Pump troubleshooting
How to find a water leak
A leak doesn’t have to be a burst pipe. A dripping fitting, a running toilet, or a perished seal steadily bleeds water and money, and it makes a pressure pump cycle when nothing is running. You can confirm one in ten minutes, and often find it yourself.
The meter test: confirm you have one
Turn off every tap and water-using appliance in the house. Then look at your water meter, or your pump. If the meter is still ticking over, or the pump keeps kicking on with everything off, water is escaping somewhere. That’s your confirmation.
Inside or outside?
- Turn off the main stop tap to the house and re-check the meter.
- If the meter stops, the leak is inside the house.
- If it keeps running, the leak is between the meter and the house, the underground supply line or the garden side.
The usual suspects
- A running toilet cistern, the most common and easiest to miss. Drop food dye in the cistern and see if it creeps into the bowl.
- A dripping tap or a weeping mixer.
- A perished washer or fitting under a sink.
- A garden tap or irrigation line left cracked open.
- A hot water system relief valve weeping.
Signs you already have one
- A pressure pump that cycles on and off with no taps open.
- A water bill that has jumped for no reason.
- Damp patches, mould, or a warm spot on a floor (a hot-water leak).
- The sound of running water in a wall.
When to call a plumber
If the meter test says there’s a leak but you can’t find it, or it’s underground or in a wall, a plumber with leak-detection gear can pinpoint it without tearing the place apart. Catching it early saves water, money, and damage.
Grewa watches for the slow ones
The leaks that cost the most are the slow ones you never notice. A Grewa pump learns your home’s quiet-hours pattern and watches for the tell-tale extra cycling of a slow leak, then flags it calmly in the app, so you can run the meter test and find it before it becomes a bill or a stain.
Common questions
How much can a small leak waste?
More than you’d think. A running toilet or a steady drip can waste thousands of litres a month, quietly, which is exactly why they’re worth catching early.
My pump keeps starting when no one is using water, is that a leak?
Very often, yes. If the pump kicks on with every tap closed, water is escaping somewhere, or a valve is leaking back. Do the meter test to confirm, then hunt down the source.