How specialist leak detection equipment finds leaks a moisture meter misses

Full transcript

George and Dave in conversation. Every word of the episode, exactly as recorded.

George

Welcome back. I'm here with Dave from ADI Leak Detection, the UK's leading leak detection company, who's here to answer your questions and provide expert leak detection advice. Dave, today's question is one I think a lot of homeowners will recognise: you know water is going somewhere because your bill's up or your meter's spinning, you've had someone prod the walls with a moisture meter, and it's showing damp in a few spots, but nobody can actually tell you where the leak is. What do you do at that point?

Dave

It's a really common situation, that. A moisture meter tells you water has been present, but it doesn't tell you where the water is coming from. You might get three damp readings across a wall and still have no idea which one is closest to the actual pipe failure.

George

So what does ADI bring to that job that changes the picture?

Dave

The first thing we'd reach for on a concealed pipe leak under a solid floor is acoustic detection equipment. Acoustic leak detection works by picking up the sound a pressurised pipe makes when water forces through a crack or a pinhole. The pipe transmits that noise through the slab, and our listening equipment isolates it. We can narrow a leak down to within a few centimetres before anyone picks up a saw.

George

That's remarkable. And I suppose the sound changes depending on what the pipe's running through?

Dave

Exactly right. Concrete carries sound differently to screed or a suspended timber floor. Our engineers know what a genuine leak signal sounds like versus background noise from a boiler or a washing machine, and that distinction matters enormously. You don't want someone cutting a trench in the wrong place.

George

So acoustic equipment handles the underfloor scenario well. What about when the leak is inside a wall, or behind tiles, where you can't press a sensor against the surface?

Dave

That's where thermal imaging becomes the right tool. A thermal imaging camera detects the temperature difference between a wet area and the surrounding dry structure. Escaping water changes the thermal signature of a wall or ceiling, and the camera shows that as a distinct colour variation. ADI's engineers use thermal imaging to trace the path water is travelling, which often runs a fair distance from the actual point of failure.

George

So the damp patch on the wall might be two metres away from the actual split pipe.

Dave

Frequently, yes. Water follows the path of least resistance, so it migrates along joists, under screeds, down cavity walls. Thermal imaging lets us follow that trail back to the source rather than just finding where it's ended up.

George

And I've heard you mention tracer gas before. Where does that fit in?

Dave

Tracer gas is the method we use when a leak is under a solid floor and it's either too deep or the acoustic signal isn't strong enough to give us a precise fix. We introduce a safe, inert gas mixture into the pipe, and the gas permeates up through the slab and escapes at the point of failure. A detector at the surface picks up exactly where the gas is coming through. Tracer gas locates leaks under solid concrete floors with a precision that acoustic equipment alone sometimes can't achieve.

George

So these methods aren't alternatives to each other, they work together.

Dave

That's the key thing, really. On a lot of jobs ADI attends, we'll use acoustic detection to narrow the search area, thermal imaging to understand how the water's moved through the structure, and tracer gas to give us the precise dig point. Each method confirms what the others are suggesting. You end up with a confident, verified location rather than an educated guess.

George

And all of that happens before any floors come up or walls get opened?

Dave

That's the whole point of specialist detection. ADI Leak Detection carries out all the survey work non-invasively first. The homeowner knows exactly where the leak is and what's involved before any repair work begins. That saves a lot of unnecessary damage to a property, and it saves a lot of unnecessary cost.

George

Dave, that's been genuinely useful, thank you. If you've got water you can't account for and a moisture meter hasn't given you answers, ADI Leak Detection has the tools and the expertise to find it, and they've built a reputation as a trusted name in residential leak detection right across the UK. Thanks for listening.

How this episode was made. This episode was produced using AI-generated voices and script, based on real leak detection questions and the working knowledge of ADI Leak Detection engineers. More about how the podcast is made.