plumbing leak detection Archives

Plumbing leaks are one of the most challenging issues in your home. Even when a leak does not damage your building, it can still cost you more money. For instance, a leaking toilet may not cause water damage to your home, but it will inflate your water bill.

In addition to their potential impact on your cost of living, water leaks pose a serious threat to the structures of your building. If a leaky feature discharges water into the structure of your home, it can cause massive damage to your flooring, walls, ceilings, and foundation, notes Granite Foundation Repair company.

This problem is more catastrophic when you are unaware of the leak in your home. Hidden leaks are the worst kinds of plumbing leaks in the house. They can cause tens of thousands of dollars worth of water damage before they are eventually discovered.

Why are hidden plumbing leaks so dangerous?

The reason is that the typical homeowner expects that when a leak happens in their plumbing, it should occur in a highly visible manner. In other words, they want to see evidence of the leak in the form of water cascading down their walls or pooling on their floors.

While this happens sometimes, there is no guarantee that water leaks in your home will always occur this way. That is because a large section of your home’s plumbing is hidden inside your walls or floors and behind cabinets.

Since these pipes are hidden, it is hard to know their actual condition. As a result, when they suffer a leak, it can take a while for the signs of the problem to become obvious. The leaks can go on for months without the homeowner’s knowledge.

That is why it is vital to have a system for checking for undetected leaks in your home. Since undetected leaks do not leave a trail, these routine checks must be done on the plumbing, even when there are no visible signs of leaks in the home.

The importance of leak detection services

To find and solve the hidden leaks in your plumbing, you need a way to assess the condition and function of those plumbing parts you usually don’t interact with every day.

This process is possible through the expertise of a leak detection service. A leak detection service is a licensed plumber with the capability to find hidden leaks within those sections of the plumbing that are embedded in your walls and flooring or buried underground.

To find these insidious leaks that may be doing secret harm to the features of your building, the leak detection service will do the following:

A walkthrough of your property to visually inspect the visible parts of the plumbing.
Review your home’s water meter data to detect anomalies in the water usage pattern.
Use acoustic detectors, thermal imaging, etc., to find leaks behind drywalls and cabinets.
Do soil probes or other tests to detect leaks that are outside the home or underground.
Pinpoint the location of existing leaks to facilitate prompt and effective repair.
Recommend various leak-detection systems to help avert future problems.
Conduct yearly inspections to prevent water damage due to an undetected leak.

A leak detection service will uncover the hidden inefficiencies that impair the function and longevity of your plumbing system. You will see massive improvements in the quality of your home’s water supply.

5 benefits of hiring a leak detection service

What are the benefits of hiring a leak detection service today instead of waiting until an undetected leak causes avoidable damage to your home?

Early detection of problems saves money

Early detection of leaks helps to prevent extensive water damage to your home, along with the high cost of fixing the problem. The small step of hiring a leak detection service can have a tremendous impact on your home maintenance costs.

Improved efficiency of plumbing systems

Improved energy efficiency and lower environmental impact

Dealing with hidden leaks in your plumbing eliminates energy inefficiencies in the system. You will be minimizing the environmental impact of your plumbing.

Prolong the service life of your plumbing

Leak detection services help you avoid premature plumbing replacement. A leak detection service will uncover trouble spots that can affect the longevity of the system.

Get accurate data about your plumbing

Leak detection services help to create the basis for data-driven plumbing maintenance. This plumbing inspection will provide accurate information to deal with current issues and predict future problems.

Finally, leak detection services help you avoid unpleasant surprises in your home. Whether you are away on a vacation, sleeping in your bed or busy at work, you will have the peace of mind from knowing that your home is safe from water damage.

Every single year, at least 8.1 out of every 10 homes will suffer some form of a plumbing leak. These leaks have a wide variety of causes aging pipes/connections, corrosion, severe water hammer, high water pressure, clogged pipes, rapid temperature changes, and many more. When leaks happen, the effect can devastate the physical structures of the home, its contents, and the people who live in it, warns Draper Realty.

There is no limit to how much damage a plumbing leak can do to a house. Common consequences of plumbing leaks to your home and your health include:

Water leaks can destroy the content of your homes, such as when water soaks into the carpet, cabinets, or stored items in the abasement.
Water leaks will destroy the home’s aesthetics by discoloring its walls or ceilings and causing the drywall to bulge.
Water leaks subject your family to avoidable health risks by encouraging the growth of mold and mildew inside the home.
Water leaks may undermine the house’s structural integrity if the water finds its way into the foundation or other building structural elements.
Water leaks will affect your home’s value, making it lose its appeal to buyers.

Why are plumbing leaks so common?

The answer is twofold: First, it is because of the size of the plumbing and its presence in almost every part of the house. We use water for many things in the home, which multiplies the potential for problems. Second, plumbing leaks are common because many parts of the plumbing system are hidden from view. So, when there are problems, it can be challenging for the homeowner to see them.

How can you prevent plumbing leaks?

Given that the biggest issue with plumbing leaks is that you seldom see when they happen, how can you protect your home from water damage by preventing leaks in the plumbing systems?

Is there a way for homeowners to monitor the movement of water inside the water pipes in their homes when those pipes are hidden behind walls, on the floors, or in the ceiling?

This is precisely what a leak detection system does. When installed in the home, it serves as the homeowner’s first line of defense against leaks. Leak detection systems sense when there is a problem in the plumbing system and take immediate action to prevent disaster. The best thing about leak detection systems is that they do their work without human intervention.

How do leak detection systems work?

Leak detection devices can detect water leaks in your plumbing because they measure the amount of water that flows through the pipes, the rate at which the water flows, and how long the water flows. When the leak detection device senses a deviation from how water usually flows through your plumbing pipes, it will shut off the water supply.

Leaks detection devices are programmable; homeowners can set the parameters for when they want the system to turn off the water supply to their homes. For instance, the system can be programmed to shut the water off if it flows at a certain rate for a certain length, or it can detect small leaks, such as when a toilet in the home is running.

There are two ways a leak detection system measures the water flowing inside a pipe:

Some leak detection devices use a mechanical system consisting of a small turbine. This turbine spins as water flows over it; how fast the turbine turns depends on the rate of flow of the water. There can be a slight loss of pressure with these systems.
Other leak detection devices use sonar to detect the water flow rate inside the pipes. There is no need for an impeller to be immersed in the water. This means the leak detector does not interfere with the flow of water; there is no pressure loss.

Leak detection devices are typically installed at the point of entry, where the water enters the house. The leak detection will not detect leaks if those leaks happen in the upstream portion of a plumbing system. Therefore, it is crucial to install it as close to the point of entry as possible; that way, it can detect all leaks inside the home.

Most leak detectors can be connected to Wi-Fi and monitored in real-time on a smartphone. The phone app shows you the water flow rate inside your pipes, and you get alerts when things go wrong. Most importantly, you can turn the water off remotely by using the phone app from any part of the world with an internet connection.

Leak detection systems are a homeowner’s biggest ally in their fight against leaks in their home’s plumbing. A leak detection system means peace of mind; it gives homeowners control. Installing a reliable leak detection device costs between $500 and $1,000. But that is a minor investment compared to the tens of thousands of dollars the system can save you.

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How Leak Detection Services Can Save You Money and Prevent Damage