Very Slowly Spinning Fine Flow Indicator

The water meter outside my house is an Amco C700.

I have owned the house for about 6 months now. I haven't really paid attention to this until now, but I realized that the fine flow wheel on the meter turns extremely slowly when i have the system off.

The indicator is a small triangle that rotates. Essentially, it will stop for 10-30 seconds, then it will start to move and take about 10 seconds to do a rull rotation, then stop again for 10-30 seconds.

I guess this means I have a leak, but I am unable to find one. I was told by someone that the indicators slow rotation is so small, that it might just be something you have to live with.

So, how much water do you think I am leaking and is there anything I can do about it? Is it normal to have very fine leaks?

Thanks!

This very well could be a toilet flapper that is allowing a little seepage. When the water level drops, the fill valve will open and refill the tank. This isn't a huge amount per time, but it adds up. Monitor your toilets very closely, I think you'll find the problem.

If it moves,.water is flowing. I am not positive...but I think if your meter reads in gallons, one rotation of the triangle is either one gallon or 1/10 gallon, and if your meter reads in cubic feet, one rev. is probalby 1/10 or 1/100 cubic foot. ( a cubic foot is about 7.48 gal).

The dial records whatever volume it is geared for. You would have to watch it and see how many revolutions it takes to equal one division on the main dial.

The OP indicated that he has some flow "when the system is turned off". I would take that to be turned off either at the meter or a valve where the supply enters the house, which would seem to be a leak at other than one of the fixtures.

I think thiggy has made a good point. While it is possible that the shut off valve is not 100% stopping the water to fixtures, it very well could be a leak in the line from the meter to the house. Depending on how deep the line is buried, the size of the leak, and type of soil, a leak might not show up on the surface. I would suggest to first follow up on close examination of all fixtures in the house, especially toilets, for a small seepage. Then if that fails, try probing the ground between the meter and house. A leak detection company would be the next step. Years ago, my old galvanized supply line failed. Of course, it was November and I had to be gone on business. I just call a plumbing company to replace the replace the line. When I got home, I was so glad I called for help! These guys were mucking out a trench ankle deep in water and near freezing temperature! It wasn't a DIY job anyway as the new copper line had to be brazed. I found the leak because the ground had turned into a swamp, so there was no guesswork or detection involve.

Gary Swart said:

I think thiggy has made a good point. While it is possible that the shut off valve is not 100% stopping the water to fixtures, it very well could be a leak in the line from the meter to the house. Depending on how deep the line is buried, the size of the leak, and type of soil, a leak might not show up on the surface. I would suggest to first follow up on close examination of all fixtures in the house, especially toilets, for a small seepage. Then if that fails, try probing the ground between the meter and house. A leak detection company would be the next step. Years ago, my old galvanized supply line failed. Of course, it was November and I had to be gone on business. I just call a plumbing company to replace the replace the line. When I got home, I was so glad I called for help! These guys were mucking out a trench ankle deep in water and near freezing temperature! It wasn't a DIY job anyway as the new copper line had to be brazed. I found the leak because the ground had turned into a swamp, so there was no guesswork or detection involve.

Click to expand...

Thanks for your help, guys.

After further investigation, I've come to the conclusion that my main shut-off valve is leaking. It's a gate valve (i.e., like a garden hose valve) and I think there is water coming out the top where the gate is. I hadn't noticed before because its been raining and I thought the moisture was from rain. I dug out a lot of the dirt around the valve and waited a day. Hasn't rained in 48 hours and now the hole is full of water.

I think I can explain the fine flow valve starting and stopping because of the way the meter is designed. It has 2 pistons that alternate filling and draining. I'm guessing that that as the meter mechanically switches the pistons, the dial momentarily stops.

Its annoying because this house has 3 gate valves...

1.) One at the water heater
2.) One where an optional water softener can be installed
3.) The main shut-off

All the diagnosis have led me to conclude that all 3 have failed... 1.) and 2.) won't close all the way, and 3.) is leaking... Gate valves really should not be permitted under building codes. I've always hated them. San Antonio has very hard city water, and I feel like the calcium and magnesium just shreds them. I should have them replaced with ball valves.

Anyways, I'm guessing I need to call a plumber. I think my local water utility will have to shut off the water for the entire street to fix this as I can't find a shut-off valve before the meter that just goes to my house.

Its only leaking 70 gallons a day, which comes out to about $5 per month by my calculations... so this isn't really economical... but I'm gonna call a plumber anyways. Does $250 sound reasonable to replace the broken gate valve with a working ball valve? Is that a reasonable repair?

Oh, and someone asked about the amount that one revolution of the fine flow indicator means. My guess is that for mine, it is one one hundreth of a cubic foot. I timed the amount of time that it takes to go around 5 times, then how long it took for it to go between 0.5 to 0.6 Works out pretty closely to 1/100th of a cubic foot, though the math can be off.

Good morning everyone! I had a slab leak 2 months ago and just recently had a whole house repipe completed 2 days ago. Ever since the leak I have been obsessed with the red triangle (leak indicator). What I have noticed is it doesn't actively spin when everything is turned off in the house, which is good. But every 10-15 minutes I check the triangle and notice it has moved JUST slightly to the left. Maybe a 1/4 or 1/2 of a turn. Then another 20 minutes will pass and it either turns back to the right or it will move another 1/4 of a turn. What does this mean? Is it just pressure since its new pipes or is there a very very tiny leak. Again, it doesn't actively spin when everything is off.