Home systems · HS-23

Household Leak Check Sheet

A free printable household leak check: a water meter test with nothing running, then every toilet, tap, pipe and outside tap checked, with the fix and its date.

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One page. Choose your paper size — both versions are laid out identically, so neither one gets shrunk to fit.

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A4 45 kB US Letter 45 kB

Fill it in type and save

A4 113 kB US Letter 113 kB

The fillable versions have real form fields — open them in any PDF reader, type into them and save. Printing help.

What this sheet is for

Hunt for leaks across the whole house in one sitting, starting at the water meter. Every toilet, tap and outside pipe gets a line, so a dripping cistern or a weeping relief pipe is found and fixed rather than paid for on the bill.

Who it is for

Householders facing a higher water bill, a meter that never stops or a damp patch they cannot explain, and landlords doing a periodic check.

How to use it

Turn off everything that uses water, softeners, irrigation and ice makers included, and read the meter at the start and end of a quiet spell.
Repeat with the inside stop tap shut: if the meter still moves, the leak is probably on the pipe between the meter and the house.
Work down the fixtures: a few drops of food colouring in each cistern, then a look, a listen and a feel at every tap, pipe and outside fitting.
Write what you found and the fix needed, then the date it was fixed, and repeat the meter test afterwards.

What is on the sheet

One page, top to bottom:

Printed under the title: A meter test with nothing running, then every toilet, tap and pipe checked in turn. Food colouring in a cistern that shows in the pan without a flush means the flush valve is leaking.

Write-on lines: Property · Date · Checked by · Meter location · What prompted it

Meter test — everything that uses water off, softener and timers included

Write-on lines: Everything off: start reading · Time · End reading · Time · Moved? · Stop tap shut: start reading · Time · End reading · Time · Moved?

Fixtures — look, listen and feel; dye in each toilet cistern

Table, 14 rows: Checked · Test · Leak? · What was found · Fix needed · Fixed

Also printed: Toilet 1 (dye test) · Toilet 2 (dye test) · Kitchen sink taps and pipes · Basin taps and pipes · Bath, shower head and valve · Washing machine, dishwasher · Fridge or ice maker line · Hot water cylinder or heater · Boiler and heating pipes · Overflow and relief pipes · Softener, filter, loft tank · Outside taps and hose fittings · Garden irrigation

Questions

How long should the meter test run for?

As long as you can keep everything off: the longer the quiet spell, the smaller the leak it will show. The sheet has start and end times rather than a printed duration, and some water suppliers suggest their own. If your meter has a small low-flow dial, watch that too.

How is this different from the leak detection and repair record?

That sheet is for a plumber tracing one known leak: where the water showed, the tests made and the pressure test after the repair. This one is a householder's sweep of the whole house to find out whether there is a leak at all, and where.