There's water
where you can't see it.
A water bill that jumped for no reason. A damp patch spreading on a ceiling. The sound of running water with every tap closed. Hidden leaks do their damage slowly and out of sight. Reliable Plumbing locates the source with acoustic and pressure equipment rather than opening walls to go looking, then repairs the pipe.
Water actively pouring and you can't stop it? Shut off the main and call. That one's an emergency.
Before you call anyone
You can prove a leak exists before you pay anyone to find one. If the meter moves while nothing in the house is running, water is going somewhere it shouldn't.
No taps, no toilets refilling, no dishwasher, no washing machine, no irrigation. If the fridge has an ice maker, shut its supply valve. Nothing in the house should be using water.
It's usually in a box near the sidewalk. Write down the full reading, including the small leak indicator dial or triangle if yours has one.
Twenty minutes, no water used in that window. If the numbers moved or the leak indicator turned at all, you have a leak somewhere on your side of the meter.
Tell us what it read before and after. That one number tells us a lot before we've even pulled up. (801) 803-0847
Reading the signs
Different leaks leave different evidence. This won't replace an inspection, but it will tell you how urgent yours is and what you're likely dealing with.
Water escaping somewhere between the meter and a fixture.
A slab leak sits in the pipe beneath a concrete foundation, so the evidence shows up through the floor.
A slab leak is a leak like any other, just harder to reach. Located properly, most are repaired or rerouted without tearing up the whole floor. If water is actively flooding rather than seeping, that's an emergency plumbing call instead.
Leak detection & pipe repair
Leak detection and pipe repair for homes and businesses across Salt Lake City, UT, from a single pinhole to a whole-home repipe.
Acoustic listening equipment, pressure testing, and moisture meters narrow a leak down to a spot rather than a room. The point is to open one small area instead of chasing a stain across a ceiling. You hear where it is and what it takes to reach it before anything comes apart.
Leaks in the water lines beneath a concrete foundation, found without demolishing the floor to go looking. We pinpoint the section, explain the options, and either repair the spot or reroute the line depending on the age and layout of the pipe.
Once the leak is located, the damaged section gets repaired or replaced so water flows safely again. Copper, PEX, CPVC, and galvanized, in walls, ceilings, crawlspaces, and under floors. Then it's pressure tested before we close anything up.
When a house has had three leaks in two years, the fourth one is already on its way. Repiping replaces the aging supply lines throughout the home so you stop paying for the same repair again and again. We'll also tell you honestly when you're not there yet.
The service line running from the meter to the house. Signs are a wet or unusually green patch in the yard, a bill that climbed once irrigation season started, or pressure that drops when the sprinklers run. We locate the break and repair or replace the section.
A pipe that's actively flooding isn't a detection job. Shut the main off if you can reach it, move what's on the floor, and call. We stop the water first and work out the cause second.
Why call Reliable
The cheapest way to find a leak is to start cutting and keep cutting until you hit water. It's also how a small repair turns into drywall, texture, paint, and a week of dust. Detection equipment exists so the opening is small and in the right place the first time.
Owner Brody Gehring has more than ten years on Salt Lake City plumbing, in houses with galvanized, copper, and PEX all in the same wall because of thirty years of partial repairs. Before anything gets cut, you hear where the leak is, what reaching it involves, and what it costs.
What usually causes them
Galvanized and older copper thin from the inside until a pinhole opens.
Much above 80 psi puts constant strain on joints, valves, and fixtures.
Movement under a slab stresses rigid pipe until it cracks at a joint.
A fitting that was never quite right will eventually let go.
My wife called me at work on a Friday saying she could hear water running under the house. I rushed home and found our main line had broken. I called several plumbers trying to get someone out quickly, but all I got were answering machines and automated systems. Brody at Reliable Plumbing was the first real person to pick up, and he was at my house within a few hours. He diagnosed the issue fast and had it repaired the same day.
Leaks, answered
Reliable Plumbing tells Salt Lake City homeowners that the earliest sign of a hidden leak is usually a water bill that rises with no change in use, often months before any stain appears.
Leaks tend to announce themselves in a set order. The meter moves when nothing is running. Then a sound of water at night, then a musty smell. A stain comes last, and it usually shows up below the leak rather than at it. If you notice one of these, the twenty-minute meter check on this page will tell you whether water is escaping on your side of the meter before you call.
Reliable Plumbing locates leaks behind walls in Salt Lake City homes with acoustic listening equipment, pressure testing, and moisture meters, so the opening goes in one small, planned spot.
Pressure testing tells us which line is losing water, and acoustic equipment narrows it down along that line. Moisture readings show how far the water has spread, which is also what your insurer will want to know. Before anything is cut, you hear where the leak is, how big the access has to be, and what the repair costs. Then it’s one opening, the damaged section repaired, and the line tested.
No, not automatically: Reliable Plumbing repairs many slab leaks in Salt Lake City by fixing or rerouting the one failed section, and recommends a repipe only when the pipe around it is failing too.
The deciding factors are the pipe’s age and material and whether this is the first leak or one of several. A single failure in otherwise sound pipe is usually a spot repair, or a reroute that runs a new line around the slab. Repeated pinholes in aging galvanized or thin copper mean the next leak is already on its way, and that is when a repipe starts to make sense. You get the options and prices before you decide.
Where we work
Based in Salt Lake City, UT and taking leak detection and pipe repair calls throughout the valley and nearby communities. Call with your address and we'll confirm.
All areas we serveLeak detection questions
What people ask most when they think something's leaking.
(801) 803-0847The signs of a hidden water leak Reliable Plumbing looks for in Salt Lake City homes are an unexplained jump in the water bill, damp spots or staining on walls, ceilings, or floors, visible mold or a musty smell in one area, the sound of running water when no fixture is in use, paint or wallpaper bubbling in one place, and water pressure that has dropped off over time.
Reliable Plumbing finds that aging pipe and corrosion cause most plumbing leaks in Salt Lake City, especially galvanized and older copper that thins from the inside until a pinhole opens. Water pressure much above 80 psi puts constant strain on joints and fixtures. Shifting foundations crack rigid pipe, and past repairs with a fitting that was never quite right eventually let go.
A slab leak, which Reliable Plumbing detects and repairs in Salt Lake City, is a leak in a water line running beneath a home's concrete foundation, usually caused by corrosion, pressure, or movement in the soil under the slab. Common signs are a warm spot on the floor, the sound of water under the floor rather than in the walls, new cracks in the foundation, or flooring that goes damp with nothing spilled.
Reliable Plumbing finds hidden leaks in Salt Lake City homes with acoustic listening equipment that picks up the sound of escaping water through concrete and drywall, pressure testing that isolates which line is losing pressure, and moisture meters that map how far water has spread. Together they narrow the leak to a spot instead of a room, so the repair opening stays small.
Yes: leak detection from Reliable Plumbing can prevent major water damage in Salt Lake City homes. Most serious water damage comes from small leaks that ran for months, not from dramatic bursts. Finding a leak early usually means repairing a section of pipe instead of replacing subfloor, drywall, insulation, and cabinetry, and it stops the moisture that mold needs to get established.
To check for a leak yourself, Reliable Plumbing tells Salt Lake City homeowners to shut off every water-using fixture and appliance in the house, including irrigation and the ice maker. Read your water meter and write down the full number. Wait twenty minutes without using any water, then read it again. If it moved, or the small leak indicator dial turned, you have a leak on your side of the meter.
Sometimes, but Reliable Plumbing uses detection equipment in Salt Lake City homes to make that opening small and put it in the right place. We locate the leak first, tell you where the access has to be and roughly how big, and get your approval before anything is cut. We don't open a wall to go looking.
Reliable Plumbing can't promise what your insurer will cover, because coverage for a water leak in a Salt Lake City home varies by policy, but most policies cover sudden and accidental water damage while excluding damage from a leak that has been seeping for a long time, and many pay for the damage without paying to repair the failed pipe itself. Check with your carrier before work starts, and take photos of the damage first. We can provide documentation of what we found and what we repaired.
More answers in our plumbing FAQs.
Leak detection & pipe repair in Salt Lake City, UT
Located first, repaired second, priced before either one.
(801) 803-0847