chance of rain.

After the bucket test, use our pool water loss calculator button to find out how much water is being lost because of the leak.