Underground as a private diyer? What were you feeding?

Look for the wet spot.

It probably has an internal switch.

Lol had to re-read that. Definitely r/woosh

Woosh

Why put the electric at 4 and water at 6. If I already had a trench at 6 feet I'd just run the wire next to it. It's only like 4 more feet of wire. Then if you ever need to dig you know where everything is. Also didn't the line get tested before burying it? Break the line at the house rig a cap to allow you to put compressed air in the line. Put 10psi in the line. If it holds it's likely a block if it bleeds off pressure it's a leak.

So if you hired someone to do work and that work failed you wouldn't call that person to have them do it right?

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Perhaps the faucet is clogged with debris. I’d start with take the faucet head off and make sure it is clear.

I have a 300 foot run using conduit

This is basically correct - for something this deep they will just leave the water running though and they have a microphone attached to a ground probe and a meter with headphones. They will walk up the line probing the ground every ten feet or so until they home in on the leak and then dig there.

It sounds like OP may have a blockage though. Contractors who do this stuff are not often careful enough about making sure foreign objects stay out of the water lines.

You're not using conduit for a 250' run of cable. They definitely used direct burial

As long as you shore everything properly and have the right tools and time it's not over your head.

Just be sure to get the area checked before you dig

Edit: I got r/woosh (Ed)

lol, until this comment I'd been reading it as 6 inches this whole time and was like damn, y'all have no confidence in the man.

This was also my first thought. I was fixing my sprinklers this summer and was having a hell of a time keeping the dirt out of the lines. It wouldn't take a very big rock or a couple pebbles to create a block at the down stream valve

I'm in a city but can confirm that they use listening rods to ballpark leak locations. They drill a hole above the main and then touch the rod to the pipe. Apparently you can hear "rushing" if you're close to the leak. The rod in this case is +/- 8' long. Looks like rebar.

Because learning to fix it yourself is better than getting a contractor?

I'm not an expert but I would start with what you know.

There are 2 splices covering 250? So, these must be 100' sections. Start at 100' from the upstream. If you find a splice and it's the wrong one go another 100' down. If you don't find a splice count 100' from the downstream end for the most likely spots. That said, the pipe could have been damaged literally anywhere during the backfill.

Can confirm that a hammer would probably be nessesary. I used to do building staking and even the 1/4” think lath we used for call outs took some swings of a 4lb sludge to get ~8” deep. A small diameter rod might work better but you’re still probably gonna be hammering to get any depth with it.

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMFbHose3/

I watch this guy a lot 🤣 it’s oddly satisfying.

6' trench is literally in over your head for a DIYer. Maybe why it's so deep in the first place.

I remember someone posting a while back about sending power to an outbuilding (an office shed?), and he rented a small backhoe to dig the 4' trench in his back yard.

I'm pretty sure the comments ripped his electrical work to shreds, much like posting deck building projects is sure to point out all the code violations and death traps heh. But the point being that it's possible for a DIY'er to get a trench dug that deep with some rental tools.

FYI it is possible for water pressure buildup from a broken line to damage a basement foundation wall, i.e. to crack it and cause it to start leaking - if you’re going to let it run for a long time hoping to make a big puddle somewhere out along the line, just make sure to check periodically for signs of water right up against the house.

Nope. I work on the tools all the time. Always working. Our whole discourse this morning I was helping one of my installers reset about 30 washer/dryer stackers after the sprinkler guy replaced the heads that the painter managed to hit. $50 bucks a pop. Later this afternoon I’m heading over to a hotel that I’m redoing myself (drywall on this one) one unit at a time (it’s a Ministry funded place where they place addicts for housing). Then tomorrow I’m doing a bunch of appliance installs at another job…then I gotta work on a quote for a 15 story- rough carpentry on that one. I have a big 35 story rough carpentry and closet organizer install starting in august. I do all the measuring and material cutting for my installers

I like doing these appliance installs. I charge $500 a unit…so can be worthwhile To do some of this myself when you get into a 200 unit situation

> They have listening devices that can hear water leaks underground.

Not always. Some smaller water companies don't have such devices.