Worried about extra water bills and unable to understand why it is happening? You might be unaware of water leaks at your place, which are impacting the bills prominently. Keep in mind that leaks don’t only create issues like water damage, but they also increase your bills. So, you should be aware of leak detection equipment to find them in the early stages to avoid any unexpected situation by resolving them.
Aren’t you familiar with water leak detection procedures or techniques? You must consider reading this blog about plumbing leak detection to learn about its basics. With the help of this blog, you will be able to know how you can spot leaks, ask for leak detection services with advanced tools, including thermal imaging cameras, moisture meters, and others. Moreover, you will also get information about the impacts of water leaks on your daily life and structural damage to your property. Let’s get started and read a comprehensive blog about this topic, and understand the importance of advanced tools in finding leaks in the beginning phases.
What is Leak Detection?
It is a process to identify the exact location where water leaks are in your plumbing system. Undoubtedly, some water leaks are visible and can be seen as a dripping tap or shower. However, it is not the situation at all times because some leaks are hidden, which increases the demand for hiring a leak detection specialist. Such professionals will use advanced tools for finding exact spots where leakage occurs in their plumbing systems or pipelines.
Without performing leak detection, one can’t perform their job well, as it can create harsh damage to your property. For example, a leakage that you have considered minor may impact the overall plumbing system after a few months or make the walls of your home weaker. In turn, you will have to face the consequences and get expensive leak detection services as well as other plumbing services to make your life comfortable. Therefore, it is recommended to focus on early detection to avoid any such situations and be comfortable in any case.
Types of Leaks
Normally, we think that a water leak can occur only in one type, which is visible leakage. Therefore, we think that we can only perform water leak detection through our normal eyesight. It is completely wrong if you have the same thoughts because water leaks can occur in different ways. For example, leakage can occur in the inner components of the plumbing systems, which is detectable through advanced methods like thermal imaging or by noting the readings of a water meter.
Keep in mind that it isn’t the only situation, and you may get water leaks in other locations too. Every leakage type and location needs a specific solution that a leak detection specialist uses to resolve the problem. After comprehensive research, we have discussed the major types of water leaks that you can experience within your plumbing systems or pipelines and find using a leak detector.
Visible Leaks
The most common type of water leak that you can find on your own is a visible leak. You can identify this type of leakage in your taps, showers, and other plumbing system components. All these leaks come under the category of visible leaks because you can identify them without using any tool based on cutting-edge technology.
Hidden Leaks
Another type of water leak is hidden leakage that normally occurs behind the walls, under the floors, or in the underground pipes. These leaks can either be identified without leak detectors or require their usage. For example, if the leakage is behind the walls, you can find it using moisture mapping around the leakage that becomes visible after a few months or weeks of leakage. Similarly, if the leakage is in underground pipes, you may not be able to find them without CCTV cameras and related devices. You can use thermal cameras, pressure testing, and other advanced tools that are used for leak detection systems.
Intermittent Leaks
It is the hardest type of water leakage regarding identification because these leak problems don’t occur continuously. Intermittent leakage is a type of water leak that occurs only in certain conditions, like when water-using appliances are working. No denying, this type creates less water wastage, but it can be harmful for the entire system, as you may not be able to identify and solve it in the early stages. This type of building leak comes to notice when they are ready to create plumbing disasters or structural damage to the properties.
Causes of Water Leaks
From the above sections, you have read about the major types of water leaks. It is also important to understand the causes behind water leak issues to resolve them with comfort and durability. Here, in the following sections, we have listed some of the most prominent causes of water leaks at your place. Let’s get started and read what creates this problem and make your life tough.
Aging and Corroded Pipes
Normally, we don’t bother inspecting pipes that we have installed in our irrigation systems and keep on using them for years without maintenance. Keep in mind that water pipes can face different issues, like corrosion over time. It is one of the most common causes, especially with underground pipe leaks, because we can’t notice corrosion on those pipes without using leak tracing technology or tools. When water keeps flowing from pipes continuously, chemical reactions and mineral buildups can create corrosion in pipes. In turn, the pipes from those sections might get cracks or break down, which you can identify using a water leak detection test.
High Water Pressure
Another common reason behind leakage in water pipes is high water pressure. No doubt, these pipes are designed and installed for a smooth water supply to any property. However, they can’t bear an excessive water pressure continuously and develop cracks in them. Keep in mind that this issue not only takes you towards leakages but also creates problems like burst pipes at weaker points or connections. Therefore, it is important to install a water meter within your plumbing system and make sure that the pressure is kept suitable to avoid such situations.
Damaged Seals and Joints
In your plumbing system, you will have multiple seals and joints that are used for connecting pipes within your water supply. With time, these seals and connecting points can face damage and break. In such a situation, it is common to get leakage from these joining points instead of from your taps and showers. You can easily identify them without using advanced technologies like thermal scanning, CCTV equipment, and ultrasonic leak detectors. Once you have found it, you need to replace or repair the damaged seals or connecting components.
Poor Installation or DIY Repairs
Another common reason behind water pipes leaking is the poor installation of their components. Undoubtedly, every plumber takes care of such situations and ensures that everything is kept perfectly. However, when you try using DIY repairs for the solution of isolation valves, expansion valves, or any other components, you may not install them properly on your own because of a lack of expertise. In this regard, you may experience different plumbing issues, one of which is water leaks.
Impacts of Water Leaks
Normally, we consider that water leakage is a minor plumbing issue that can be solved at a later time and ignore it. However, this minor issue can create harmful impacts on our plumbing systems as well as properties. In the following section, we have discussed some of the prominent and harmful impacts of water leaks on our daily lives.
Structural Damage to Property
The most damaging impact of a water leak is on the structural damage to your property. When it is left unresolved, water can seep into the walls, floors, or even the foundations of your building. It will, in turn, weaker the overall building strength by impacting its materials. Whether it is about hidden leaks or visible ones, they can leave constant impacts on your properties. However, the hidden leaks will be more impactful as compared to the visible ones because these will impact the property from the outside. Keep in mind that structural damage to properties not only impacts the worth of your property but is also harmful to your life because of the weaker foundations.
Mould, Bacteria, and Health Risks
Another health hazard that you will have to face in case of water leakage is mould, mildew, and harmful bacteria growth. Mould & mildew grow in places where water pools can be seen. The growth of such bacteria is harmful to your health and creates issues like breathing problems, allergies, and respiratory issues. You may also experience skin irritation issues if you haven’t resolved this issue for a long time. Therefore, it is recommended to solve the water leaks just after you notice them to keep yourself safe from any health issues.
Increased Water Bills and Wastage
A leaking tap or shower isn’t only something that looks problematic. But it also impacts your water bills because hundreds of litres of water will be wasted every month because of such leakages. In turn, you will have to pay a lot of extra bills for the water usage that is calculated by the water meter. Keep in mind that the water meter doesn’t ignore the water that gets leaked from taps or showers, but it also keeps on measuring it. Therefore, you will have a higher spike in your water bills and have to pay for that you haven’t used.
Damage to Appliances and Fixtures
Another harmful impact that you will get from water leakage at your place is damage to your appliances. If your tap is leaking, it doesn’t mean that the impact is on the tap only, but you will also experience its impact on other devices like the hot water system, washing machine, and others. It is because the continuous leakage will create corrosion or rust on such appliances and make them faulty too. In turn, you may either have to pay a lot of money for their replacement or get them repaired at a significant amount of expense.
Signs of Water Leaks
Sometimes, water leaks may remain undetected because of their hidden nature. It means that you may not be able to find the leakage immediately because it might be in the underground pipes or behind the walls. Therefore, these leaks will remain unnoticed until they are ready to create major plumbing disasters and cause costly repairs or damage the water quality. However, you can understand some signs and keep them in mind to notice leakage in the early stage and respond promptly to be safe from weird outcomes. Here, we have listed some of those signs that directly indicate the water leakages at your place.
Unusually high water bills: It might be possible that you start getting high water bills without any extra usage.
Reduced water pressure: You may be experiencing low water pressure in your taps or showers, which indicates that there are some leaking points in the lines.
Damp spots or stains: You might be getting some wet or damp spots on your walls or floors. It shows that there is a hidden leakage behind the wall or under the floor.
Sound of running water: You might be hearing water moving sounds from the underground or behind the wall pipes.
Water pooling: It might be possible that water pooling occurs at some particular points of your home.
Summarising Up
Most of the time, water leakage is left unchecked and unresolved because they are considered a minor issue. No denying that this problem is of a minor level, but only in the beginning phase. You have to be familiar with the fact that it can impact the plumbing system or pipelines in the long run.
Therefore, you should respond properly to such minor plumbing situations and resolve them before they become severe. If you are unable to do this, you will experience multiple issues like structural damage, health hazards, and others.
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