Spotting a damp patch or water damage in your home can seem devastating. But using non-invasive water leak detection techniques, we can help you to find the leak and fix it – whilst keeping damage to an absolute minimum.
What does ‘non-invasive’ mean?
Before non-invasive methods became available, when homeowners noticed a water leak in their home, they would contact a tradesperson. This person would break into walls or ceilings, working backwards to find the source of the leak. If the leak was large, or there were a lot of pipes, then a significant amount of additional damage could be caused whilst locating the source of the water leak.
Today, there are better water leak detection techniques. Our non-invasive tactics for water leak detection mean that in the vast majority of cases we can locate the source of a leak without causing additional damage to your home.
What non-invasive technologies are there?
Thanks to our cutting-edge non-invasive water leak detection technology, we can find the source of your leak quickly and efficiently. Some of the non-invasive water leak detection services that we offer include:
Thermal imaging: Water leaks cause discrete temperature variations across surfaces. Our sensitive heat detection equipment can detect these, allowing our experienced team to trace back the leak. The technology only needs to be in proximity to your pipes; it doesn’t need to touch them directly, so we don’t have to expose them to detect your water leaks.
Moisture meters: Moisture meters check the levels of moisture on the surfaces around your home. Our team take multiple readings to find the areas with higher levels of moisture and pinpoint the source of the water leak. Whilst moisture meters are usually non-invasive, some materials are hard to test. As such, we might need to drill a small hole to take accurate readings from inside the surface. While this approach isn’t completely non-invasive, the damage caused is very minimal.
Gas tracing: If you suspect a central heating leak, then gas tracing is an ideal, non-invasive way to locate the source. We will drain the water from the suspected pipes, and then introduce a combination of hydrogen and nitrogen gas. This gas will escape through the leak, and our gas detection technology will find the source of the leak.
Pressure testing: An alternative to gas tracing, pressure meters are installed to measure the water pressure at different points around your central heating system. If they detect a drop in pressure in a specific section of your system, then they can narrow down the source of the leak. Pressure testing takes time, as many factors can affect the pressure of your heating system, but it’s a non-invasive and reliable way to trace leaks.
Acoustic microphones: Using digital receivers, we can check for the sound of the water leaks in your home and find them without exposing your pipes. This is more suited for locating leaks deep beneath floors, underneath concrete and other difficult to reach places.
Can trace and access be completely non-invasive?
Trace and access is made up on two parts. The first part is locating the source of the water leak, which can be completely (or very close to) non-invasive. The second part of the process is exposing the water leak so that it can be repaired – this will obviously involve some damage to the area surrounding the leak.
So whilst water leak detection can be completely non-invasive, it is likely that trace and access will involve a small amount of damage to expose the water leak. However, non-invasive leak detection techniques keep the damage to your home to an absolute minimum.