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Water Line Leak Detection and Repair in Greenacres, FL
Your main water line is the buried pipe that carries water from the county meter at the street to your house. In Greenacres, that line belongs to you, not the county, and when it leaks, the water usually disappears into sandy soil long before you see it.
Star Florida Leak Detection traces your service line, listens along it, and marks the leak on the ground so the repair is one small hole instead of a trench across your lawn. Then we help you sort out who pays for what: you, the county, or your insurer.
Tell us what you are seeing and we will quote the detection price on the phone, before anyone comes out.
- Licensed Florida plumbing contractor
- Local office in Greenacres
- Written, dated leak report
- Members of PHCC and the South East Apartment Association
What Is a Main Water Line Leak?
The service line, often called the main water line, runs underground from the meter box near your street or sidewalk to the point where water enters your house, usually near an outside wall with a shutoff valve and a hose bib.
Because the line is always under street pressure, a leak on it never stops. It runs day and night whether anyone is home or not. That is why a service line leak often shows up first as a water bill that jumps for no reason, or a meter that keeps spinning even after you close the valve at the house.
In Greenacres, most of these lines sit in sandy soil. Sand drains fast, so a leak can soak straight down or travel along the pipe for a long way before it reaches the surface. By the time you see a soggy patch, the leak may have been running for weeks. Sometimes it never surfaces at all.
Signs of a Water Line Leak in Your Yard
The meter keeps moving after you close the house valve
This is the clearest sign. With every fixture off and the main shutoff at the house closed, the only pipe left between the meter and your valve is the service line.
A sudden jump in your water bill
Service line leaks run nonstop at full pressure, so they can add up fast over one billing cycle.
A soggy or unusually green strip of lawn
A line running across the yard sometimes shows itself as a stripe of grass that stays greener or wetter than the rest, especially in dry weather.
Water on a non-watering day
Most homes can only irrigate two days a week. A wet yard on a day your sprinklers did not run points to a buried leak.
Low water pressure in the house
A large enough leak before the house steals pressure from every fixture inside.
A dip, soft spot or sinking pavers
Moving water washes out sand. Depressions in the lawn, a sinking walkway or pavers that shift near the line are worth checking.
Meter still moving with the house valve closed? That is a service line leak until proven otherwise.
Call (561) 783-8857The Two-Step Meter Test That Tells You Where to Look
You can do this in five minutes, and it tells us whether to start in the yard or inside the house.
Check the meter with everything off
Turn off every faucet, appliance, ice maker and the irrigation timer. Lift the meter box lid and watch the small leak indicator dial. If it moves, water is flowing somewhere.
Close the main shutoff at the house and check again
If the meter keeps moving, the leak is on the service line between the meter and the house. If it stops, the leak is inside the house or under the slab, and you want our slab leak detection service instead.
If your irrigation system is fed from the same meter, a leak on a sprinkler line can also keep the meter moving. We isolate the irrigation system during testing so you are not charged for the wrong repair. See irrigation leak repair.
Why Water Lines Leak in Greenacres
Tree roots
Greenacres has been a Tree City USA every year since 1992, and mature shade trees are part of what makes the neighborhoods pleasant. Their roots grow toward water and can wrap around, crush or crack a service line. Root damage matters for another reason too: Palm Beach County’s policy excludes lines broken by root intrusion from its acts of nature bill credit.
Shifting sandy soil
Sand settles and moves with heavy rain, drought and changes in the water table. Rigid pipe and old joints do not flex well when the ground moves around them.
Age and material
Many homes here date from the 1970s through the 1990s. Service lines from those decades can be copper, galvanized steel or older plastic, and the fittings where they connect to the meter and the house are common failure points. Polybutylene, a gray plastic pipe used in many homes built from 1978 to 1995, has a poor track record and was part of a major class action settled in 1995.
Driveways and loads
Lines that run under a driveway or where vehicles park carry extra stress. Over the years, that weight can crack pipe or pull joints apart.
Storms and fallen trees
Hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30. A storm that uproots a tree can snap a service line in one night. Photograph any fallen tree near the line: the county’s policy allows a usage credit for damage from acts of nature when you can document it, for example with an insurance claim or photos of an uprooted tree.
Past digging
Fence posts, landscaping, irrigation work and other projects can nick a line that no one knew was there. Damage can take years to turn into a real leak.
How We Find a Buried Water Line Leak
Confirm it is the service line
We repeat the meter test with the house valve closed and the irrigation isolated. We only locate in the yard when the numbers say the leak is there.
Trace the line
Nobody has a map of where your service line runs. We trace its path from the meter to the house with a pipe locator and mark it on the ground.
Listen along the line
Water escaping a pressurized pipe makes a sound that travels through the soil. We listen with ground microphones along the traced path to find where it is loudest.
Use tracer gas for quiet leaks
Plastic pipe carries sound poorly, and very small leaks can be hard to hear. A safe tracer gas mix pushed into the line escapes at the leak and can be detected at the surface.
Mark the spot and document it
We flag the exact location, photograph it and give you a dated report. That report supports your insurance claim and your county bill credit request.
Water Line Repair Options
Spot repair
We dig one small hole at the marked spot, cut out the damaged section and join new pipe with approved fittings. It is the least disruptive option when the rest of the line is sound.
Service line replacement
If the line has leaked more than once, is badly corroded, or is an older material with a poor track record, replacing the full run from the meter to the house is usually the better value. The new line is modern pipe rated for buried water service.
Rerouting around obstacles
When the old line runs under a driveway, a slab patio or mature tree roots, a new line on a different path can avoid tearing up hardscape or cutting major roots.
Before anyone digs: call 811
Florida’s one-call system, Sunshine 811, exists so buried utilities are located and marked before digging. Gas, electric, cable and phone lines often share the same strip of yard as your water line. On our jobs, we handle the locate request before we dig.
Permits and inspection
Water line repairs and replacements generally need a permit from the City of Greenacres Building Department. We pull it, schedule the inspection, and restore the area as agreed in your written estimate.
Who Pays: The County, Your Insurer or You
County side leaks
The main in the street and the meter belong to Palm Beach County Water Utilities. If water is coming up on the street side of the meter or inside the meter box, call PBCWUD at 561-740-4600, option 1. The county’s policy also says you are not responsible for leaks at or within three feet of the meter box if the county changed or repaired the meter within the previous three months and you did not cause the leak.
The Excessive Usage Credit
For leaks on your side, the county offers a one-time credit when a month’s reading is at least four times your 12-month average and over 10,000 gallons, and the use was not something like pool filling or sprinklers. It is available once every three years for a bill from the past six months. You still pay your normal average, plus the lowest rate tier for the extra gallons. Full details here.
Homeowners insurance
Coverage for underground service line leaks varies widely. Some policies exclude them, some cover resulting damage, and some carriers offer a separate service line endorsement. Read your policy or ask your agent before assuming either way. General information, not insurance advice.
What Water Line Leak Repair Costs
We quote the detection price on the phone and give you a written repair price after the leak is marked. The biggest cost drivers for a service line are how deep and how long the line is, what sits on top of it (lawn, pavers, driveway), whether a spot repair or full replacement makes sense, and how much restoration is needed afterward.
Detection is almost always cheaper than digging to guess. A marked leak usually means one small excavation instead of trenching the whole run, and that difference alone often pays for the detection visit.
Ways to keep the job smaller
- Call as soon as the meter test points to the yard. Moving water keeps washing out sand around the pipe.
- Tell us about any sprinkler lines, landscape lighting or other buried lines you know about.
- If the line has leaked before, ask for a replacement quote alongside the repair quote so you can compare.
What to Do Right Now
Shut the water off if the leak is large
If water is coming up in the yard or pressure has dropped badly, close the main shutoff at the house. Note that a service line leak is before that valve, so closing it protects the house but does not stop the leak in the yard. For a large leak, the curb valve at the meter can be closed.
Photograph the yard and the meter
Take photos of wet areas, any fallen trees near the line, and the meter reading with the date and time.
Check where the water is
Street side of the meter or inside the box: call the county. Between the meter and the house: call us.
Keep your bills
You will need the high bill, and your repair invoice, to request the county’s usage credit.
What Your Water Line Is Probably Made Of
The material of your service line tells us how it is likely to fail and whether a repair or replacement makes more sense. Here is what we find most often in Greenacres homes.
Copper
Common in homes from the 1970s and 1980s. Buried copper in acidic, sandy soil with a high water table can pit from the outside. A single pinhole may be repairable, but widespread pitting usually means the rest of the line is not far behind.
Galvanized steel
Found in some older homes. It rusts from the inside and outside over time, which narrows the pipe, drops pressure and eventually leaks at threads and joints. We rarely recommend patching old galvanized; replacement is the durable answer.
Polybutylene
A flexible gray plastic used in many homes built from 1978 to 1995. It degrades with exposure to disinfectants in tap water and can fail suddenly, often at fittings. Many insurers view it unfavorably. If your line is polybutylene, replacement is usually the recommendation.
PVC and CPVC
Rigid plastic lines resist corrosion, but glued joints can separate and rigid pipe can crack when soil settles or roots push on it. A leak is often at a joint or fitting rather than along the run.
PEX and polyethylene
Modern flexible plastics used in newer homes and many repairs. They tolerate ground movement well. Leaks are uncommon and usually traced to a fitting or physical damage from digging.
Not sure what you have?
Look where the line enters the house near the outside shutoff valve, or at the meter box. Send us a photo and your home’s year built and we can usually tell you before we arrive.
Water Line Leaks in Different Kinds of Greenacres Homes
Single-family homes
Most single-family homes have their own meter and their own service line, so the meter test is straightforward. Long front yards, driveways and mature trees are the main complications, and they are exactly where tracing and acoustic listening save the most digging.
Townhouses, villas and condos
Attached housing is often served by a shared or master meter, and the lines outside your unit may belong to the association rather than to you. Before any repair, check your association documents. Our report identifies where the leak is so the right party can be billed.
Rental properties
About one in three occupied homes in Greenacres is rented. A service line leak at a vacant rental can run for weeks before anyone notices. A quick meter check between tenants is cheap protection, and we work with landlords and property managers regularly as members of the South East Apartment Association.
55 and over communities
Greenacres has seventeen 55 and over communities. Many have association-maintained grounds and irrigation. We walk through who owns which pipe before we start, and we are glad to include a family member or the association manager by phone.
After the Repair: Testing and Restoring Your Yard
Before we backfill, we pressure test the repaired line and re-check the meter with the house valve closed. The leak indicator should sit still. If it does not, something else is leaking, and we find it before we leave rather than after you get your next bill.
We backfill and compact the soil in layers so the area does not sink later, then restore the surface as agreed in your written estimate. Sod, pavers and landscaping are discussed up front so there are no surprises.
Once the job is done, keep an eye on your next water bill. It should drop back to your normal usage. That bill, together with the high one and our invoice, is what you need to request the county’s usage credit.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I know if my main water line is leaking?
Turn off every fixture and the irrigation timer, then check the leak indicator on your meter. Close the main shutoff at the house and check again. If the meter still moves, the leak is almost always on the service line between the meter and the house.
Who is responsible for the water line in Greenacres, me or the county?
Palm Beach County Water Utilities owns the main in the street and the meter. Everything from the meter to your house, and every pipe inside, is yours.
What if water is coming up at my meter box?
If the leak is on the street side of the meter or inside the meter box, call Palm Beach County Water Utilities at 561-740-4600, option 1. If it is on your side, call us.
Can you find a water line leak without digging up my yard?
Yes. We trace the line with a pipe locator and find the leak with acoustic listening and, when needed, tracer gas. We only dig one small hole at the marked spot for the repair.
Do tree roots cause water line leaks?
Often. Roots grow toward water and can crack or crush a service line. Note that the county’s acts of nature bill credit does not cover lines broken by root intrusion.
Should I repair or replace my water line?
A spot repair makes sense for a single leak on a line in good condition. If the line has leaked before, is corroded, or is an older material with a poor track record, a full replacement is usually better value.
Can I get a credit on my water bill for a yard leak?
Possibly. The county offers an Excessive Usage Credit when a month is at least four times your 12-month average and over 10,000 gallons. It is available once every three years for a bill from the past six months.
Does homeowners insurance cover a broken water line?
It varies. Some policies exclude underground service line leaks, some cover resulting damage, and some carriers sell a separate service line endorsement. Check your policy or ask your agent.
Do I need a permit to repair my water line?
Water line repairs and replacements generally need a permit from the City of Greenacres Building Department. We handle it.
Why is my yard wet on a day my sprinklers did not run?
Most homes can only water two days a week under South Florida Water Management District rules, so water on other days points to a leak on the service line or an irrigation line.
Question not answered here? Call (561) 783-8857 and ask. Talking it through costs nothing.
Related Leak Services in Greenacres
Stop Paying for Water That Soaks Into Your Yard
A service line leak runs day and night at full pressure. Call us, tell us what the meter test showed, and we will give you the detection price before we come out.
Star Florida Leak Detection, 4021 S 57th Ave #105, Greenacres, FL 33463. Member of PHCC and the South East Apartment Association. Last updated September 2026.