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Narrow it by phone
Charlie asks when the house was built, what you have noticed and whether there is a meter. On a Witham estate house a falling boiler gauge almost always means the heating circuit.
Leak detection in Witham
Witham grew in a hurry in the 1960s and 70s, and the heating pipes went into the concrete. Charlie finds the one that has failed.
No find, no fee
Screeded floor leaks found
Trace and access report
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
Witham doubled in size when London overspill estates went up to the south and west of the town. Those houses have solid ground floors with the heating pipe laid in the screed, and the copper is now old enough to pit through. The water soaks into the floor and nothing is visibly wet.
The older part of town along Newland Street and Chipping Hill is different: suspended timber floors, pipes altered over the decades, and the occasional lead supply pipe. Essex and Suffolk Water supply Witham, and leak detection in Witham begins at their stop tap.
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Charlie asks when the house was built, what you have noticed and whether there is a meter. On a Witham estate house a falling boiler gauge almost always means the heating circuit.
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The heating is put under pressure and watched for a drop while the mains is shut and the meter read. Only the system that is losing water gets traced, which keeps the visit to a couple of hours.
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The thermal camera shows the pipe runs under the screed and the spot that is spreading. Tracer gas confirms it. Charlie marks the floor, photographs it and tells you what the repair involves.
On a screeded floor with the heating running, every pipe shows as a line on the camera. A leak shows as a blotch that keeps growing as the floor warms.
Supply pipe leaks under Witham front gardens and drives are found with a ground microphone. The hiss of escaping water is loudest over the break and drops away either side of it.
Once the camera has given a rough area, the heating is drained and charged with a hydrogen and nitrogen mix. The detector finds where the gas surfaces, and that is the leak.
On one of the overspill estates south of the town a boiler had been losing pressure for a month. Thermal imaging showed the heating pipe in the screed and the cold stain spreading from one point, tracer gas confirmed it, and the floor was opened in one place. At Chipping Hill an older house still on its original supply pipe had a meter that turned with everything off; the ground microphone traced the lead pipe under the front garden to a split near the bay window. At Hatfield Peverel a newer house had a stain on the landing ceiling, which a test on each outlet traced to the bathroom waste.
Kelvedon and Braintree are 10 minutes away, Maldon and Tiptree a little further east, and Chelmsford is a short run down the A12. Witham leak detection fits into the same day as any of them, as leak detection Essex wide does.
Breaking out a screeded floor is the costly part of a heating leak, and trace and access cover is there to pay for it. Our report sets out the pressure test, the thermal images and the marked location, and explains why that spot has to be opened.
Almost certainly, if no radiator or valve is dripping. The heating pipe in the screed has corroded and the water is going into the concrete. We confirm it with a pressure test and find the spot with the camera and gas.
Two to three hours for a typical house. Testing the systems takes the first half hour, tracing the pipe takes the rest. Larger houses with several heating zones take longer, and we will say so when you book.
Yes, and it is the first thing checked when the meter is moving. The boundary stop tap is closed and the meter watched. If it stops, the loss is on your side. If it keeps moving, the fault is on the water company’s pipe.
Yes. Commercial buildings on the Freebournes and Eastways estates have long mains runs and separate heating zones, which means more isolating, but the tools are the same. The report goes to the landlord or facilities manager.
Then there is no charge for the detection, and we tell you what we think is going on instead. Condensation, a blocked gully or a failed shower seal explain a fair number of calls.
Call us on 07897 020 680 with the age of the house and what you have seen.
Landline 01440 840 772. Email hello@completeleakdetection.co.uk.