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If you suspect there may be a water leak occurring somewhere in your house, but can’t see a visible sign of it yet follow our tips below to detecting a water leak.
The first thing that a householder can do to detect if they have a water leak is to take a reading of their water meter before leaving the property, and then take another reading when returning home. If there is an increase in the reading, then there must be a leak. Sometimes you can see water running down the back of the toilet bowl, but if it is a very slow leak you will need to carry out this check. Turn off the mini stop at the toilet(s) and repeat the process as above. You may also need to turn off the hot water unit, the sprinkler system or any other facilities that use water and complete this test to get an indication where the leak may be located.
If your house is on stumps then you could check the pipes under the house for leaks, otherwise, the leak may be in a wall, underground or under the concrete slab of your house. In this case, you will need to call a plumber who has pipe and leak detection equipment. The team at O’Shea Plumbing are trained specialists in water leak detection in Melbourne. This tracing equipment can determine where the pipes are (subject to the pipes being metal). The tracing equipment works by equipment putting an electrical field into the metal pipe that can be picked up and followed.
There are sometimes instances where tracing metal pipes can be difficult, for example, when a section of plastic pipe has been put in as a repair on an underground pipe. In cases like this, the electrical field will not continue and the pipe cannot continue to be traced unless the plumber excavates, finds the cause of the interruption, and relocates the tracing equipment to beyond the plastic pipe to continue tracing. Once the line of the where the pipe is situated is found and marked, then the leak detection equipment is used to attempt to find the leak. Leak detection can also be difficult due to noises in the area, such as people walking, talking, traffic noise, or planes flying overhead.
Sometimes it is just best to make an early decision to replace the pipes, O’Shea Plumbing has had jobs where, when the leak was found, it was in such a spot that a lot of damage to the building would be done to the building to access and repair the leak, so after having spent a fair amount of money locating the leak, a replacement was considered the best option available.
If you think there is a water leak on your property or want to enlist the professionals to detect a water leak or broken pipe, contact O’Shea Plumbing on (03) 9888 2887 for a fast quote.