Water Leak Detector equipment

[christinescoms]

A customer of mine has been told by the water board that they have a leak somewhere in the house due to rising costs from the water meter.
They came round to check(turned off stop cock into house and checked meter which stopped turning)
This is as far as they went saying not there responsibility.

Now her neighbour had something similar a few years back but then the water board guy apparently had some apparatus that he went over the floor boards with to see where the leak was coming form, but this particular guy said he didn't have this equipmet but your plumber(me) should have.

Now over the years my leak detector has been a hammer and bolster to lift floorboards and check by eye

I guess i should move into the 21st Century and look into this.

Does anyone have any recommendations at all?
Ive seen some that can plug in to your mobile for infra-red and also stand alone equipment.

Now i don't get these jobs very often in fact they are quite rare so im not looking to spend hundreds but was was wondering at a small cost if theres any that are good or do you need to spend big bucks for something like this?

 

[christinescoms]

A customer of mine has been told by the water board that they have a leak somewhere in the house due to rising costs from the water meter.
They came round to check(turned off stop cock into house and checked meter which stopped turning)
This is as far as they went saying not there responsibility.

Now her neighbour had something similar a few years back but then the water board guy apparently had some apparatus that he went over the floor boards with to see where the leak was coming form, but this particular guy said he didn't have this equipmet but your plumber(me) should have.

Now over the years my leak detector has been a hammer and bolster to lift floorboards and check by eye

I guess i should move into the 21st Century and look into this.

Does anyone have any recommendations at all water leak detection orlando fl?
Ive seen some that can plug in to your mobile for infra-red and also stand alone equipment.

Now i don't get these jobs very often in fact they are quite rare so im not looking to spend hundreds but was was wondering at a small cost if theres any that are good or do you need to spend big bucks for something like this?

thanks in advance for any help

 

[Diver300]

Is the water meter turning when the stop-cock is on, but no water is being used and all the tanks have filled up?

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

A customer of mine has been told by the water board that they have a leak somewhere in the house due to rising costs from the water meter.
They came round to check(turned off stop cock into house and checked meter which stopped turning)
This is as far as they went saying not there responsibility.

Now her neighbour had something similar a few years back but then the water board guy apparently had some apparatus that he went over the floor boards with to see where the leak was coming form, but this particular guy said he didn't have this equipmet but your plumber(me) should have.

Now over the years my leak detector has been a hammer and bolster to lift floorboards and check by eye

I guess i should move into the 21st Century and look into this.

Does anyone have any recommendations at all?
Ive seen some that can plug in to your mobile for infra-red and also stand alone equipment.

Now i don't get these jobs very often in fact they are quite rare so im not looking to spend hundreds but was was wondering at a small cost if theres any that are good or do you need to spend big bucks for something like this?

We design and build equipment for the water companies, and repair existing equipment, but they generally wouldn't have equipment for finding a leak inside a home - it's not something they do, and I don't know what could possibly be used inside a house?.

Obviously, as turning the stop cock off stops the meter going round, the leak is after the stop cock and meter - so at least you know it's inside - I'm presuming the meter and stop cock are inside?, if not it's most likely a leak on the underground pipe from meter to house.

Assuming the meter/stop cock is external, is there an internal stop tap?, if so turn that off, and see if the meter stops turning. This will prove if the leak is on the pipe feeding the house, after the meter.

Generally, the leak will be in the ground, hence you don't see any water anywhere - so it's mostly a question of digging down to it and looking for wet ground.

Assuming a VERY long pipe from meter to house? water companies have various equipment (which plumbers wouldn't have) to help locate the location of the leak - firstly a ground mike (or listening stick), using this you listen to the ground, to try and find where the leaking noise is loudest.

A more technical device is a correlator - assuming a metal pipe - you stick a magnetic sensor (basically a microphone) on each end of the pipe, these transmit the noise of the leak to the main unit. You set the main unit according to the type of pipe it is (cast iron etc.), as sound travels at different speeds through different pipe types - the main unit compares the time difference between the two transmitters, and calculates how far from each transmitter the leak is - with a 'reasonable' degree of accuracy. This allows the water board to dig a hole, and hopefully find the leak - bearing in mind it costs a LOT of money to dig a hole (£500 upwards?), so you don't want to be digging lot's of ones in the wrong places.

But first thing - is the leak inside the house, or in the feed to the house - where is the meter and stop cock?.

 

[Les Jones]

Hi Nigel, Your advice is good if christinescoms is in the UK. But as he has not given any indication of his location things may be different in his country.

Les.

​

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Hi Nigel, Your advice is good if christinescoms is in the UK. But as he has not given any indication of his location things may be different in his country.

Les.

​

It's much the same everywhere, for obvious reasons - regardless we need to know if the leak is outside the house or not?.

 

[Externet]

Hi.
If your leak-affected friend is not skilled; a plumber should had already been the first line of action taken.

Ive seen some that can plug in to your mobile for infra-red and also stand alone equipment.

Well, that equipment won't be " $4.95 ". Stop dreaming of solving things by massaging keyboards from a sofa, the task has to be tackled with diagnostics and inspection and repair real work. Real work must anyway be done after a virtual tool tells you to -if it does-. Like every plumber has done it for centuries.

Digging soil, opening crevices, dismantling walls, floors, panels, crawling with flashlights, getting dirty or whatever it takes. Sweating does not kill, provides a pleasant feel of triumph when solving a task.

Isolate sections. Buried from the meter to the house. Under the house. Inside the house. By the garden...

 

[Tony Stewart]

If the leak is past the meter, it is a customer problem.

The easiest problems are hard water sticky valves that don't close properly in toilets or outdoor hoses left on. This can be a DIY owner fix. Maybe a bad solder joint leaking somewhere or frozen PVC pipe cracked behind a shower wall. (cottage memories spring to mind).

The hardest are under basement ground or inter-wall leaks that require a plumber to solve.

 

[rjenkinsgb]

Does anyone have any recommendations at all?

Get a "Mechanics stethoscope" so you can put it against pipes or taps and listen?
That may help pin down the area of the leak.
eg.

Silverline 154006 Mechanics Stethoscope - Screwfix

Order online at Screwfix.com. Handy tool used to pinpoint worn bearings, engine faults and other mechanical noises. Features 320mm 2-piece probe, offering safe access to confined areas. Manufactured from chrome-plated steel with PVC hoses and soft rubber ear pieces. FREE next day delivery...

www.screwfix.com

If it's a bad leak with nothing visible, it must be underground - or below the downstairs floor boards.

If the ground is fairly dry, you may? be able to do simple resistance checks with a couple of thin rods or stiff wires, shoving them in the ground and measuring the resistance between them? I'd expect it to go down significantly if the ground below was wet from the leak and other soil was relatively dry; but that's guesswork..

 

[ZipZapOuch]

Hi.
If your leak-affected friend is not skilled; a plumber should had already been the first line of action taken.

Well, that equipment won't be " $4.95 ". Stop dreaming of solving things by massaging keyboards from a sofa, the task has to be tackled with diagnostics and inspection and repair real work. Real work must anyway be done after a virtual tool tells you to -if it does-. Like every plumber has done it for centuries.

Digging soil, opening crevices, dismantling walls, floors, panels, crawling with flashlights, getting dirty or whatever it takes. Sweating does not kill, provides a pleasant feel of triumph when solving a task.

Isolate sections. Buried from the meter to the house. Under the house. Inside the house. By the garden...

Hard work isn't the problem and our OP talks like he is a plumber - the problem is that a plumber who does do the "hard work" of finding a leak by ripping up flooring, cutting into drywall and pulverizing basement floors is easy for a plumber - they love getting paid by the hour. The trouble comes in two parts for the homeowner - first, the hourly price for the homeowner. If the plumber has such a "magical device", the hours of investigation fall to minutes. Secondly, the plumbers $300/hour demolition work can cause thousands (tens-of-thousands) in remodeling / repair and even code upgrades (typically required when drywall is exposed).

So, the question remains, what kind of device was the water utility guy using to find the leak?

I'm guessing one of these work.
The IR cameras can be rented or an economical option is FLIR IR camera that uses your phone as compute and display lowers the price to about $200.

Else a non-contact humidity sensor works.
Klein and Greenlee are major tool manufacturer for plumbers - both make very good tools at decent prices.

Last, a simple pin-type wood humidity meter (doesn't work in concrete) can be found at most woodworking stores or online for about $20.

Here's a classic video from This Old House - tools for finding water leaks