Finding water leaks with the tracer gas technique.

No two leaks are the same. High pressure water leaks are expressed very differently to low pressure waste water leaks.

A classic example of this, is in the case where a water leak emanates from the ceiling, that has a bathroom located directly above the water exit point.

It would be fair to assume that the water is leaking from the bathroom above, but the question arises as to what exactly is leaking.

The shower, bath, basin waste water could be the cause, but then any of the pipes or fittings that provide water to any of these features could also be the cause. this question becomes even more complicated when taking the water heater and the connections to faucets into account.

If for example the shower waste water trap is the culprit, and you assume that the water is leaking from the seal around the shower, then no amount of silicone sealant is going to make any difference.

This is where you need specialized equipment and sensors to identify the exact location.

By testing each system individually, we rule out suspects by process of elimination, until we receive a positive signal from our sensors that indicate that the pipe work does not have integrity in a specific location along a specific pipe.

Using this equipment takes skill and many years of experience to make it effective. Commissioning a plumber, will more than likely end up costing you more than what is necessary since a plumber will use a hammer and chisel to do the same task.

We separate our plumber staff from our leak detection staff because, whilst the leak detection staff are capable of addressing a plumbing problem, we know that by allowing our leak detection staff to specialize in one practice only, makes him good at what he does.

Tracer Gas Leak Detection 

This is a method by which we remove the water from your pipes and replace it with a specialized gas. The gas has two components to it, as some of the gas is lighter than air, whilst the other component is heavier than air.

Since both components are compressed inside your pipe, the gasses will naturally follow the path of least resistance, and flow out of any loose fitting or hole in the pipe.

We make use of a specialized sensor that will only detect that specific gas and ignore any other particles of gas in the air.

Using this method, we have successfully located leaks as deep as 2,5 meters beneath the ground and beneath a concrete slab. The gas will pass through brick, concrete and asphalt with very little effort.

This method can be adapted for waste water pipes with some modification, and this gives us the ability to locate leaks over long distances where acoustic location is not possible.