Empty houses, running water
Leak checks for vacant and seasonal Phoenix homes
A leak in an occupied house gets noticed in a day. A leak in an empty one runs until somebody looks — and in the Valley, that can be the whole summer.
Why an empty house is the worst place for a leak
Nothing here stops on its own
Every warning sign a leak normally gives depends on somebody being there to notice it.
A damp patch on a floor, a warm spot underfoot, a shower that has lost pressure, the faint sound of running water in a quiet house — all of those need an occupant. In a house nobody is in, a slab leak can run for months. Outside, an irrigation valve that will not close or a pool auto-fill stuck open will keep doing it faithfully until someone reads a bill or walks the yard.
There is a second problem specific to seasonal Valley homes: several cities in the metro work out the sewer portion of a bill from winter water use and then apply that figure to the bills that follow. Goodyear uses January, February and March; Peoria runs December through March. A leak that runs while a house is empty in February can therefore keep affecting the bill long after it has been fixed. Goodyear’s own guidance asks residents not to fill a pool during those months for exactly this reason.
Before you fly out
A checklist that takes one afternoon
Find both shut-offs and label them
On most Valley houses there are two places to stop the water. The first is the angle valve in the meter box out by the footpath or the alley — a rectangular lid, usually marked for water, with the meter and a valve beside it. Some of those valves need a meter key rather than a hand. The second is the house shut-off, generally on the outside wall where the supply comes up, often near a hose bib on the street-facing side. Find both on a calm day and mark them, because the afternoon you actually need one is the worst possible afternoon to go looking.
Decide what stays live and what does not
The irrigation and the pool usually have to keep running through a Valley summer. The supply to the inside of the house often does not, and turning it off removes every indoor risk at once. Whoever is minding the property should know which decision you made.
Photograph the meter, and run a meter test
With everything off — controller, pool equipment, nothing running indoors — watch the low-flow indicator. If it moves, something is already losing water, which is far better to know now than in October. Photograph the reading before you go.
Settle the pool question
Run the bucket test before you leave rather than after you come back. If the pool is sound you can stop wondering; if it is not, you are still here to deal with it.
Give someone a specific job
“Keep an eye on the place” is not a job. “Photograph the meter on the first of the month and text it to me” is, and it catches nearly everything that matters.
Get the bill emailed to you
Most Valley providers offer online billing and usage history, and reading it from somewhere else is the simplest monitoring you can set up.
Coming back
What to check on the first day home
- Read the meter before you use any water, and compare it with your photograph.
- Walk the yard for a wet patch, sunken gravel, or turf greener along one strip than anywhere else.
- Open the irrigation valve boxes and look for standing water.
- Note the pool level, and whether the auto-fill has worked harder than the weather explains.
- Read the usage history for its shape rather than its total — a leak shows as a step up that never comes back down.
If the usage history has a step in it and the yard looks dry, that is exactly the case for a high water bill investigation: the water went somewhere, and the property has to be worked until the numbers make sense.
Managing someone else’s empty house?
Rentals between tenants, estate properties and houses on the market have the same exposure with fewer people watching. That is routine work for us — see property managers and realtors and escrow.
Where seasonal homes cluster
Older pipe, part-time eyes
Two of the Valley’s best-known retirement communities sit at opposite ends of the age range, which changes what tends to fail. Sun City’s median housing unit dates from 1973, with 88 percent built before 1980; Sun City West is a generation newer, median 1990. Owner-occupancy is high in both — 83 percent and 88 percent — so these are homes rather than rentals, and often empty for part of the year.
Newer communities have the same absentee pattern with different pipe: in Anthem 84 percent of the housing has gone up since 2000, in Surprise 74 percent. Newer systems fail at fittings and manifolds rather than along a run.
Housing figures: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates (2023).
Straight answers
Questions from seasonal owners
Should I shut the water off to the whole house while I am away?
That is your call, and it depends on what has to keep running. Plenty of seasonal owners shut off the supply to the inside of the house and leave the irrigation and pool live. Whatever you decide, write it down for whoever is minding the property.
How would I know there was a leak while I was away?
Two things do almost all the work: someone photographing the meter once a month, and your bill arriving by email so you can see the usage history from wherever you are.
Can you check a property while the owner is out of state?
Yes, and it is common. We need access arranged and one person to report to, and what we find goes to you in writing so the decision can be made from anywhere.
What we would be looking at
Tell us what the water is doing
Say where the property is, whether anyone is there, and what the bill or the meter has been doing. We will tell you what to look at first.
Away, and something looks wrong on the bill?
Send us the usage history and a photo of the meter. We can usually tell you what to look at before anyone drives anywhere.
5.0 on Google
What customers in the Phoenix valley have written. The words are theirs, on listings we cannot edit.
“Humberto has been amazing! Prompt, professional, and patient. He has gone above and beyond, taking the time to show me how to operate the water valves and educating me so I can continue to monitor for future leaks. He identified multiple leaks and made thoughtful recommendations.”
“Beto was very professional, thorough and patient in explaining everything he was doing and why. It was an excellent and well worth it experience, and this is saying something for an architect who had a hundred questions!”
“The owner and operator of this company is everything a contractor should be. On time, honest, competent, reachable, comprehensive. Hope to work with him again in the future.”