If the supply or return pipes of traditional water heating or heat exchanger radiators leak, it is not very difficult to immediately find a water leak in the heating system and locate the place of the leak.
What are the main troubles of hidden water leakage in the heating system?
If the supply or return pipes of traditional water heating or heat exchanger radiators have leaked, it is not very difficult to find a water leak in the heating system and locate the place of the leak at once. External visual inspection will help to do it quickly. It is much more difficult to do it in a heating system in the form of underfloor heating or heated walls.
Powerful stream of hot coolant that spouts from the floor, will bring a lot of trouble, but it is easy and fast to detect. Much more unpleasant is a small leak in the wall or in the heated floor, closed concrete screed. If under the screed made a quality waterproofing in the form, until it fills with water, you will not know about it. with warm water in the thickness of the floor will eventually overflow. The water will find a crack and start leaking out little by little. As a result the ceiling or wall under the warm floor on the lower floor will lock, and this process will continue until the appearance of mold and the gradual destruction of building structures from the corrosive action of water, amplified by heat.
There is a way to detect the presence of a leak in the underfloor heating system. Usually a pressure gauge is installed on the heating boiler in such a system, which measures the pressure. And if, as the floor or wall warms up, the pressure according to the gauge readings begins to drop, then a small leak is present.
Attention! Important: If the expansion tank of the heating system is not sealed, the pressure can drop through it. It can also drop through cocks, i.e. automatic air vent valves.
It is necessary to check all open parts of the pipes and joints. But if the water is hot enough, a puddle of water that leaked at the joint and formed on the floor can quickly evaporate, and you will not see the result.
Leak Detectors in Walls and Floors
There aren’t many of these devices:
- thermal imaging camera. Фиксирует превышение температуры в несколько градусов. Но:
– The water may be slightly warm;
– the leak may be hidden by a thick layer of concrete;
– The place may be inaccessible to the device.
- Surface moisture meter – allows you to measure high humidity of the wall surface.
Method gives low accuracy, requires a lot of time. It is better to duplicate it with a thermal imager, showing a large problem area, and already on it look for the moisture meter.
- Acoustic device, an analogue of a hospital phonendoscope. Allows you to hear the sounds of water flowing in the wall and find the leak.
Professional water leaks detection service can eliminate almost all problems related to leaks in heating systems, both in private homes and businesses.
They usually provide the following types of services:
– Finding the presence of leaks and locating those locations;
– We find the location of hidden pipelines of water and heating;
– Carry out diagnostics of the state of pipelines;
– Examine the premises and find places of heat loss with thermal imaging;
– localize and completely eliminate leaks in the pipes with hot and cold water;
– We can find places of violation of thermal insulation, and much more.
In case of problems, call the specialists at any time of the day or night.
