Leak Detection
Acoustic listening and pressure testing before anyone cuts drywall or floor.
SUPPLY · NORWALK, CA
Main water line repair, from the meter to the house
The service line is the one pipe that carries everything. When it leaks you pay for water you never used, and when it restricts you feel it at every fixture at once, usually with no visible clue above ground.
Line answered 24/7 · leak located before anything is excavated
The pipe nobody thinks about
One run, and everything downstream of it
From the meter at the property line to the point it enters the house, the service line is usually a single continuous run of copper, galvanized steel or (on newer work) polyethylene. It is buried, unmonitored, and generally forgotten until the water bill jumps.
Because it sits under the front yard, a leak often shows as a soft patch, an unexplained green stripe in the lawn, or nothing at all. The meter is the honest witness: if it creeps with every fixture in the house closed, water is leaving the line.
Signs the service line is the problem
What separates a main line issue from a fixture issue is that it affects the entire house at once.
- A water bill that has climbed with no change in use
- The meter dial moving with every fixture and valve in the house shut
- Pressure low at every tap, hot and cold alike
- A permanently damp, soft or unusually green patch between meter and house
- Air or grit at the taps after a repair or a street main event
- Visible corrosion or weeping where the line surfaces at the house
Check the meter with everything off, then call and tell us what it did.Call (562) 358-3351
Why it happens here
Why service lines fail here
Pre-1960 houses in this area frequently still have galvanized service lines, and galvanized fails from the inside: rust closes the bore, then perforates it. A house can lose half its pressure to a pipe that looks intact from outside.
Copper service lines fail differently, pitting from soil chemistry, plus mechanical damage from decades of landscaping, root pressure and ground movement. And every line that passes under a driveway has been carrying vehicle load its whole life.
Local note
Anything upstream of the meter belongs to the water utility; the line from the meter to the house is yours. Call the utility first if the leak is at or before the meter; that repair should not be on your invoice.
How the work goes
How the work goes
Confirm it at the meter
Isolate the house, watch the meter. This distinguishes a service line leak from an internal one in minutes, before anyone digs anything.
Pressure test and locate
Static and dynamic pressure measured at a hose bib, then acoustic and line-tracing equipment used to mark the leak on the surface.
Decide repair or replace
A single mechanical failure in sound pipe is a spot repair. Corroded galvanized is a replacement, patching one hole in a rusted line buys weeks.
Mark utilities and plan the route
Underground services marked, and a route chosen that avoids the driveway and mature roots where possible.
Trench or pull the new line
Open-cut where it is straightforward, or a pulled replacement along the existing path where the surface matters.
Test, disinfect and restore
New line pressure-tested and flushed, connections at both ends inspected, then the surface restored.
Meter spinning with the water off?
That is a leak on your service line. Every hour it runs is on your bill, call now.
24/7 DISPATCHCall (562) 358-3351
Options and trade-offs
Repair the section, or replace the run
A spot repair makes sense when the line is otherwise sound, a copper service line damaged by a shovel or a root, for example. One excavation, one coupling, done in a day.
Replacement is the answer for galvanized, for lines with a history of repeat leaks, and for anything where the pipe's condition means the next failure is a matter of when. Modern polyethylene is jointless along the run and immune to the corrosion that killed its predecessor.
Where the line runs under a driveway or hardscape, replacement can often be pulled along the existing route or bored rather than trenched, which changes the restoration cost far more than the pipe cost.
What raises the price
- Long runs from a distant meter to the house
- Crossings under driveways, walkways or mature planting
- Deeper burial, or hard soil and rock
- Permits where the line crosses the right-of-way
- Emergency response outside normal hours
- Upsizing the line to fix an undersized original
What keeps it down
- A short, direct run through open lawn
- Catching it when the meter first shows movement
- Replacing rather than repeatedly patching galvanized
- Scheduling the work rather than dispatching it at 2am
- Combining it with a repipe if one is already planned
While you wait
Before the truck arrives
A service line leak is rarely an indoor emergency, but it is a meter running against you.
- Note the meter reading, then read it again an hour later, bring both numbers to the call
- Shut the house valve if you can, and leave the meter valve to the utility
- Keep vehicles and heavy loads off any soft or sinking ground
- Do not let anyone dig before utilities are marked
- Photograph the wet area and any surface damage
What you get on the phone
Meter behaviour plus the age of the house usually narrows this to one answer before anyone is dispatched.
- A time window, not a vague day
- Repair-or-replace explained with reasons
- Upfront pricing before work begins
- A pro who knows which side of the meter is whose
One conversation and a local pro is on the way.Call (562) 358-3351
Related work
Related supply work
Main line problems and these three tend to travel together.
Whole-Home Repiping
Copper or PEX through a single-story ranch, sequenced to keep water on.
Water Pressure Regulator
Banging pipes and blown supply lines from pressure that is too high.
Questions we get on this job
Questions we get on service line jobs
The meter test. Shut the main valve where the line enters the house: if the meter still moves, the leak is between meter and house. If it stops, the leak is inside. That five-minute check saves a great deal of guesswork.
Sometimes. Many utilities have a leak adjustment policy that applies once you can show the repair was made promptly. Keep the invoice and the before-and-after meter readings, and ask them directly.
Rarely. Most repairs are one excavation at a located point. Full replacements are a narrow trench along the route, or a pulled line where the surface has to be protected.
A typical residential service line replacement is one day, sometimes two with a driveway crossing or a permit inspection to schedule. Water is off for part of that day, not the whole job.
For a buried service line, generally better. It has no joints along the run, does not pit in aggressive soil, and flexes with ground movement instead of cracking. Copper remains the choice where it surfaces or where code requires it.
Yes, badly. A leak or a corroded bore on the one pipe feeding the house shows up at every fixture simultaneously, which is why whole-house pressure loss should always be measured at the main before anyone talks about repiping.
Unsure whether it is your line or the utility's? Ask on the call.Call (562) 358-3351
Also dispatched
Other work we take on
One number covers all of it. If you are not sure which of these your problem is, describe it and we will tell you.
Stop paying for water you never used
Located first, repaired or replaced with reasons given, and the surface put back. Call any hour.
SAME-DAY AVAILABLECall (562) 358-3351