Plumbing leaks can vary widely in their severity and location, from obvious drips in the bathroom sink to underground pipes that leak gallons of water a day. When leaks occur with visible pipes, leak detection and repairs are generally quite simple. But what about leaks that occur in the pipes that are in your walls or under your home? While you might be able to see the signs of a leak (such as water damage to your drywall), pinpointing the exact location of such a leak is much more difficult. Here’s how plumbing leak detection in Sacramento works.
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Line Pressure Tests
One common way that plumbers hunt down a leak is to perform pressure tests on your home’s various plumbing lines. In just a few minutes, a plumber can find which plumbing line has abnormally low water pressure running through—and lower water pressure frequently indicates the presence of a leak. Of course, plumbing lines can be quite long, so this is rarely the only leak detection method they use.
Pipe Cameras
Plumbers also usually have small cameras on long, snake-like hoses that they can feed into your pipes. Once they know which leak has impacted the plumbing line, they can shut off the water to that pipe, feed in the camera, and move it along the line until they find the crack or hole. A plumber can usually spot the leak quite quickly with this method between their high-definition cameras and well-trained eyes.
Ultrasonic Devices
Recent advances in plumbing technology allow plumbers to locate the exact area where a pipe is leaking through the use of ultrasonic listening devices. These devices work much like a bat’s echolocation, using ultrasonic pulses to map out your home’s plumbing system completely. The listening devices can also be used to find those subtle sounds of leaking water, even when the leak is underground or recessed inside your walls. This is the most accurate method for finding a leak in a hidden plumbing line.
Why You Need Professional Leak Detection
But why do you need this equipment or these high-tech methods to find a leak? You might wonder, if you can see the wet spot on your flooring or drywall, you must know where the leak is, right? But that’s not true. The water from leaks will frequently travel from the origin point of the leak and accumulate somewhere else, causing water damage that’s far from the actual source. Suppose you don’t want to rip out large sections of your wall, floor, or concrete slab. In that case, you should use a professional plumbing leak detection in Sacramento to find the leak and minimize the amount of demolishing necessary to repair the hidden leak.
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