PLUMBING REPAIR SPECIALIST

 SLAB LEAK LOCATION AND DETECTION

HOT WATER SLAB LEAK 
How do you know if you have a hot water slab leak? Often you will have a warm or hot spot on the floor. It may not appear to a casual observer that there is a leak because, often there is no visible water or water damage.
Copper water lines under the slab are often subject to what most plumbers will call electrolysis. What is this? When copper touches a dissimilar metal it will start to attack the copper water lines and it can cause the pipes in the entire system to get thin and to get pits in the piping.
How can this be prevented? Current codes require that a suitable die electric union be used to keep the copper water lines from being directly connected to the water heater which is made using a dissimilar metal. A standard dieelectric union will often have a rubber gasket and a plastic sleeving washer that keeps the two different types of metal from touching each other. This can also happen if the pipe is touching metal anywhere in the system. This can be a nail in the wall or rebar under the concrete.It is impossible to foresee every single instance where this can happen, but the most obvious is at the water heater connection. 
How do you repair a hot water slab leak? A hot water leak under the slab will often need to be repaired by jackhammering a hole in the floor. Then you cut out a section of the pipe and replace it with new pipe.Sometimes however the condition of the pipe is in very poor condition due to years of damage caused by electrolysis eating away at the pipes. In these situations it may be advisable to replace the entire line completely, however, often this is not done because of the higher cost of repairs.You may save money by making a small repair at first but if the conditions of the piping are very bad then you can end up making more repairs in the future.This can lead to frustration on the part of everyone involved because you could easily have another leak inches away from the previous repair very soon thereafter.Think about it, the plumber just jackhammered up your floor in the kitchen and your kitchen was out of commission for days.The dishes piled up and the house is a wreck. Finally you got the concrete back in and then the tile was fixed. Finally the house is back to normal!! Now guess what, you have another leak.Thats right folks sometimes it is better to take the big hit and have the more expensive procedure done the first time. I admit sometimes it is worth the gamble to just make the smaller repair and make sure you have dieelectric unions installed to hopefully arrest any further damage, but , you have to remember that it is still a gamble.You are betting that the damage is not severe enough to warrant pipe replacement and hoping that you can arrest further damage.

COLD WATER SLAB LEAK

HOW DO YOU FIND A COLD WATER SLAB LEAK?

Sensitive listening devices are used to locate the leak under the concrete.If the leak is not found with this device. It is necessary to force air into the lines and with the additional noise made from this it can make it possible to locate the leak closer. However locating a leak is not always exact because the sound can travel and cause the locator to be thrown off of the exact area of the leak.


Underground leaks
How do you find a leak under ground?

Often because of ground movement, the expansion and contraction of the soil can cause pipes to snap or to be literally pulled apart it can cause leaks under ground. You can sometimes tell where the leak is simply by looking at the lay of the land. For example if the wet spot is on a higher elevation and then extends down to a lower elevation you can rely on gravity to tell you where the leak is. Naturally water is not going to gravity flow up hill. Gravity tells us that water flows down hill and that if there is a wet spot up high, then the leak is probably going to be at the highest point. 

 

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