Water leaks are a large risk which will cost a lot of money if not found and solved early. Even the small leak can result in great damages, dangers, and health issues if not dealt with. Let’s know the bad effects of these leaks;
Mold grows in wet environment, so water leaking is the main reason of mold existence in your house or business building. Even the few drops of water can cause mold growing and developing as they create wet areas where mold like to appear.
If you let leaks more time you will find mold and mildew everywhere on your carpets, walls, furniture, air ducts…..and removing it will cost you efforts, long time, a lot of money.
Damage Your Building;
Some water leaks can result in serious damages forth building as on the walls the ceiling, and attics that require expensive repairs.
Water leak can waste hundreds of gallons of water which increase your monthly bills.
And finally the most dangerous impact of water leak is health issues. As mold creation in your house or business building will cause for you serious health risks as allergic reactions as; sneezing,coughing, red eyes, skin irritations, and nose & throat inflammation.
So we have to ensure that our buildings are free of these leaks. Some leaks are obvious, so we can deal with them quickly, such as dripping faucets and leaking water heaters. But unfortunately, many leaks are undetected for years because the source of the leak is not noticeable. For that we will know how to find out these leaks;
Use your water meter
How water meter can help me in detecting water leak? Please follow these steps;
·Turn off all the water in your house, don’t use your washing machine or dishwasher and turn off all the faucets. Make sure that no using water outside as may be the leak exist outside your house.
·Place your water meter and watch the leak indicator. If it starts to change immediately, you have a large leak that you have to harry to stop it. If not you have to wait 1 to 2 hours and check it again, as if it moves you have slower leak.
Leak maybe anywhere that the meter can’t identify, for that please follow these ways too.
Compare your water bills
If your water bills rises every month while your water usage doesn’t change, it means you have a water leak. Collect some bills from the previous months and compare them to determine if there’s a regular increase.
Obvious signs of wart leaking existence
Do you find wet areas! Do you smell bad odors! Are you finding mold spreads! These are signs tell you that you have plumbing leak.
Identify your home's main shut off valve and turn off the water at the valve. Again use your water meter to check its indicator if the indicator doesn’t change that’s mean the leak is between the meter and the house.
It will be better to let professional plumber identify your water leak location.
Kinds Of Leaking
Faucets have a lot of internal parts that may wear out. Once a part fails, your faucets will begin to leak. Commonly faucets leak because of worn rubber washer which located under the handle. It’s easy to replace it, if you have the tools (Straight and Philips screwdrivers, slip joint pliers).
Shut off the water,remove the faucet stem by loosen the hexagonal locking nut keep stem and packing in place, then replace the worn part.
Inmost cases leaking toilets are silent and hard to find out. So how to determine if your toilet is leaking or not. Drops of food coloring or dye tabs will help you by removing the tank lid and drip few drops in the back of the toilet tank.
Wait about 10minutes, without flushing. If the color shows up in your bowl, you have a leak. In most cases of toilet leaking you need to replace toilet flapper, flush handle, Overflow Tube or Flush Handle;
Toilet flapper; it’s rubber valve in the bottom of the tank which will cause plumbing leak if it becomes cracked. Because it controls the volume of water released to the bowl. So if it is workout, it will let water to regularly move from the tank into the toilet bowl without flushing.
Overflow Tube; if the water is too high in the toilet tank and is spilling into the overflow tube, you have to repair or replace your Overflow Tube.
There are a lot of sources of plumbing leaks as water heaters, and keep in your mind that you have pipes underground that may leak and threaten all your building safety. For that;
Please contact a Professional plumber to examine your plumbing system as soon as possible.