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Central heating leak detection in Sussex, Surrey & London

A sealed heating system should hold its pressure indefinitely. If you are refilling from the filling loop every week, water is going somewhere, and on a system that runs under a solid floor it can go somewhere expensive for a very long time before anyone notices.

Heating leaks are in some ways easier to find than cold water leaks, because the water is hot. A thermal camera can follow a heating circuit across a floor and see the anomaly directly. Where the pipework is too deep for that, we drain the circuit and use tracer gas, which will find a pinhole that no amount of lifting floorboards would reveal.

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Our approach

How we find central heating leaks

These are the methods we would normally work through on this kind of job, in this order, stopping as soon as the evidence agrees on one point.

  1. 1

    Thermal imaging camera survey

    Water moving where it should not changes the temperature of everything it touches. A thermal camera renders those differences as an image, so a leak under a solid floor shows up as a shape long before it shows up as a stain. It is completely passive: nothing is drilled, lifted or cut to take the reading.

  2. 2

    Pressure and flow testing

    We cap a section of pipework, raise it to a controlled test pressure and watch the gauge. A circuit that holds is eliminated; a circuit that drops is quantified. Repeating this system by system narrows a whole-house problem down to a single run, and gives a hard number for the report rather than an opinion.

  3. 3

    Tracer gas testing

    Hydrogen is the smallest molecule there is, so it finds its way out of a crack far too small to see and rises straight up through concrete, screed and soil. We sweep the surface with a sensitive detector and the reading spikes directly over the breach. The gas mix is non-toxic, non-flammable at the concentration used, and leaves nothing behind.

  4. 4

    Pipe and cable tracing

    Knowing where a pipe actually runs, as opposed to where the drawings say it runs, prevents the two most expensive mistakes on any leak job: digging in the wrong place, and putting a spade through a live service. We mark the route on the surface and record the depth.

What happens

Trace, access, repair, prove

The same four stages on every job, whether it is a weeping joint or a mains supply pipe under a driveway.

  1. 1

    Trace

    Non-invasive survey of the whole affected area. We rule systems out as well as in, because knowing what is not leaking is half the evidence.

  2. 2

    Access

    One opening, in the right place, as small as the job allows. Usually a borescope hole first, and a larger opening only if the repair needs it.

  3. 3

    Repair

    The fault fixed on the same visit wherever it can be, guaranteed for 12 months. Anything larger is quoted at a fixed price before we start.

  4. 4

    Prove

    The circuit re-pressurised and held, moisture readings taken again, and the whole job written up with dated photographs and calibrated readings.

Pricing

Published rates, no call-out fee

Charged by the half hour with a half an hour minimum, and no premium for an emergency. All prices exclude VAT at 20%.

  • Weekdays7am – 6pm, Monday to Friday£54.00+ VAT
  • Evenings & weekends6pm – 9pm weekdays, plus all day Saturday and Sunday£69.75+ VAT
  • Late night9pm – 7am, every day£90.00+ VAT

Questions

Central heating leak detection: your questions

My boiler loses pressure but I cannot see any water. Is that normal?

No. A sealed system is closed, so pressure loss means water is leaving it. If none is visible, it is escaping under a floor, inside a wall, or through a failed component such as an expansion vessel or pressure relief valve. All of those are worth identifying before the water finds your ceiling.

Could it be the expansion vessel rather than a leak?

It could, and that is one of the first things we test, because it is a cheap fix compared with a pipe repair. Testing the vessel and the pressure relief valve costs a few minutes and rules out the least expensive explanation first.

Will you need to lift my floor?

Only over the exact point of the fault, and only once we have proved where that is. The whole purpose of the survey is to turn a floor-wide problem into a single access point.

Related services

Central heating leak detection near you

We cover 74 towns, cities and boroughs across Sussex, Surrey and London.

All areas we cover

Need central heating leak detection?

Call 01273 936 030 for free advice, or book a survey online. No call-out fee, and we will tell you honestly if you do not need us.

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