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While I was gone for a couple of days my water meter reading changed by about 60 gallons, or ~30 gallons per day. With traditonal style water meters it was obvious if water was moving through the main valve, but new-fangled electronic water meters were put in over the last year...sigh. So question 1 is does anyone know if the icon circled if the attached image indicates anything? I am a pretty good guesser so I don't need any of those, just would like someone who is sure/has direct knowledge knows if it means anything or not.

2nd questions is, if I do have a leak (still an assumption), I can say it's not any of my faucets or water valves (e.g. washing machines, toilets) inside the house...I think I'd notice 30 gals per day leaking into the home. So where would it be leaking from? How would I go about locating with certainty? I walk around my small home perimeter on a near daily basis and have not seen any indication outside, either.

enter image description here

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  • Do you have a water softener?
    – Ecnerwal
    Commented Jan 4 at 1:35
  • Any known/suspected pipes below/inside on concrete floor? 30 gallons a day might take some time to reach the ground surface.
    – crip659
    Commented Jan 4 at 1:35
  • @Ecnerwal: I do not have a water softener.
    – AA040371
    Commented Jan 4 at 2:07
  • @crip659: Home is in North Texas and built in 1997; it is a very typical, slab foundation single story home. I am not exactly sure, but am pretty sure that the main water pipe is either in the slab or more likely runs under the slab and comes up into the home through a single penetration. I am also not sure where that penetration is, but also assume it in the wall between attached garage and maim house, probably near/under where the water heater is in attic over garage. But...no sign of any unusually wet area around foundation anywhere.
    – AA040371
    Commented Jan 4 at 2:13

2 Answers 2

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Water softeners and water closets/toilets are the typical leak problems that don't make puddles, because the leak goes down the drain.

Put some food coloring in the toilet tank/cistern and don't use it for several hours. If the bowl/pan gets color before you flush, it's leaking.

The meter seems likely to be a "Hydrus 2.0" which does have a "leakage" indicator which is the thing you asked about.

Hydrus 2.0 display

Image Source

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  • There are two toilets...I'll try your advice and respond back. Will have to buy some food coloring, I guess...
    – AA040371
    Commented Jan 4 at 2:17
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    Unless you have some highly colored drink mix you don't like much lurking in the pantry? Apprently you can change the display by covering (or pressing?) the "optical button" below the display, and the loop number should change with that. 04 is current flow, and 07 is "high resolution total volume" which may be what you already show, given it's showing hundredths of a gallon. That should be ticking up every 30 seconds or so at 30 gallons per day.
    – Ecnerwal
    Commented Jan 4 at 2:24
  • I suppose I could just turn off the water inlet to the tank and see if the tank drains over time…right?
    – AA040371
    Commented Jan 4 at 2:39
  • Depends how far you trust the shutoff valve. Some don't age well.
    – Ecnerwal
    Commented Jan 4 at 3:01
  • my concern, exactly! I've been meaning to replace with a package of 1/4 turn valves that has been sitting on bench for 3 months now...sigh.
    – AA040371
    Commented Jan 4 at 3:03
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If this is your meter, then that is the leak indicator:

enter image description here

I didn't find information on how frequently the leak detector updates, but I would shut off the house's main valve inside, wait for ~15 minutes, and see if the alarm goes away. If it goes away, the leak is inside your house; if it stays, it is in the piping between the meter and the valve inside your house (provided the leakage indicator works in this manner).

It might be best to contact the manufacturer to confirm the operation or read through the product information on the linked site to see if it's there and I just missed it.

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  • Good thought! But to best of my knowledge, I do not have a whole house shut-off. I've lived here 20 years and have never come across anything like it, inside or out, and I've looked.
    – AA040371
    Commented Jan 4 at 2:15
  • It is typically a code requirement to have an isolation valve on the waterline at the entrance into a building. Do you know where the waterline enters your house?
    – pdd
    Commented Jan 4 at 16:59
  • "Do you know where the waterline enters your house?" Only approximately, and that is making the assumption that they took easiest/shortest path...I actually spent a good portion of today trying to figure out how to figure that out. Apparently "DIY dowsing rods" are a thing on the internet...lol.
    – AA040371
    Commented Jan 4 at 23:00

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