Recommendations wanted: plumbing leak detection company Auckland

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duckDecoy

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#303634 24-Feb-2023 10:56

My mother in law in Auckland has a plumbing leak somewhere between the meter and her house, but we don't know where it is. We don't even know where the plumbing pipe runs to get to the house. We know its between the meter and the house because they have a tap at the house to isolate the water from the house, and turning that off stops the meter ticking over.

She needs a leak detection service and I wondered is anyone has a company name they'd recommend to do it.

EDIT: or who to avoid

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#3041231 24-Feb-2023 11:24

From your post I deduce that the leak is between the tap and the house, not the meter and the tap.

Goosey

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#3041240 24-Feb-2023 12:01

If no signs of dripping Taps, obvious damp walls/floors, dampness in the garden or drippy shower mixers….how have you concluded there’s a leak?

could be toilet cisterns….would be a good start….followed by shower mixers….

any leaking garden taps?

most reputable plumbers would be able to suss it.

duckDecoy

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#3041255 24-Feb-2023 12:52

johno1234:

From your post I deduce that the leak is between the tap and the house, not the meter and the tap.

DAMMIT. Typo, was meant to say turning the tap off did NOT stop the flow. I will edit the post.

duckDecoy

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#3041258 24-Feb-2023 12:56

UPDATE as i dont seem to be able to edit the original post again. I typed the wrong thing.

..."and turning that off stops DOESN'T STOP the meter ticking over."

So the leak is definitely between the meter and the house.

We had a plumber come over who confirmed there's a leak but told us to find a leak detection company. I have yet to confirm just how much water is leaking, i'll do a timer test.

The only reason she knew about it was a card in her letterbox from the water people saying she requested a leak repair (total news to her, she hadn't) but the leak was on her side so she is responsible. I can only assume they noticed an increase in her usage or something and preemptively went out, or do routine tests or something.

johno1234

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#3041311 24-Feb-2023 13:12

We have a long driveway with the water main running up underneath the slab to the house. The first water bill after purchasing the house was $800!!! Turns out the main was an underground fire hose. Replaced with a temporary above ground line until the driveway was replaced. Watercare will refund the excess once you show them the invoice for the repair.

I am not aware of any way to detect the point of the leak other than digging up the line and finding it.

PolicyGuy

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#3041317 24-Feb-2023 13:29

johno1234:

I am not aware of any way to detect the point of the leak other than digging up the line and finding it.

Unless it's a very tiny leak, it will be making a hissing noise as the water escapes from the pipe.
Well trained ears and the right equipment can very substantially reduce the amount of digging.

Good luck!

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hsvhel

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#3041318 24-Feb-2023 13:35

I have used this company in the past

https://www.waterleakdetection.co.nz/

Found pricing to be very competitive, does't look to have changed from a few years ago either

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elpenguino

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#3041321 24-Feb-2023 13:55

If the pipe is metallic, leak detection can be carried out at radio frequencies using a special TDM analyser. OP might be lucky and have a leak at an end near the meter or something.

The problem with spot repairs is that the same problem is probably affecting more of the pipe and will occur elsewhere, usually soon after repairing the first leak, cos life's like that.

Hence the attraction of replacing the whole section of pipe , which also means you'll be bypassing the existing pipe so you don't need to bother to find out where it is.

Most of the posters in this thread are just like chimpanzees on MDMA, full of feelings of bonhomie, joy, and optimism. Fred99 8/4/21

duckDecoy

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#3041322 24-Feb-2023 13:55

My mother in law says she thinks it is leaking 1L per 2 mins based on watching the meter tick over.

Im sure its hard to say, but is a leak like this able to be detected in pipe buried underground? Is it even worth fixing in wonder....? (I guess it could get worse)

hsvhel

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#3041323 24-Feb-2023 13:58

Yes, it likely can be detected. Various methods at their disposal

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Bung

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#3041330 24-Feb-2023 14:24

Is it worth fixing? Well at that rate she's paying about $8 a week for the water leak and $12 for the assumed extra waste water leaving the property.

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johno1234

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#3041377 24-Feb-2023 14:41

It's likely to get worse over time. If the pipe is an old iron one then the whole thing is a leak waiting to happen.

surfisup1000

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#3041378 24-Feb-2023 14:48

We did this about 8 months ago, leak under our concrete driveway.

They tried several ways, an sound detector, looks like a plunger and they place it over the area they think the leak might be (they're pretty good at guessing the most probable location of pipes).

In our case, the sound detector got close, but, over an arms length away so it was no good.

The second way, is using a 'ferret'. they feed it through the pipes using water pressure for propulsion. It has an expandable balloon so they can pin point the exact location of the leak, within millimeters. Thats what we ended up doing.

Total cost for cutting up the concrete, fixing the leak, and replacing concrete, was $1100 from memory. Water bill was twice that (refunded from council)

PolicyGuy

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#3041462 24-Feb-2023 17:09

duckDecoy:

My mother in law says she thinks it is leaking 1L per 2 mins based on watching the meter tick over.

Im sure its hard to say, but is a leak like this able to be detected in pipe buried underground? Is it even worth fixing in wonder....? (I guess it will get worse)

FTFY
:(

Toastiewarm

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#3041976 25-Feb-2023 20:39

Sub Surface Detection is who we use when I need this sorta thing done for my work.

They are Auckland based

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