What a wonderful world we live in today! You can find all the information you need in seconds with a quick search on the internet. We’ve come so far from the days of having to go to the library to look something up in a cumbersome set of encyclopedias. You can even find how-to videos that show you, step by step, how to do all kinds of things around the house.
This is amazing! But the extremely confident DIY gurus on the internet don’t always tell you which things are actually sensible to do yourself and which are better left to experts. Give your kitchen a facelift with a coat of paint and new cabinet knobs, sure! But what about plumbing, you ask? Can I find plumbing leaks myself? How would I go about it? We’ve got some important advice for you.
Signs of a Plumbing Leak
Of course, if you’ve got a massively gushing pipe or a badly broken faucet, you’ll know right away that you’ve got a plumbing leak. But some leaks are sneakier than others, and even if they start slow, leaking water can add up fast and cause a lot of damage. So how can you tell there’s a leak somewhere in your plumbing?
The majority of leaks are in hot water lines. This means you might feel warmth in odd places like walls, or notice that your water heater is running when you haven’t been using hot water. It can even cause your utility bills to go up so you’re wasting a lot of hot water.
Other signs include slow-spreading water stains, mold, higher humidity in your home, sounds like dripping and trickling, and increasing water usage. If you don’t want to wait for the next water bill to find out, shut off all water and water-using appliances in your home. Take a look at the water meter and make a note of what it says. An hour later, check it again. If it’s changed, you’ve got a leak.
How Plumbers Once Found Plumbing Leaks
In the past, plumbers had to use different methods to find plumbing leaks, because they didn’t have the technology that’s available today. Unfortunately, this could easily involve removing sections of wall or floor trying to locate a leak, only to find it wasn’t in that exact spot, and more wall or floor needed to be removed!
Because you don’t have modern plumbing equipment, this is the tactic you would have to use if you were trying to locate a plumbing leak by yourself. It could easily lead to unnecessary damage to your home. And because you don’t have the training or experience of those plumbers of the past, it could take you a lot longer than it would have taken them.
How Plumbers Locate Leaks Today
There are three main sensory approaches to finding plumbing leaks. There’s sound: leaks can often be heard. There’s touch: as mentioned above, hot water leaks cause temperature changes. And there’s sight, the most precise sense, with which you could actually see the exact spot where the leak is occurring.
Modern plumbers use sound-amplifying tools to measure the distance and direction to the sound of a leak. They use infrared technology to gauge the temperature of walls and floors. And perhaps most amazingly, they use tiny cameras to get right inside the pipes, feeding back video for the plumber to watch in real time, so leaks can be directly seen.
Don’t take the risks of DIY leak detection in Ashburn, VA! Get high-tech help from an expert plumber.
AllTech Services, Inc. is your trusted resource for all your plumbing concerns. Contact us today!