Plumber in Tonto Forest Estates, Apache Junction, AZ

A significant share of what we chase on larger lots is outside the building entirely, and the meter is what finds it.

Turn off every fixture and water-using appliance including the ice maker and irrigation controller, then watch the leak indicator on the meter — the small triangle or dial that spins with any flow. If it moves with everything off, water is escaping. Then close the main shutoff at the house: if the indicator stops, the leak is inside; if it keeps going, it is in the underground service line between meter and house.

That distinction matters because the service line is the property owner's responsibility in almost all cases, and a leak in a long buried run is invisible until the water bill arrives.

The other common finding is irrigation — a failed valve, a split poly line or a cracked manifold. The tell is a patch that is suspiciously green in a yard that should be uniformly dry, or a valve box that is always damp.

On a well property you are the utility. Nobody samples your water, maintains your pump or notices when your pressure tank fails but you.

The failure we diagnose most often is a waterlogged pressure tank. It holds a cushion of compressed air behind a bladder so you can draw water without the pump starting every time; when the bladder fails or the charge bleeds off, the pump starts every few seconds whenever water runs. That short-cycling is the fastest way to destroy a pump motor, and the tank is far cheaper to replace than the pump.

Check it yourself: with the pump powered off and the system drained, the air valve on top should read about 2 psi below the pump cut-in pressure and should release air, not water.

On treatment, sequence beats brand. Sediment filtration first, then iron and sulfur removal, then softening. A softener installed ahead of iron removal fouls its resin permanently — and that is an expensive mistake we have corrected more than once out here.