Often builders, carrying out repairs in apartments, houses and cottages, immured pipes of water supply, heating and sewage in the walls or floors. Thanks to this it is possible to improve the appearance of the room, but there may be a problem – in the case of a water leak we have to dismantle the entire masonry.
We all understand that hidden utilities – is the absolute norm. But only if the engineering lines of the modern type of cross-linked polyethylene.
Signs of Water Leaks
Determine the leak in the pipe in the bathroom or toilet is not easy – it does not always burst and water spurts. Most often in metal, metal-plastic or polypropylene pipes first appears a capillary fistula, from which water droplets seep. A break in the pipe can remain unnoticed for a long time, but it will certainly begin to progress and eventually bring a lot of inconvenience. Excessive pressure in the system will push water into the structure every second, unnoticeable to the human eye. Over time, the walls and floor slabs will start to dry out, mold and mildew will grow, cement will crumble and wooden floors and ceilings will rot. That’s when they start sounding the alarm.
In the plastic pipe fistula appear much less often, but they often have depressurization at the fittings and fittings couplings – embedding them in the wall is not recommended. Sooner or later you will notice the consequence of a leaky pipe – the wall will be wet, and the neighbors from the ceiling will drip water. However, the original source of the leak will be displaced to any other area from where the visible manifestations appeared. It is water, and how long the cumulative effect occurred, you do not know.
How to find a defective pipe?
Detecting where a leak has occurred and which pipe is leaking is not an easy matter. We recommend to use the service – water leaks detection and communications with a thermal imaging camera, acoustic leak detector, pulse moisture scanner, pressurization. To the object will leave the master, who will inspect the high-precision detector (thermal imaging), will find the problematic pipe and the place of the water leak itself. The whole operation will take from a few minutes to one hour. The professional will tell you what caused the leak, what irregularities may have occurred and what to do next.
The main advantage of thermal imaging is that the location of the leak will be determined with high accuracy, which means you won’t have to break the entire wall and ruin your repairs. It will be enough to cut a small piece of wall or tile and gain access to the defective area.
What to do after finding a water leak
After diagnosing the location of the water leak in the pipe in an apartment or private home, you need to somehow solve the problem. If you live in a private home, then shut off the leaking branch and call a handyman, who will eliminate the leak with minimal damage.
Keep in mind that the repair of metal-plastic pipes with standard fittings – quickly and easily, press the coupling will take a few minutes. Replaced joints with new ones are unlikely to start leaking anymore. Professional builders try not to embed metal joints into walls or under the floor and leave them accessible. Nuts on them have to be periodically tightened, especially on the circulating hot water circuits, to conduct the so-called revision. However, if this is not done and there was a leak – do not despair, no need to break anything. We are in the 21st century, all problems can be solved in minutes!
If plumbers with past thinking and hacks advise to change the entire pipe, break here, and then we’ll see – do not do it. With metal pipes is easier – it is enough to put a clamp or weld. In multi-storey houses the situation is more complicated – you may have to block the entire riser and look for a master. But you don’t need to close off anything with a thermal imaging camera to diagnose it, there should be a leak at the time of the inspection. You just call in an emergency.