Water line leaks come from corrosion, excess water pressure, ground movement, freeze damage, mineral scale, and age. Excess pressure is the cause homeowners most often overlook — and it produces leaks in pipe that is otherwise perfectly sound.

The Causes

  • Corrosion. Galvanized steel supply pipe — standard in Albuquerque homes built before roughly 1970 — corrodes from the inside out until it restricts flow and perforates. Copper develops pinhole corrosion depending on water chemistry.
  • Excess water pressure. The underrated one. High incoming pressure stresses every joint, fitting, and appliance hose continuously. The symptoms look like unrelated individual leaks, and homeowners fix each one while the actual cause keeps working. A pressure reducing valve addresses it.
  • Ground movement. Soil settling and expansive clay stress buried lines and create joint separations. Slab-on-grade construction, standard here, means supply lines run under concrete where movement matters.
  • Freeze damage. Cracks from a freeze event sometimes do not leak immediately — they show up weeks later.
  • Mineral scale. Hard water narrows lines over decades, raising velocity and stress at fittings.
  • Poor original installation — improper support, mixed metals corroding where they meet, and joints that were marginal from the start.

The Test Worth Running

Shut off every fixture, then watch the water meter’s low-flow indicator for fifteen minutes. Movement means water is going somewhere. It takes five minutes and catches leaks that run for months otherwise.

Find the Cause, Not Just the Leak

This is the practical point. Repairing a leak without measuring pressure or identifying pipe material means seeing us again. If your home has galvanized supply and has leaked repeatedly, each patch buys months — repiping ends the cycle.

Finding Hidden Leaks

Non-invasive leak detection with acoustic and thermal equipment locates leaks behind walls and under slabs precisely, so repair is targeted rather than exploratory.

Contact B. Carlson about water lines in Albuquerque.