[PLUG-TALK] I think I need a metal detector

[John Jason Jordan]

On Wed, 28 Sep 2011 19:42:48 -0700
John Jason Jordan <johnxj at comcast.net> dijo:

>The purpose is to locate water lines under a front lawn. That is, the
>lawn is naturally brown this time of year, but there are two very
>suspicious lush green spots. The water bureau has been out and they
>swear it's not on their side.

Thanks to all for the suggestions.

The simplest suggestion was to shut off the main and check the
meter. I did so today for about 16 hours. After turning off the main I
opened the kitchen faucet all the way to make sure the main shutoff
still worked. (It did.) The meter did not budge. I left the kitchen
faucet on when I turned the main back on and then, with the kitchen
faucet flowing full blast, went out to check the meter. It was spinning
wildly.

The fact that the meter did not budge in 16 hours would indicate that
there are no leaks under the lawn. However, it would take only one drip
every 10 - 15 seconds to make the spots on the lawn green, and it's
possible that the leak was just not great enough to move the meter in
16 hours. On the other hand, the green spots are in odd places not
directly above the pipe.

Thursday evening I went to the Home Show at the Expo Center where I
discovered a gentleman at a booth representing a pipe locating service.
We talked for 15 minutes. He said that the way they locate underground
pipe (galvanized, like mine) is to connect a wire to the pipe at the
meter box to charge the pipe with a certain frequency, which they can
then easily locate from above ground. I'm not sure if this is more
effective than a simple metal detector, but at least it seems to be the
professional way to do it. At least it would have the advantage of
locating just the pipe and not miscellaneous other buried metal
objects. 

So the question remains: Do I have a leak? If so, it is apparently very
small. However, mighty oaks from small acorns grow, and entropy tells
us that the leaks are going to get bigger.

Several neighbors have looked at the situation as well and they all
shook their heads the same as I did. What on earth could be causing
those green spots in the lawn?

I'm afraid the next tool to use will be a shovel.