Meter Running Even With Everything Off Inside?
Homeowners often describe this exact situation: every fixture inside the house is off, but the water meter keeps moving, or they suspect the leak is somewhere between the meter and the house rather than inside it. That's the clearest sign the problem is on the service line itself, not the home's interior plumbing, and it changes both how we find it and how we fix it.
Water Line Repair & Replacement In Melbourne
The service line running from the meter to the house sits in the same sandy, limestone-influenced soil that shifts through Brevard County's wet and dry seasons. This stresses this buried line over years just as it does supply lines inside the home.
Older copper service lines are also susceptible to the same pinhole corrosion Melbourne's hard aquifer water causes elsewhere, and because this line runs entirely underground between the meter and the house, a leak here can go unnoticed longer than one inside a wall.
Common Warning Signs
Meter Moving With Everything Off
The clearest sign the leak is on the service line rather than inside the home.
Wet Patch Between Meter And House
Standing water or unusually green, lush grass along the line's path between the meter and the house.
Low Pressure At Every Fixture
A sitewide pressure drop, rather than one affected fixture, suggests the restriction is upstream on the service line.
Rising Water Bill With No Inside Leak Found
A bill increase after ruling out leaks inside the home points to the service line itself.
Dealing With This Right Now?
Call and we'll walk you through what to check while help is on the way.
Finding The Real Cause
We start by isolating whether the leak is before or after the meter using pressure testing, which confirms it's a service-line issue rather than interior plumbing. From there, acoustic equipment traces the leak's location along the line's buried path so we know where to dig before any excavation starts.
Equipment We Use
- Meter isolation and pressure testing.
- Acoustic leak tracing along the buried line.
- Line locator for mapping the service line's path.
What Fixing It Actually Involves
Spot Repair
A single confirmed leak point is excavated and repaired without replacing the full line.
Full Line Replacement
For an older copper line with a history of repeated leaks, replacing the full run from meter to house avoids repeat excavation.
Trenchless Replacement
Where the yard's layout allows it, a new line can be pulled through the old path with far less excavation than a full open trench.
You approve the price after diagnosis, before any repair begins.
Common Questions
Leak detection typically covers plumbing inside the home. This service specifically addresses the buried line between your meter and the house, which uses different isolation and tracing steps since it's a different section of your water supply.
In most cases, the property owner is responsible for the line from the meter to the house; the utility typically maintains the line up to and including the meter itself. We can help clarify where the leak falls once it's located.
Not usually. Acoustic tracing pinpoints the leak's location along the line before any excavation, and trenchless replacement can address a full line with far less digging where your property's layout allows it.
Yes. Because this line feeds the entire home, a significant leak or restriction on it can cause a sitewide pressure drop rather than affecting just one fixture.
Often Booked Together
A leak between your meter and your home is easy to miss since it never actually reaches a visible fixture, the meter still moving with everything off inside is usually the only clue. Isolating and tracing it with the same equipment behind our hidden leak service service, before we dig, is what keeps the repair contained to the actual leak point.