Water leak detection

[AnOther]

I've got a leak, it's on my side of the meter (rats !) and I'm losing about 1cu/m per day [:'(] [:'(][:'(]

I wonder if anybody here has ever had a leak and used THIS technique for finding it rather then simply digging it all up and renewing competely. I could imagine the cost plus a local repair working out much the same as total renewal.

I'm a bit surprised at having a leak at all becuase it's a 70's property with plastic pipe which looks as if it's been replaced at least once already !

 

[Gluestick]

If it already leaking in one place, Little Ern, it will probably let go elsewhere.

So years ago we used to employ Ultra Sound for tracing pressure leaks. The same kit was also used to trace badly sealed windscreen rubbers.

An Ultra Sound generator was placed on the dash and the doors closed and then the "Sniffer" passed over the weatherstrip until the leak area found as the sound waves escaped through the tiny gaps!

Same principle.

I'm facing the same problem with my place in France: the water mains were laid internally 38 years ago with plastic. Buried in the concrete when the 200 year old house was re-built.

 

 

[buckdendave]

Tricky, but try the obvious things first.  The most likely place for a leak is at a joint - so check the terminations at each end.  Of course there could be a joint in the middle somewhere!  Or just a leak !   Any signs of water on the surface ?  Then there is the very crude method of using a metal rod or tube to listen for a leak (press on a metal fitting) - if its louder at one end than the other it might give a clue as where to dig first.  (I am assuming, of course that the service pipe is a few metres or tens of metres long rather than hundreds).

If you know where the pipe run is, then it might be a good idea to dig a few holes and see if any dampness is evident.  If not, then dig elsewhere !

If you find a leak in a pipe e.g. a slit type defect (very unusual) - the entire pipe will need to be replaced.  If its a different type of failure let me know and I will advise.

Dave    

[Gyn_Paul]

Not such a crude method, Buckdendave. It's exactly what the men from the water board were using at least up to the late 70's in Liverpool. My father-in-law was a 'Water Womble', trudging the streets with his metal leak rod. Mind you, he was so deaf he reckoned that the only leaks he found were the ones were his feet got wet!

p

[AnOther]

Thanks for the input guys.

Definately a leak as both tends checked and (now) secure. I say "now" because there was also a significant leak on the incomer to the meter which was no more than a loose connector which I pinched up. I reckon SAUR owe me a free repair to my pipe for fixing that....I've probably reduced the total loss by 50%....!

There are no overt signs and I don't know the exact routing of the pipe although I have a pretty good idea and it's length would be about 40m.

Unfortunately my site is almost 100% rock and having dug, or attempted to dig, a few modest holes for plants etc. I can assure you that there is no way I'd even contemplate digging up the pipe by anything other than mechanical means.

On the basis that it looks like I'm going to have to buy 40 or 50m of new pipe anyway I could effect a temporary fix by running it over ground, where it would go it would not be neccessary to drive over it to get into the property, only to the barn, but I could protect it there. I wouldn hope too that we've seen the last of frost this year, it was nudging 30deg here today, another reason I ain't getting the shovel out [:-))]

It's Murphy's law of course that these things invariably crop up in the last days before I have to go back to work so there's a very real chance that it'll just have to carry on leaking for another couple of weeks [:(]

[AnOther]

With the help of a friend who reads French far better than I (or Babel Fish can translate) I have happily discovered that my property insurance covers this leak so I'm now awaiting a visit from the insurance companies assessor (or at least 'er indoors is coz I'm not there presently) [:D]

[valB]

I was going tosuggest you checked your house insurance as last year we had a leak and we went contacted our agent. He called the following day and OK'd the repair but our company would only pay for the investigating work and reinstating our the work. We had to pay for the actual repair work which fortunately was purely replacing the section of pipe that was the problem. and the chap we used only charged us 50 euros although he was at our property for about three hours. That would consitute a call out fee in UK for just stepping into the house.

[AnOther]

After waiting for nearly 3 weeks for our insurance company to send their 'expert' to assess our problem they now tell us to just get it fixed and send them the bill.

This doesn't sound at all right to me, is that the way it happens here and if so why couldn't they have told us that as soon as we reported it instead of waiting until we started pushing them?

It's not a language problem either because the lady in the office in Cahors speaks English perfectly, it was the main reason we went there in the first place.

 

[Danny]

Just to be sure, get it in writing before you do anything

Danny