East Anglian Leak Detection
07700 102 008
East Anglian Leak Detection
Call us
Home / Cambridgeshire / Ramsey

Ramsey and its fen hamlets

Leak detection in Ramsey for boilers losing pressure

A boiler that keeps needing a refill, with no puddle anywhere, often means water is escaping into a floor. Our engineer Charlie finds the leaking length, then the point on it.

Pressure loss traced to one spot

Sealant questions asked up front

Empty properties checked

Call 07700 102 008 Get a quote

Get a quote

Lines open 8am to 8pm, every day.

Ramsey is an old fen market town that has grown outwards, with estates built from the 1970s onwards spread around its centre. Many homes of that age have heating pipes set into concrete floors, so leak detection in Ramsey often begins with a pressure gauge that keeps dropping.

The hamlets around the town are different again. At Ramsey Heights, Ramsey Forty Foot and Ramsey St Mary's, houses take water from roadside meters along lengthy buried pipes, and a leak on one can run unnoticed for weeks in a home that stands empty between owners.

A lone brick house beside a straight drainage channel on flat black fields, typical of the Cambridgeshire fens Pale gault brick Victorian terraced houses with bicycles at the railings, typical of Cambridge

Two Ramsey jobs, typical of the town

Thin heating pipes in a 1970s detached house

The property

A 1970s detached house on an estate near the centre, with thin heating pipes running to each radiator inside the concrete ground floor.

The problem

The boiler needed refilling most days, and the vinyl by the cloakroom door felt warm. The boiler itself had been serviced and passed.

How we found it

The thin pipes branch from one manifold, so we shut each branch in turn; only the cloakroom branch lost pressure. Once the radiators were hot, a warm smudge by the door showed on the camera; tracer gas in the drained branch surfaced there too.

The outcome

One spot by the cloakroom door was marked and photographed. The owner accepted the quoted repair, and the pipe was mended through a small opening in the floor.

Empty fen house with a meter still moving

The property

A detached house at Ramsey Forty Foot, empty while its sale went through, with plastic supply pipe from a roadside meter down a long front garden.

The problem

On one of their regular visits, a relative found the meter still moving with the house shut up and nothing in use. The garden showed no sign.

How we found it

The meter kept going with the indoor stop tap closed, so the leak was outside. The plastic pipe gave little to hear, so tracer gas went into it and rose near the gate, where a close listen found a faint hiss.

The outcome

The spot near the gate was marked and photographed, and the report went to the relative who had booked and paid. The repair was quoted separately.

Ramsey homes we are called to

Owners refilling the boiler

The gauge slides below 1 bar and the radiators cool until you refill it. Tell us how often, where the pipes run and whether sealer has gone in.

Owners of older houses in the centre

Heating and supply pipes often run under timber floors in these houses. We trace them through the boards, so only those over the leak need lifting.

Households with a letter about constant use

When your water company writes about water passing all the time, we split the house from the outside pipe and trace whichever one is leaking.

Your meter, and whose pipe is whose

The water company named on your bill looks after the main and the short length up to your boundary or meter; past that, the supply is usually yours. In town the meter sits under a small cover near the boundary; on the fen roads it may be by the verge, far from the door.

How we track a heating leak

1

The refill history

We start with how often the boiler needs refilling, how far the pressure falls and whether sealer has gone in, because sealant can stop the tests from working.

2

Cutting the system into parts

We close valves to split upstairs from downstairs, then radiator from radiator if needed. The part whose gauge keeps falling is where we search next.

3

Warm floor, second check

Once the heating has run, thermal imaging shows where warmth escapes into the floor. A pressure test or tracer gas then has to agree before the spot is marked.

What each test tells us

Thermal imaging

The camera only sees a heating leak while warm water is moving, so the system must run on the day. Thick rugs and deep screed weaken the picture.

Pressure testing

A pressure test proves which section of the heating is losing water, but not where along it. That is why it comes first, and the camera or tracer gas follows.

Tracer gas

Gas put into the drained circuit, a hydrogen and nitrogen mix, works up through screed to the detector. Pipework in ducting or under a membrane can hold it back.

Is a heating leak on your policy?

Some home policies treat a heating leak like a supply leak, and a few add trace and access cover for locating it; others leave heating out. Read yours before booking, and find out if the insurer must sign off the work. After payment, the report gives the location, methods, readings and photographs.

Common questions in Ramsey

No. No find, no fee on home water leaks does not cover central heating, as our terms page explains. Heating work has its own price, agreed beforehand for a half or full day’s search, and a quick result does not change it.

Not to search. Everything happens from the surface, and a small area over the mark is opened only once two methods agree, and only if you want the repair done then. Tiles or laminate over that spot may need lifting first.

Yes. Homes there often take water through a long pipe from a roadside meter, so tell us its rough length and route when you ring. Longer runs may be priced as a full day, and the price is agreed before anything is booked.

Someone needs to open up and show us the meter, stop tap and heating controls, and the stop taps must turn. If the person paying cannot be on site, we may ask them to pay before we confirm a date.

Card or bank transfer, settled as we finish; we cannot accept cash or cheques. We hold your card details from the moment you book to secure the slot, and your written report follows once the visit is paid for in full.

Around Ramsey

Warboys, the next large village south, shares Ramsey's mix of older houses and later estates. Chatteris lies across the fen to the east, and our leak detection in Cambridgeshire stretches north to Whittlesey and Yaxley.

Leak detection in Warboys Leak detection in Chatteris Leak detection in Whittlesey Leak detection in Sawtry Leak detection in Yaxley Leak detection in St Ives Leak detection in Cambridgeshire
New-build brick and timber-clad townhouses with solar panels and young street trees, typical of a Cambridgeshire estate

Leaks we trace

Water leak detection Leaking water main Central heating leak detection Leaking underfloor heating Shower leak detection Underground water leak detection Gas pipe leak detection Thermal imaging leak detection Acoustic water leak detection Tracer gas leak detection Commercial leak detection Trace and access leak detection Leak detection for landlords Water leak repair

Useful guides

Boiler overflow pipe dripping outside: what it means Central heating leak sealer: what it can and cannot do Damp patch on an internal wall: leak, condensation or something else? Gas meter capped after a leak: what happens next

Refilling the boiler in Ramsey again?

Ring 07700 102 008, 8am to 8pm any day, and say how often you top up. Visits are usually booked within 24 to 48 hours.

Call 07700 102 008 Get a quote
East Anglian Leak Detection