Underground leak in 1/4 mile pipe

[verdigrey]

Hi all , There is an elderly lady that lives in an isolated house down a track that is about 1/4 mile long from the public road . It is served by an old iron pipe i,m told . During last winter it was frozen up for about 10 days , anyway she says that her last water bill was very high so she asked me to check the meter . I went to it this evening at about 9.15 and allthough she has all her taps off it is still going around . So I took a reading and as she had previously filled some buckets etc she wont need to open a tap or flush the looe until after I have read it again in the morning .
Anyway assuming there is an underground leak somewhere is there any easy way of finding it ? I will have a good look around in the morning , but if it is not showing above ground I will be struggling . I dont suppose there is some kind of hi tech device that I can hire ??????????
I wonder what 1/4 mile of MDPE and a digger costs !!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks all , I will post again tomorrow evening when I finish work .

 

[PlumbBobBob]

so are you saying the water meter is 1/4 mile away from her house?

 

[Mikey456]

anything before the meter is nothing. the leak is past the meter in her own run somewhere.

 

[PlumbBobBob]

the reason i asked whereabouts of meter it that maybe someone has tapped into pipe between meter and house.

 

[rhp]

Is there a stand pipe in a field, water trough etc?

 

[tamz]

Turn her stopcock off at the house and check the meter.
If it is a biggish leak it will (depending on the type of soil) be coming out somewhere.
If not look for some old guy who can work devining rods or a utilities van with a mole in it.

 

[rhp]

If not look for some old guy who can work devining rods

Have tried that with some success. 2 braizing rods bent at the ends work well!!

 

[WHPES]

If its old iron pipe you need to relay it in HDPE using a mole. By the time you have found the leak and attempted a repair, replacement would probably be faster.

 

[pobsdad]

Pity it's not copper,think of the scrap!

 

[verdigrey]

Thanks for all of your posts , The Meter is on the road side and the iron pipe gos about 1/4 mile to the ladies house . Having read the meter last night I read it again this morning and it had passed 2.6 cubic metres of water in about 12 hours . Which is therefore costing her about £ 42 per week .
There is one cattle trough on the way down to the house. I have looked as much as I can and I cannot see any water above ground .
As the pipe goes across a ditch part of the way down I suggested that the pipe can be cut there and capped to check if the leak is before that or after and so perhaps the whole length might not need replacing . Anyway she is going to think about it .
The divineing rods are a good idea except she is not exactly sure of the route of the pipe and it goes thru an area that has tall weeds and trees in it so the diviner could be searrching for ages . I have turned the water off for now and I think that her neibour will turn it on every now and then for 2 - 3 hours for her .
Thanks again for your posts .