We had a leaky pipe from our water main.

We turned off the water fixed the pipe and let it sit over night to make sure it was set. We turned the water back on at the main this morning be we aren't getting any water back in the house. What happened? What can we check? Should we have had something in the "on" position when we turned the water back on? The Pipe is PVC.. The Small leak was shortly after the water main. We dug down to the pipe.. Cut out the broken part and glued in new pipe. We can get a small trickle of water.. but that's it and eventually it will run dry. I have tried turn off the main.. opening all the faucets and slowling trying to turn the water back on at the main but it doesn't seem to make a difference. I have turned it back off at the main since it would appear there is pressure building there (I assume that is a pressure gauage on the water meter)..

Hi, first check the place that you have fixed, most of the pipe leakage is from the joint, I'm afrait you have wrongly installed the fitting, or else, your house piping system has air locked. Try to release air from the pipe line.

Forget the air lock. That's not the problem. If you had air in your lines all you would have to do is open a faucet and bleed it off. We are talking about the water service from the meter4 aren't we? Exactly where was the leak that you repaired? What fitting was leaking and how did you repair it? What material are the pipe and was it in a trench when you worked on it? In short, we need more details. Regards, Tom

The Pipe is PVC.. The Small leak was shortly after the water main. We dug down to the pipe.. Cut out the broken part and glued in new pipe. We can get a small trickle of water.. but that's it and eventually it will run dry. I have tried turn off the main.. opening all the faucets and slowling trying to turn the water back on at the main but it doesn't seem to make a difference. I have turned it back off at the main since it would appear there is pressure building there (I assume that is a pressure gauage on the water meter)..

Not like Tom to ask for the details you already gave. He may be the best member we have. Maybe the suggestion of an air lock distracted him.

I would break the line again even if you have to saw it in two. Couplings are cheap. Crack the valve and see if you get any water. If not, cautiously open the valve look at the valve. Remove the pipe to get a good look at it if you need to. If all you can see or feel is a solid metal disk, you may have a crappy old gate valve that the stem has come loose from the gate. That requires help from the city. If the valve is open, and you see crud on the other side, you could poke it with a screwdriver being ready to close the valve quickly.

You didn't give any clue where you are. Unless you are in Sunny Florida with Tom, what a fun time to be doing plumbing outside. My pump recently got some debris in the check valve. I was able to clean it out, and it is working fine now. It would have been a much easier job if the pump wasn't at the lower end of 40' of pipe. Of course, that is starting 3' under the ground. The whole time I had the well open, I had to bail to keep to the surface water from getting into the well.

Next time, could I just install a check valve between my pressure tank and where the pipe goes out the foundation? It is warm and dry in my crawl space and more room than in the hole I dug down to the well.