East Anglian Leak Detection
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East Anglian Leak Detection
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Ongar, its lanes and farmland

Leak detection in Chipping Ongar

Outside the town, many Ongar homes get water through a pipe crossing a lane, a paddock or someone else's land. We walk that route, confirm the leak and mark the spot.

Pipes across fields walked and traced

Underfloor heating loops tested

Empty homes tested with key holders

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Lines open 8am to 8pm, every day.

Green belt surrounds Chipping Ongar, a small town in the west of Essex from which many residents commute towards London. Away from its High Street, leak detection in Chipping Ongar also covers the farms, barn conversions and houses at the end of private lanes around it.

Those outlying homes tend to have a meter at the road and a long supply pipe whose route nobody quite remembers. In converted barns, underfloor heating under stone or tiled floors adds a second kind of hidden leak, shown by falling pressure rather than damp.

White weatherboarded cottages with picket fences along a village street, typical of Essex Victorian bay-fronted houses on a hillside road above an estuary, typical of an Essex seaside town

Typical calls from Ongar and its lanes

Leak on a supply pipe crossing a neighbour's paddock

The property

A detached house down a private lane outside the town, its meter beside the road and its supply laid across a neighbour's paddock to the garden.

The problem

Pressure in the back bathroom had weakened and the meter by the road never stopped. Nobody knew exactly where the pipe ran.

How we found it

With the neighbour's agreement we listened across the paddock, but the plastic pipe gave little sound. We filled it with tracer gas, which rose by the hedge, and close listening there agreed.

The outcome

The spot was marked with a peg and photographed. The owners and their neighbour agreed the dig between them, and our repair price was given separately.

Underfloor heating losing pressure in a barn conversion

The property

A barn conversion in the fields beyond the town, with underfloor heating under a stone-tiled ground floor and its manifold in a utility cupboard.

The problem

The heating needed topping up twice a week, and one area of tiles felt warmer than the rest. No water showed anywhere in the building.

How we found it

Each loop at the manifold was shut off in turn, and only one lost pressure. With the floor warm, thermal imaging traced that loop, and tracer gas confirmed the leak.

The outcome

Marks and photographs pinned the leak to a few tiles, so the rest of the floor stayed down. The repair to the loop was quoted on its own.

Who calls us from Ongar

Homes down private lanes and tracks

With the meter out by the road, the supply may cross a drive, a paddock or a neighbour's field. We follow its route and confirm the leak before a spade goes in.

Owners of converted barns

Underfloor heating that keeps losing pressure usually has one leaking loop. We test each loop alone, then find the point without lifting the whole floor.

Executors and owners of empty homes

An empty house can lose water for weeks unnoticed. We test it with a key holder there, and if whoever pays lives away, payment may come before the booking is fixed.

Long supply pipes and your water company

Your bill names your water company, and neighbours a few miles away may have a different one. For outlying Ongar homes, the meter is often at the roadside, far from the house. The pipe from there to your taps is usually yours, even across a field or a neighbour's land.

Finding a leak on a long country supply

1

Length, route and meter questions

We ask roughly how long the pipe is, where the meter sits, what it crosses and whose land it passes under. A long or uncertain route is quoted as a set block of time.

2

Following the pipe on foot

From the meter outward, we carry the ground microphone along the likely line of the pipe, pausing every few paces. The leak lies where the sound is strongest.

3

Gas to settle the exact point

The pipe is filled with a hydrogen and nitrogen mix, which rises through soil at the split. Once the detector agrees with the microphone, we mark the ground.

Methods for farmland, lanes and barns

Acoustic listening

Pressurised water escaping a buried pipe is faintly audible through soil and turf. Listening at intervals along the route, we close in on the loudest place.

Tracer gas

A quiet leak on blue plastic pipe can slip past the microphone. The gas needs no sound: it rises from the split and our detector picks it up above ground.

Pressure testing

We shut off one loop or one length and leave it under pressure. A falling gauge proves that section is losing water, before any time goes into searching it.

Policies and underground supply pipes

Read what your policy says about underground supply pipes before you book, because cover varies, and find out whether the insurer must agree to our visit beforehand. Our report gives the location, methods, readings and photographs. On a long run it also shows where to start opening the ground, rather than a trench.

Common questions in Chipping Ongar

Tell us when you book, and ask your neighbour before the day, because we may need to walk across their field with our equipment. If the mark lands on their land, they will want a say in where and when the ground is opened.

No. No find, no fee on home water leaks covers one leak on a water main up to 30 m or the hot and cold supply pipes, at least half a litre a minute, where we also carry out the access and repair. Outside it, the agreed price applies whatever the outcome. Full conditions are on our terms page.

Yes. A neighbour, agent or key holder can open up and point out the meter, the stop tap and any valves. Tell us at booking who pays, as we may need payment first. The report comes after the visit is paid.

We start from what is known: the meter, the stop tap and where the pipe enters the house. Listening between them often reveals the line. That takes longer, so an unknown route is quoted as a set half or full day.

For the thermal camera, yes. We may ask you to run the heating for a while beforehand so the floor is warm. Please also clear the manifold cupboard, and tell us whether any leak sealant has ever been added to the system.

Around Ongar and the Rodings

Epping lies to the west and Harlow to the north-west, with Brentwood and Shenfield to the south. Ingatestone, and the Roding villages with their farms and long lanes, are also within reach for leak detection in Essex.

Leak detection in Epping Leak detection in Shenfield Leak detection in Brentwood Leak detection in Ingatestone Leak detection in Harlow Leak detection in Aythorpe Roding Leak detection in Essex
A narrow street of Victorian red brick terraced houses with a church tower at the end, typical of an Essex town

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

Central heating leak sealer: what it can and cannot do How to choose a leak detection company: questions worth asking How to read a water meter and use it to check for a leak Lead water pipes in UK homes: how to spot one and find a leak

Long pipe, high reading near Ongar?

Call 07700 102 008 and tell us where your meter is and what the pipe crosses.

Call 07700 102 008 Get a quote
East Anglian Leak Detection