I helped my hubby with lots of sprinkler repairs around our condo, and since many were not protected we got a lot of cracked pipes until we got everything in shape. We always has water washing out to the surface when there was a leak. A broken head will also flood one spot and should be obvious. Are you present when the sprinkler runs to check out sprinkler operation and timing? That would be my first chore, along with making sure the system isn't running more often than it sould. Those are whopping water bills and shutting off the system doesn prove much. If your bill is high when you water and low when you don't, it certaining doesn't seem like a sign of a leak to me ... seems much more logical the timing is wrong. You could have major leaks but not have any difference in the amount of water used.
We have the same. Unless the pipes are exceedingly deep, and they usually aren't in Florida, the water would follow the path of least resistance .. to the surface.
You seem to be saying that you turned of the controller, and the water loss stopped. If that is so, then the system is water tight up to the control valves, so your leak must be beyond the control valves.
I think if your timing was wrong for any zone, you would have noticed that there was at least some water coming from the heads in that zone; since you didn't say that, I assume your timing is OK.
So I suspect you have at least one leak in at least one of the lines going from the control valves out into the zone. With the volume of water you appear to be losing, it should be very apparent which line(s) is leaking just by listening to them when the system is not irrigating. If necessary, you could make something like a stethoscope from a piece of tubing to help you identify the leaking line.
Once you have identified the leaking line, try pushing a dowel rod, or the equivalent, into the soil, starting at the midpoint of the line. Eventually you will find the area that is wet, and you start excavating there. Actually, with that much water flow, you should almost be able to hear the actual point of the leak with your homemade stethoscope, but I don't know how much flow there is as you have just given a dollar amount, and water prices vary around the country. Its not uncommon that a nominal amount of water is very cheap, but once you exceed that amount, the price per unit increases quite a bit.
A drain valve, assuming you even have them, should not be the problem, as they are designed to close when there is water pressure, and open when there is no pressure, to allow the lines to drain. Of course, your whole underground system is probably plastic, so there could be a break anywhere.
I had a timer once that I would set to run a cycle once a week. Occasionally, though, it would get it into its head to run the cycle every day. Something like this could cause huge bills also.
It should be noted that this would work only if you have popup heads, such as the RainBird 1800 series or similar. It will not work if you have impact or gear-drive heads.
For two months of irrigation, that actually isn't such an incredible amount of water. Who knows how big an area he's watering? If it's a
1/2 acre, 22,000 sq ft, the 27000 cubic ft of water over two months, works out to 1.8 inchs of water a week. It's normally recommended to put down 1" per week. Some people over do it, plus if it's during the hottest months in Fl, then it may not be unusual at all. Now, if he only has a small lot and is doing minimal watering, etc, then I agree something is wrong.
There is a lot of info missing, besides area being watered, we don't know if this is a sudden new problem, been gradually getting worse, did watering amount change, etc.
do you have a water meter on the main incoming line? Make sure all water lines are off, and watch the meter. Then turn on zones to see if the water meter starts to move. Here we have an actual meter on the water line, but is averaged for three months, then an actual reading takes place, which can affect your water bill for one month.
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