Leak detection??

Qprmeath

I have a leak in my central heating system. My hall floor is ruined with the water so I have accepted I was going to take a hit on that, We have now isolated part of the house including the hall and the system is not leaking. So Im left with a sunroom, dining rom and living room with a leak buried in concrete. Its a makor leak as tank in attic runs non stop. Is there any way of detecting it without ripping up more of my floors to have a look? If I knew where it was, digging would be fine but I cant really afford to rip up 3 expensive floors to find it.

Joey the lips

No. there is usually no way to detect it other than rip the floor up. Sorry. and sometimes when you rip the floor up and see where it is it can be further along.

Are you sure its in the floor and not behind walls and tbh if the tank in the attic is running as loud as you say you have serious problems.

mossie110

have you shut of the water and drained the system ??

Qprmeath

Yeah its definitely under the floor. All heating pipes are under the floor. We have done a lot already, draining the system etc but to no effect. We put taps on the pipes to isosate the remaining area and the attic tank stopped running. We know exactly where all the pipes are which is a help but there is no sign of damp in the remaining area only in the hall where there is no leak.

items

As above, if your losing that much water your only going to damage house and damage boiler by running a heating system with a big leak. You might not notice anything now but over time lost water will travel up, your house could be left damp for a long time, you might experience rising damp along with wooden floors warping, the damage all depends on type of house but its not worth the risk.

If you have a GB heating system then this leak is the first of many unless heating pipe work replaced, GB only lasts 20 to 25 years before giving trouble.

If you've got a leak on a compression or solder fitting you could isolate leaking section and re pipe rads working from that section. New pipes will more or less be exposed, they can be boxed, saves all the trouble of digging up floors.

The only leak detector I'm aware of is a man with a stick, seen him in action trying to find a leaking water main along the hill of Howth, he never found it.

Qprmeath

http://www.gff.ie/leak.html

Has anyone any experience of this company?

Scudges Da

I have used a company similar to this one to find a leak in a leisure center. Had it found in under an hour. Saved me a hell of a job!!

Qprmeath

Scudges Da have you any idea how much the hour cost you? And which method did thet use to find it.

ART6

Years ago when they first came out I used accoustic leak detectors a lot -- we used them in the maintenance department of a power station. They were simply an amplifier that took signals from a quartz crystal that was tuned to 40 kHz, which, apparently, is the sound frequency generated by all leaks. They are very, very efficient -- we could detect small leaks in steam pipes a hundred yards away in a noisy machinery room with pinpoint accuracy. I don't know where you could hire one, but Googling "accoustic leak detectors" throws up a number of firms offering the service.

volvo 240

Myself personally I wouldn't even waste my time and money looking for the leak as if you do find it and go to the expense of digging the floor over the leak point and repairing it whats to say a few week/months down the line you get another leak as the copper piping is so corroded from being buried in the concrete floor. They may say its leaking like a sieve and as they found the leak(s) you would still have to pay for the test. I would re pipe the heating system surface mounted and boxed in as at least then, you will never have any major problems as it's readily accessible. It sounds very much that the copper piping has seen better days:( Sorry for the bad news, just what I would do if it was me. James.