Water pipe leak.

[rafiki]

It is obvious from our water bill and experiments I have done this afternoon that we have a water pipe leak on our incoming supply after the meter. Trouble is that pipe goes underground after the meter in the street and surfaces at the back of the house where it rises to the roof to fill the tank. On the way underground it forks to supply the gas water heater and supply a patio tap. Is there technology today in Spain that will identify where a leak is below ground in these circumstances? I really would hate having to dig up the floors in the house to find it.

[spanish_lad]

we've got a leak detection machine. it is acurate to within one metre. we can come and do a leak test if you want ? i *think* its 35€ call out and 20€ per hour labour after that.


alternativly my dad is a plumber and can re-route the pipework through / over the house / the best route ... for 140€ a day.


***EDIT*** i've just seen where it is... erm, get a local guy to do it, unless you want to pay extra for travelling time and fuel, it'll take me at least 2 hours to get to yours.

[rafiki]

Thanks for that S-L. Reassuring to know there is such a machine available. I'll ask around if anyone has one here. Are the machines available for purchase in Spain? Are they expensive?

[spanish_lad]

$3,426 plus import fees...

so no... and not as far as i know.

i work for a "leak detection specialist" so he has the tools.

[rafiki]

Crikey

If I can't find someone locally I may just call you. Bound to be more economical than digging the whole place up.

[gstringemo]

Hi Rafiki

Sorry to hear about your water problem...

.. another option for you would be to intercept the water pipe before it dissapears below your house and just re-route it through the house to the tap at the back and to the water tank on the roof. That would mean you wouldn´t have to bother finding out where the underground leak was.

A local plumber would be able to do that no bother...

.. of course, not having seen your house, I don´t know whether that would be an aesthetically satisfactory solution for you. But it could be the cheapest option.

[rafiki]

Thanks gstringemo . Yes, I had decided to call in our local plumber Monday morning. I had rationalised that if the existing pipe has sprung a leak, repairing it may only be the solution until another part of it breaks down and we have to go through it all over again.I'm sure that he can do the repiping. Just making sure he chooses a suitable route and keeps the pipework neat and tidy will be the challenge I think.

[gstringemo]

That sounds the best thing to do.

The trouble is when pipes are buried - underground or in the wall - it causes so much time and trouble finding the source of the leak when problems occur.

Much better, I think to run pipes along the surface and box them in, although they can look a bit unsightly that way.


Anyway, good luck on Monday. Hope you manage to sort your problem out.

[rafiki]

In the end a friend organised the bloke from Pilas to attend with his leak machine. He confirmed just one leak and put an X on the spot. The Spanish builders doing some other work for us lifted the tile and excavated to find a plastic T-piece leaking. His plumber replaced it and left it open for a couple of days to check it was properly sealed and then refilled and replaced the tile. So far so good. I still think the re-piping solution will be best but we will leave that until we move over permanently so we can keep an eye on what they are doing.

[Babby]

Rafiki, if you have house insurance, check whether leaking pipes are covered.

[rafiki]

It is but there is a £250 excess. I have reported it to our broker but it's unlikely that the repair will exceed the excess.