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Talk it through on the phone
Charlie asks about the symptoms, the age of the property and any underfloor heating. He can often tell which system is leaking before he arrives, and brings the right kit.
Leak detection in Hockley
Hockley is one of the places we have worked most in south Essex. Charlie locates the leak with thermal, acoustic and tracer gas equipment.
No find, no fee
Usually here within 48 hours
Written report for your claim
Tell us what you have noticed and where. We ring you back to talk it through. No find, no fee.
No find, no fee
24/7 enquiries
Non-invasive methods
Reports for insurance claims
Hockley and Hawkwell are mostly bungalows and chalet style houses from the 1950s to the 1970s, many since extended. That means heating pipes under solid floors, extensions tied into old systems and supply pipes crossing long plots off Main Road and Greensward Lane. Towards Hullbridge the cottages are older still.
Essex and Suffolk Water supplies the area. If your meter keeps turning with the house shut off, the pipe between the boundary and the kitchen is the first suspect. Hockley sits in a cluster with Rayleigh and Rochford, so Charlie is here most weeks.
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Charlie asks about the symptoms, the age of the property and any underfloor heating. He can often tell which system is leaking before he arrives, and brings the right kit.
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Meter test, heating pressure test, thermal scan of the floors and walls. In a Hockley bungalow the whole ground floor is on one level, so the camera covers it quickly.
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Tracer gas or acoustic listening puts the leak to a precise spot. Charlie marks it, photographs it and writes up the findings for your plumber or insurer.
Underfloor heating in a Hockley extension shows as a pattern of warm lines on the camera. A break in the pattern, or a wider warm bloom, is where the pipe has failed.
Supply pipe leaks on the long plots along Main Road and Spa Road are found with a ground microphone. The sound of escaping water is loudest directly above the break.
The safest way to find a heating leak under a concrete floor. The drained circuit is filled with hydrogen and nitrogen, the gas escapes at the leak and a sensor finds it above.
A 1960s bungalow in the middle of Hockley had been extended with underfloor heating, and the system would not hold pressure. We mapped the loops with the thermal camera, found the cool section where the new loop met the old pipework and confirmed it with tracer gas, so one small area of the extension floor came up. A chalet style house in Hawkwell had a meter creeping overnight. The supply pipe crossed a long front plot, and the ground microphone put the break under the drive near the road. In a bungalow near the station a bathroom waste had been dripping onto the ceiling of a converted room below, which the camera showed was nothing to do with the heating.
Hawkwell, Ashingdon, Hullbridge, Rayleigh and Rochford are all within ten minutes of Hockley and are covered on the same trip. Leigh-on-Sea and Southend are a short run down the A127. Anywhere in the Rochford area, call.
A trace and access claim pays for locating the leak and the making good afterwards. Our report gives the insurer the method, the thermal and photographic evidence and the leak position marked on a plan. Most Hockley customers send it in with the claim form and hear back with approval.
We cover it, and often. Hockley, Rayleigh and Rochford are grouped together in the diary, so we are in the area most weeks, and you usually get a visit within 24 to 48 hours.
Yes. Underfloor heating leak detection is one of the jobs we do most here, because so many bungalows have extensions with wet underfloor systems. Thermal imaging maps the loops and tracer gas finds the failed point, with the floor left down.
Yes. Rochford is five minutes along the B1013 and we have found leaks in Hawkwell East and Ashingdon on the way. Rochford has its own page, but the service and the engineer are the same, so one call covers both.
Because water is leaving the pipe somewhere between the meter and your taps. On a Hockley plot that is often under the front garden or the drive. We listen along the pipe route and find the break so only that spot is dug up.
If our engineer cannot locate a leak, you are not charged for the visit. He will still tell you what he ruled out and what he thinks is going on, so you leave with something useful either way, at no cost.
Ring us on 07897 020 680 and we will give you a time.
Landline 01440 840 772. Email hello@completeleakdetection.co.uk.