East Anglian Leak Detection
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East Anglian Leak Detection
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Serving Saxmundham and Kelsale

Leak detection in Saxmundham for supply pipe leaks

The water company says your meter never stops, yet nothing looks wet. Our leak detection in Saxmundham finds where the water goes, from the surface.

Meter tests explained as we go

Plastic pipes traced with tracer gas

Bath and shower parts tested singly

Lines open 8am to 8pm daily

Call 07700 102 008 Get a quote

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Lines open 8am to 8pm, every day.

Saxmundham is a small market town on the Ipswich to Lowestoft railway, a few miles inland from Leiston and Aldeburgh. Older houses gather round the middle of town, while newer roads on its edges have homes fed by blue plastic supply pipes under lawns and paving.

How fast your meter moves tells us a lot before we set off. A large loss is usually loud enough to hear through the ground; a small one on plastic may need tracer gas. A stain below a bathroom with the meter standing still points to a waste or overflow instead.

Brick family homes with gravel drives in a cul-de-sac on the edge of a market town, typical of Suffolk A pink colour-washed thatched cottage with a picket fence and cottage garden, typical of a Suffolk village

Two typical jobs we do in Saxmundham

Quiet plastic pipe under a block-paved drive

The property

An edge-of-town detached house with its meter in the pavement and blue plastic pipe running beneath block paving to a side utility room.

The problem

The owners' water bill had climbed and a letter warned of constant use. Nothing looked damp, yet their own late-night reading showed the dial creeping.

How we found it

Shutting the utility room stop tap left the dial moving, so the leak lay under the drive. Listening caught only a whisper; tracer gas then rose near the gate, exactly where that whisper peaked.

The outcome

Two blocks were chalked and photographed. We lifted them and repaired the pipe during the visit, on a price kept apart from the detection.

Ceiling stain with a meter that never moved

The property

An older terraced house near the middle of town, with the bathroom over the back sitting room and the bath boxed in behind a tiled panel.

The problem

A stain on the sitting room ceiling grew after baths, yet overnight meter readings never changed. Resealing round the bath had not helped.

How we found it

A still meter ruled out the supply pipes. Moisture readings peaked under the bath's tap end. Only a bath filled to its overflow sent them up, and thermal imaging showed the warm water's path.

The outcome

We marked the panel and photographed the readings. The overflow seal was remade during the visit, quoted separately, and only the bath panel came off.

Meter letters, plastic pipes and stains

A letter about constant use

Keep the letter, and take two meter readings an hour apart with everything off. The rise shows roughly how big the leak is, which decides our first test.

Newer homes on plastic pipe

Blue plastic supply pipe is quiet when it leaks, so a ground microphone may hear very little. That is why we carry tracer gas for when listening runs out.

A stain below the bathroom

If a ceiling stain grows after baths or showers while the meter stays still, a waste or an overflow is the likely source. We test each part on its own.

Who looks after which pipe

Check the name on your bill: that company runs the water main and the short connection to your meter or boundary. Everything beyond, even under a drive, is normally private pipe and the owner's to mend. Keep any letter about constant use, and ask the company about its leak policy once the repair is done.

From your reading to our mark

1

Two readings, an hour apart

Note the meter reading, keep every tap and appliance off for an hour, and read it again. Any rise shows water escaping, and how quickly.

2

Inside or outside?

We shut your stop tap and watch the meter. A dial that stops means an indoor leak; one that keeps creeping means the buried pipe is to blame.

3

Narrowed, then proved

Listening along the route narrows it; tracer gas or another test has to agree before anything gets marked. The spot is then photographed beside the readings.

Methods that suit Saxmundham's pipes

Acoustic listening

Water forced through a split under pressure makes noise. Our ground microphone hears it through soil, gravel and paving, most clearly on metal pipe and bigger losses.

Tracer gas

Where plastic deadens the sound, a hydrogen and nitrogen mix is fed into the pipe. It escapes at the split and rises through paving or soil to our detector.

Thermal imaging

Hot water escaping inside a wall or floor warms the surface nearby. Once a hot tap has run, the camera shows that warmth spreading from one point.

Pay for the visit, then claim

A trace and access claim usually runs in this order: you pay when the visit ends, the report follows, and you send it to your insurer with the receipt. Ring the insurer before booking to check your cover and whether they approve firms first. Whether it pays is their decision.

Common questions in Saxmundham

Yes, because even a slow leak runs day and night and keeps adding to the bill. It may take longer to find, so we agree the price first. A leak under 30 litres an hour, which is half a litre a minute, falls outside no find, no fee on home water leaks.

Yes. The pipe is traced from above, and nothing is lifted or dug while searching. Paving comes up only where we mark, for the repair. That mark is where opening up should begin, and only uncovering the pipe finally proves the leak.

Not if your meter is the one turning. Water lost before the meter never passes through it, so a moving dial with everything off points to a leak after it. Water bubbling up in the pavement is different: report it to the company named on your bill.

Usually, yes. Mending it is priced separately from finding it. If we quote the repair beforehand, that figure applies only when the work happens on the day of the detection. Repairs are guaranteed for 3 months on the pipe and fittings we install.

Visits are usually booked within 24 to 48 hours. The price is settled first, over the phone or by email. It buys a set half or full day of searching, chosen to fit the job, and is not cut if we are quick.

Villages around Saxmundham

Kelsale lies just north and Benhall just south, with Sternfield and Knodishall nearby. Yoxford is further up the A12, Leiston and Aldeburgh sit towards the coast, and Framlingham is to the west.

Leak detection in Leiston Leak detection in Yoxford Leak detection in Aldeburgh Leak detection in Framlingham Leak detection in Wickham Market Leak detection in Orford Leak detection in Suffolk
Painted Victorian houses on a seafront road above a shingle beach, typical of the Suffolk coast

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 Damp patch on an internal wall: leak, condensation or something else? Gas meter capped after a leak: what happens next Hot water leak or cold water leak: how to tell which pipe is leaking

A letter about your Saxmundham meter?

Call 07700 102 008 with your two meter readings and where your meter sits. Lines are open 8am to 8pm, every day.

Call 07700 102 008 Get a quote
East Anglian Leak Detection