Cobb County Smyrna Chronic Water Leaks in almost New Houses

We received a call about 3 water lines leaking at a complex off of South Cobb Drive. The community was only six years old and experiencing broken water lines frequently. They had many of the lines repaired and several replaced already. We bid to replace the three lines due to the lines were broken under the driveways and boring under the
driveway was easier and less expensive than breaking concrete. The next day we replaced the three water services from the curb stop (there was no separate meter, just one master meter for the neighborhood) the the stub outs from the slabs of the houses. So another week goes by and we receive another call that 2 more water lines were leaking. I decided to check the main pressure at got a reading of 150 PSI, which I thought was high but okay. We replaced 2 more water lines. Two weeks later three more water lines are leaking (all the leaks have been occurring under concrete sidewalks or driveways, not much grass to the yards). I decided to check the pressure again and got a reading of nearly 200 PSI, which is high for the metro Atlanta area. I made a recommendation that we add regulators at all the curb stops to help protect the piping and give a second line of defense in the case where an interior regulator failed. We replaced the water lines and added the pressure regulators. The same situation has occurred several other times with other units in that neighborhood. We even had to repair a copper line that the pro-press joint popped apart. Basically I came to several explanations for the high failure rates of the water lines. 1. High water pressure stressing the pipes, 2. Poor soil compaction stressing the piping and causing the pipe to stretch and leak as the ground settles., 3. The units are four stories high and during construction heavy cranes were used to place roof trusses, causing rocks to press into the tubing., 4. Sloppy installation, sharp bends in the tubing, concrete slabs sitting on the pipe, valve boxes resting on the tubing and cheap plastic compression coupling cracking.

Mike Whitman

Leak Detection versus Replacement

When determining whether to pursue leak detection, cost of detection and repair versus cost of replacement should be considered. I arrived at a water line several days back, a local leak detection company had been searching the leak for two days, with minimal success. The leak detection bill was nearly $1900.00 which included helium sniffers and ultrasonic searching. I looked at the water line and quickly determined I could replace the entire line for the less than the leak detection bill and could provide a warranty for the line. The leak detection company had guessed that the leak was below three gigantic trees and had circled an area of about 200 square feet. There was not a sign of surface water in the area and the gas main was running in the same area. I was intimidated by the thought of cutting down the gigantic and digging with a backhoe right on top of the pipe. We decided to replace the pipe. In this case, the customer should have considered the costs before going with leak detection. Factors such as age of pipe, location and depth of the existing pipe, destruction of landscaping, and time frame should all be considered.

Mike Whitman Atlantis Plumbing
www.atlantisplumbing.com