Imagine a plumber spending three hours on a job, meticulously going through his work, yet still walking away without finding the leak. The pipe is just a metre beneath the concrete, letting water seep into the subfloor, and the cost of fixing that problem is already going to be higher than the original issue ever would have been, I suppose that’s just the way the cookie crumbles. The equipment was picking up nothing concrete so you can bet the customer wasn’t exactly happy when they called round again in a right old temper. To make matters worse the excavation has been dug in the wrong spot, not because the bloke was incompetent but because the equipment was struggling to read the signs in the wrong conditions. That’s the way it is with so many of the trades, the tools aren’t always geared to get the job done.
The Three Detection Methods and Where Each One Falls Short
Acoustic ground microphones are pretty good at picking up the pressure signature of water escaping through concrete, etc., but only when the conditions are just right. Thermal imaging cameras can spot temperature differences in slabs and walls, but if you try to use them in the middle of a hot Melbourne summer when the outside temperature shoots up it just gets too difficult to get a clear reading, and that’s not even considering leak detection is usually most in demand at exactly that time. Tracer gas is a hydrogen and nitrogen mix used when you know the system is buried deep, which is a real game changer when trying to detect those acoustic signals that aren’t strong enough to pick up. Knowing which detection method is going to work best is the real skill that most people never quite master before they go out and buy the water leak detection equipment.
The Real World Specs You Should Be Looking at
Catalogue numbers can paint a pretty picture but the real world is rather different. A professional system that can pick up sounds from 8 metres down is great but most commercial jobs are happy to operate at a much lower depth and be reliable. If you are in the market for an acoustic system the depth is the first thing to check; in consumer-grade tools you can be lucky if they go half that depth and chances are the results will need a lot of guesswork to interpret in noisy conditions.
Noise cancelling in an acoustic system is often completely underestimated; try using a basic detector near some traffic or machinery and you’ll see just how difficult it is to pick up a signal with all the noise from the surrounding area drowning everything else out. Some of these systems have wireless noise-cancelling headphones and a visual screen that displays the waveforms, these are not some sort of optional extra but a minimum requirement for getting consistent results on a job site in this country. Battery life is something else that will kill you; if the thing is only good for 15 hours on a single charge then you’re going to have to pack one in the van for every leg of the job, it’s just the way it is.
- Residential slab leaks need really sensitive acoustic sensors that can find the signal through 100mm or more of concrete, which is no easy feat.
- Pool and irrigation leak detection really benefits from correlation functionality where you can use two sensors apart to work out the leak point with a bit of maths.
- Municipal main detection calls for long battery life, something that can withstand wet and dirty conditions and also has wireless headphones for operators who are going to be working long distances.
Why Multi-Sensor Array Systems Transform the Commercial Business Case?
Detection using a single sensor is effective in case the leak zone is relatively controlled. When there is a need to detect leaks on a commercial slab, and the source of the leakage may be anywhere on a large surface, going through the whole process manually by moving one microphone systematically through a grid is time-consuming and inefficient. In the case of multi-sensor array systems, at least nine microphones or sensors work in the area concurrently.
The Important Question No One Will Ask Until It Is Too Late
In case of equipment failure between jobs, what happens then? Australian servicing, proper technical assistance, and a warranty for five years with lifetime support make a huge difference to purchasing the equipment compared to purchasing cheap imported equipment with no servicing facility in Australia. An instrument that pays for itself in five jobs and can work consistently for ten years is very different to an instrument that is unreliable, earns its place in the back of your shelf from the first difficult site.
The plumber whose choice of equipment was made on specifications is still looking. The plumber who made his choice based on the site conditions is already working on the next job.
