Leak Detection
in Pietermaritzburg
It starts at your water meter, then narrows down section by section before anything is opened.
Request a call-outLeak detection in Pietermaritzburg starts at the water meter, because in half an hour it tells you whether water is leaving on your side of it. From there we isolate the supply one section at a time until the leak has an address. You get a price for the repair before any wall or floor is opened.
Where hidden leaks usually turn up
The clue you have, and where it tends to lead.
- The meter turns with every tap closed
- Usually: a buried supply line in the garden, or a pipe under a floor slab.
- Next step: isolate the garden line from the house and test each.
- The toilet runs into the bowl
- Usually: a worn flush valve, or a float valve set too high.
- Next step: the food colouring test, then a washer or a new valve.
- A damp patch beside the shower
- Usually: the mixer or a joint inside the wall, or failed waterproofing.
- Next step: pressure-test the pipe first; if it holds, it is the waterproofing.
- A stain on the ceiling under a bathroom
- Usually: a bath or shower waste, or a supply pipe in the floor.
- Next step: test the supply and the waste separately to tell them apart.
- The geyser overflow never stops
- Usually: a valve letting water through, which your meter counts as use.
- Next step: a valve test, covered on the geyser repairs page.
- Wet ground near the boundary
- Usually: either the municipal pipe or your supply line.
- Next step: the meter test decides which, then report it or repair it.
A city losing 28% of its water cannot tell you whose leak it is
Water running in the street is not proof the leak is not yours. The meter settles it.
In August 2025, a Msunduzi councillor called the city's estimated 28% water loss "a damning statistic". That loss is spread across a network where mains still burst in the city centre and reported leaks can wait a long time for a repair crew. With so much water lost in public, it is easy to assume that a damp patch near the boundary belongs to the municipality.
The meter is where the two responsibilities meet. Water that passes through it is billed to the property, whether it reaches a tap or soaks into the ground under the lawn. Water lost before the meter is the municipality's. Which side of the meter a leak is on is therefore the first thing to settle, and the meter itself settles it.
- The water meter. Everything that passes it is billed to the property.
- The property boundary.
- Your supply pipe. A leak anywhere along it turns the meter.
- The municipal main. A leak here does not.
The test takes half an hour. Turn off every tap and anything else that draws water, from the washing machine and irrigation to an ice maker or a cistern still refilling. Write down the full reading, including the smallest dial. Leave everything off for 30 minutes, then read it again. If the numbers have moved, water is leaving somewhere on your side.
Once the meter confirms a leak, we isolate one section at a time (the garden line, the house supply, the geyser, each toilet) and test each until one holds and one does not. It is slower than guessing and cheaper than digging, and it means that when a floor or wall is opened, it is opened in one place.
Do the meter test before you phone anyone. If the dials stay still with everything off, the leak is not on your side.
How a leak gets found and fixed
The method, in the order it happens.
The meter test
We talk you through it on the phone. It tells us both whether a visit is needed at all.
Isolate and test
One section at a time, held under pressure, until the leaking run shows itself.
Locate and quote
You see where the leak is and what the repair involves, with the price, before anything is opened.
Repair and re-test
Fixed, tested again under pressure, and the meter read once more with everything off.
Leak questions people in PMB ask
The cost of finding a leak comes first, then the rest.
How much does leak detection cost in Pietermaritzburg?
It depends on how much there is to test. A house with one supply line and a few fittings is quicker to narrow down than a property with a long garden line, a cottage and irrigation. After the phone conversation and your meter reading, we can tell you how the search is charged. The repair is quoted separately once the leak has been found.
My water bill went up. Does that mean I have a leak?
Not necessarily. Bills climb for all sorts of reasons unrelated to plumbing. The meter test on this page tells you whether water is actually flowing through the meter while everything is off, which is the question that matters.
There is water in the pavement outside. Who fixes it?
If it is on the street side of your meter, it is Msunduzi's to repair: report it and keep the reference number. If the meter turns with everything in the house closed, the leak is on your side, even if the water is surfacing near the boundary.
Can you find a leak without breaking tiles?
Testing section by section means we know which run of pipe is leaking before anything is opened, so the opening is in one place rather than several. Sometimes that place is under tiles. We will show you where and why before any tile is lifted.
My toilet keeps running. Is that a leak?
Yes, and a common one, because the water disappears quietly into the bowl. The culprit tends to be a perished flush-valve washer or a float that shuts off too late; neither takes long to put right. Drip food colouring into the cistern and leave it twenty minutes without flushing. Coloured water in the bowl means the valve is passing.
Is a damp wall always a leaking pipe?
No. Rain getting in, rising damp and failed shower waterproofing all look similar. We pressure-test the pipe in that wall first. If it holds, the pipe is not the problem, and you have not paid for a wall to be opened for nothing.
Do you give a written report I can send to my insurer?
Yes. The invoice says where the leak was, what caused it and what was done, with photos of the damaged section. What your policy covers is between you and your insurer, so it is worth asking them early.
How long does a leak search take?
That depends on how many sections the supply has and how quickly each one shows itself. After the first tests we can usually tell you how much more there is to do, and you decide whether to carry on.
When the leak turns out to be something else
A burst that will not wait, a geyser valve, or a drain.
Request a call-out
Tell us what you have noticed, your meter reading if you have done the test, and your suburb. We will talk through the cost before anything is booked.