Water Line Replacement vs Water Line Repair What Homeowners Should Know

One of the most expensive mistakes a homeowner can make is ignoring a leak, especially a leak from your main water line. Not only can a leaking main water line rack up a huge water bill very quickly, but it can also lead to damp, mold, and water damage. Since the main water lines are buried, it’s almost impossible to assess their condition regularly, and most water lines can go for many decades without issue. Once a water leak has been detected, homeowners are presented with two options. Repair or replace. Let’s look deeper into the benefits of both a water line replacement and a repair.

How To Identify A Main Water Line Leak

Before you get your yard dug up and trenched, it’s important to confirm that the leak is in your water line and not coming from another piece of plumbing. A high water bill is usually the first thing that makes homeowners think they have a leak, but a leak from any pipe on your property could lead to this. For that reason, we’ve got to look deeper.

Check Water Pressure

The first thing to check is if the water pressure on your property has decreased. It’s important to check the pressure at multiple locations throughout your property. If the water pressure is low throughout, there’s a high chance you have a leak in your main line. If only some sections of your home have low pressure, you likely have a leak in a pipe other than your main.

Check For Pooling Water

The next test is to check your property for pooling water, puddles, and unusually damp sections of soil. Not only is this a sign of a leak, but it also narrows down the region in which the leak has formed. Finally, you want to check your water for contamination. Excessively murky or cloudy water often indicates that contaminants from the soil are making it into your line.

If all else fails, call a plumber. They will be able to cut the water supply to your home and your property to see if water is still leaking, or track down the leak using thermal cameras and soil probes.

Main Water Line Replacement vs. Repair

Now that you have confirmed you do, in fact, have a main water line leak, it’s time to address it.

Most homeowners want a quick and cheap solution to having the main water line repaired. The benefits of repairing the leak are that usually the time your home is without water is quite short. A few hours at most. If your plumber can find the leak’s location easily, there’s minimal damage to your lawn and garden, and finally, repairing a segment of the line by soldering in a portion of pipe is relatively cheap.

Now, let’s go over the main reasons plumbers don’t recommend repairing the line. The first reason is that unless the line was damaged by construction, this is a sign that your main water line is beginning to reach the end of its service life. While patching one section of the pipe will stop the leak temporarily, when pressure is reintroduced to the interior of the line, it’s only a matter of time until it fails somewhere else, which will require you to dig your lawn up again and pay a plumber all over again.

By attempting to repair only a “bad section” of your main line, you leave yourself vulnerable to additional leaks that may not be as severe but are ultimately still being left unattended. By replacing the entire line, your plumber can guarantee that you have absolutely no leaks in your main line. While the fee for a water line replacement is more than a repair, most main water lines are rated to last anywhere between 20 and 80 years, giving you peace of mind that you won’t experience any leaks for years to come.

Depending on your insurance policy, you may even have “service line coverage,” which would cover the cost (less the deductible) for the replacement of main water lines, sewerage lines, and gas supply lines, and would be worthwhile to investigate with your home insurance broker before making a decision.

Main Water Line Replacement Methods

When looking to repair a portion of your water line, there is no other option than to dig up your yard, and any driveway, patio, or walking path that might be over the leak, by cutting and soldering the line. While trenching your main line is still a popular practice, where a trench is dug through your yard to lay a new main line, trenchless pipe replacement has become far more popular and affordable.

Trenchless pipe replacement works by creating an initial hole on the municipal end and an additional access hole where the main line enters your home. A tunnel (or piping run) is then bored out using professional equipment, and a new pipe is then guided through this tunnel and connected up where the old water line has been cut back. The old line is then capped off at either end, and left buried.

This method minimizes the damage to your property and can be completed within a day, rather than the 3 to 4 days to dig and cover a trench.

Residential Plumbing and Main Water Line Replacement in South Florida

If you have a suspicion you might have some leaking pipes, and want a professional plumbing service to identify, repair and replace any problematic plumbing, look no further than Magical Plumbing!

We are a fully licensed and insured plumbing company operating locally out of South Florida with over 10 years of experience in water line replacement and repair

Call us at 954-688-9214 for all your plumbing needs.