Suandpete Posted January 30, 2005 Share Posted January 30, 2005 Does anyone have any experience of trying to find a water leak which seems to be invisible? We live in a "Maison Bourgeoise" and have oil fuelled central heating. The system has just begun to lose pressure rapidly and this which can be remedied by adding water. Most of the pipes are surface mounted but there is a fairly large percentage of the "return" pipes which are under our marble tiled hall and old quarry tiled living room. It appears that there must be a leak - quite a considerable one probably 'cos if the heating is running we have to add water every 7 minutes! The plumber is going to try putting in to the system a fluid which may seal the leak but is understandably reluctant to start digging up all the floors. Our insurance will pay to find the leak but only if there is some evidence of the leak - ie damp showing in the walls or on the floors anywhere. The insurance lady pointed out that the water is probably just seeping away into the earth and may not cause a problem(!). I'm not sure that a pipe detector would work through the marble tiles and we do not even know where the pipe runs are. At present we are adding water in an attempt to make it show somewhere - but are of course very uneasy about doing it as we don't know where the water is going!Any ideas anyone? Su Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moulin Posted January 30, 2005 Share Posted January 30, 2005 If the leak is under the floor the only way is to pressure test the lines. The effectiveness of this very much depends on how the pipes run under the floor, if they are individual and both ends appear above the surface then it’s easy to identify the offending run but still not the exact location of the leak, it will only tell you that it’s between those two points. If however they are interconnected, so there are several ends to the same pipe, then the very best it will tell you is which room it’s in. This information though may help persuade your insurance company to pay up, even if there is on obvious damage, as it will reduce there liability. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suandpete Posted January 30, 2005 Author Share Posted January 30, 2005 Hi Thanks for the suggestion - but I'm not sure just how effective that would be - where the return pipe goes back into the system (and we think it may be the culprit) it is around three to four inches in diameter - it appears that maybe as many as four pipes lead into it underground. I'll have a word with the plumber to see what he thinks. Su Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patf Posted January 30, 2005 Share Posted January 30, 2005 I know this is a bit of an eccentric suggestion, but you could try to find someone who does water-divining to find the leak. The reason I thought of this is that there is a water- divining rod hanging in our barn left by the last owner. Pat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave&Olive Posted January 30, 2005 Share Posted January 30, 2005 have you got any over flow pipes leaking? there might be a leak from say the hot water coil into the hot water tank and out to the overflow, has your hot water become dirty? is the boil valve faulty ? Just a few options be fore digging out the floor! Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoverfrog Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 [quote]have you got any over flow pipes leaking? there might be a leak from say the hot water coil into the hot water tank and out to the overflow, has your hot water become dirty? is the boil valve faulty ?...[/quote]water divining is not as batty as it sounds! We had a 28' x 24' shed built, and when digging a hole for the concrete base, to find out where the mains water ran, the chap got out his divining rods. He was accurate to within an inch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC<P><IMG src="http:forums.livingfrance.comimagesline.gif"><BR>Paul, Debbie and Josh, <BR>London & Dept 24<BR><a target=_blank href="http:www.les-brandes.net" target=_blank>http:www.les-brandes.net<A><BR><P> Posted February 2, 2005 Share Posted February 2, 2005 Does it loose more when the system is on ? - Another good one to look at before digging up the floor is the boiler itself, we had a boiler that sprung a leak in the heat exchanger when it got hot, worth getting your plumber to look at this as well..Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gyn_Paul Posted February 3, 2005 Share Posted February 3, 2005 Rather draconian, but - short of digging up your hall and floor - one method would be to close off the piping from the boiler and seal it into a loop ('T' pieces and gate valves would do it), fit a pressure meter and connect it to the cold main.Now the system will (should) leak at mains pressure. Without the background noise of circulating pumps, burner fans etc, it should be possible to locate the leak audibly; or at the very least, to pin it down to a particular room.This sounds batty, I know, but 'acoustically' is (was until recently) exactly how water board people, one of whom was my late father-in-law, detected leaks in underground supply pipes. All they had for tools was a metal rod with a rounded end which you put to your ear with the other end on the ground. If they could find leaks amid all that traffic, you might be able to do the same on your system.By comparing the loudness of the hissing noise at various places in the system, you might just find it.Of course, if it doesn't leak, then as PaulC suggested, it's possibly leaking in the boiler and evaporating. Good luck,paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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