Slab leak repair and replacement in River & Western Arizona

Homes in the river towns and in Yuma are mostly built on slabs. Extreme summer heat puts stress on hot lines, and hard water affects copper here as elsewhere in Arizona.

Many homes are second homes or winter residences, so a leak can run while no one is there.

A meter reading before leaving and a check on return catch problems early. A neighbor or manager can check it in between.

Pools, irrigation and long yard lines apply here too. Use the meter checks first, then call if the meter keeps moving.

If a house is empty for months, check the meter when you return.

A high bill or a moving meter has several possible sources in an Arizona home: a slab leak, a pool auto-fill, a drip zone, a buried yard line, an evaporative cooler or a toilet that runs on. A technician works through these in order rather than assuming the slab.

If the meter stops, the water was going to the yard. If it keeps moving, the yard is ruled out and the leak is likely in the service line or under the house.

Hot lines under the slab expand and contract every day, and summer ground heat adds to the strain. A line that has done this for decades can fail at a joint or along its length.

A home left empty for months can leak for weeks before anyone notices. The meter is the quickest way to tell: if you come back to a high bill, check it with everything off.

In Yuma, Lake Havasu City, Bullhead City and Parker, summer sun heats a slab and the tile over it. A warm floor in July is not always a hot-water leak. A better test is whether the warm spot stays put in the cooler months, and whether the meter moves when everything is off.

A true hot-line leak under the slab tends to warm one patch regardless of the season, and the water heater may run more than it should.

Many homes along the river, in Fort Mohave, Mohave Valley and Golden Valley, sit empty for part of the year. A small leak under a closed-up house can run for weeks before anyone sees it, and the first sign is often a surprise on the bill or a damp smell on return.

If you are coming back to a home you left shut, read the meter before you use any water. If it moves with nothing on, say so on the call. In places such as Somerton and Kingman, where homes are lived in year round, the same reading works just as well.

Hard water is common along the river, and years of it can wear copper from the inside. That is one reason older homes in Kingman, Bullhead City and Yuma develop pinholes. A pinhole in a line under the slab behaves like any other leak: the meter moves, the bill creeps up, and the floor may warm or feel damp in one place.