East Anglian Leak Detection
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East Anglian Leak Detection
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For owners and landlords

Leak detection in Borehamwood

A tenant forwards a leak letter, or a newer house loses boiler pressure with nothing wet. We trace both from the surface, and nothing is opened until a second test agrees.

Reports for landlords and insurers

Underfloor loops checked

Open 8am to 8pm daily

Call 07700 102 008 Get a quote

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Lines open 8am to 8pm, every day.

Borehamwood grew fast after the war, when large council estates went up for families leaving London. Many of those houses are now privately owned or let, and many have solid ground floors. So leak detection in Borehamwood is often about a pipe you cannot see under concrete.

The town has also gained many new homes in recent years, from flats to family houses. They bring push-fit plastic pipe, underfloor heating run from a manifold, and en suites over living rooms. Water leak detection in Borehamwood has to cover both kinds of plumbing.

White rendered Arts and Crafts cottages behind hedges and wide grass verges, typical of a Hertfordshire garden city Timber-framed and brick cottages beside a village pond with a willow tree, typical of a Hertfordshire village

Two typical Borehamwood jobs

Loft tank refilling all night in a let estate house

The property

A post-war estate house, now let, with a cold tank in the loft feeding a hot water cylinder on the landing. Its bathroom sits above the kitchen.

The problem

The tenant heard the loft tank refilling through the night, then a letter from Affinity Water arrived. Nothing dripped anywhere, and the landlord lived too far away to look.

How we found it

Shutting the valve below the loft tank made the meter go still, so the leak was on the tank-fed pipes. With a hot tap open, the thermal camera showed warmth under the bathroom floor, and damp readings on the kitchen ceiling matched.

The outcome

The landlord, paying from elsewhere, settled before the booking went ahead. A single bathroom floorboard was lifted over the mark, with the repair priced as a separate job.

Pressure loss in a new home with underfloor heating

The property

A house on one of the town's newer developments, with underfloor heating under tiles downstairs and a manifold in the cupboard under the stairs.

The problem

Boiler pressure dropped every few days, yet nothing was wet. The owners could not tell whether the manifold, a loop or the boiler was at fault.

How we found it

We closed each loop at the manifold in turn; one kept dropping on the gauge. Once warm, it showed a bloom of heat on camera, and tracer gas confirmed the spot.

The outcome

Two tiles came up over the mark, not the whole floor. We mended the pipe while there, quoted separately, with our 3 month guarantee on the joint.

Three kinds of Borehamwood caller

Landlords with a tenant in residence

Your tenant may see the water company's letter first. When booking, mention the tenancy and who settles the bill; if you live too far off to attend, we may request payment up front.

Owners of a newer house

Falling pressure with nothing wet often points to a weeping underfloor loop. Closing the loops at the manifold one by one finds the leaking circuit; then we trace the point on it.

People in flats with a stain from upstairs

A ceiling mark from the flat above means testing upstairs. If pipes run into a neighbour's home, tell us early so access can be agreed.

Affinity Water, your tenant and the supply pipe

Affinity Water supplies Borehamwood. When readings show constant use, it may write to the account holder, who in a let house is often the tenant. Affinity Water's pipes stop at the boundary or meter; the length on from there is normally the owner's, so in a let house the landlord usually arranges the search and the repair.

Before, during and after a visit

1

Ahead of the day

Say if the home is let and who is paying. We need to reach the meter, stop tap, loft and affected rooms, and park without charge within 100 m.

2

On the day

Our engineer Charlie works out which system is losing water, traces that pipe from the surface, checks the spot by a second method, and leaves it marked and photographed.

3

After the visit

Whoever is paying settles up as we finish, using a card or a transfer. Then the written report goes out, and any repair comes with its own separate price.

What we use on Borehamwood homes

Pressure testing

We close off one heating loop or length of pipe and hold it under pressure. A falling gauge marks the leaking section before any camera comes out.

Thermal imaging

With the heating or hot water on, warm pipes show through tile and screed, and warmth fanning out from one spot marks the leak for a second method to check.

Tracer gas

A hydrogen and nitrogen mix is pushed into the drained pipe. It escapes at the split and seeps up through screed and tile joints to a handheld detector.

For landlords claiming on a buildings policy

Some landlords' buildings policies include trace and access cover, so read yours and check whether the insurer must approve the visit first. Our report gives the location, methods, readings and photographs, and goes to whoever booked once paid. Keep it with the repair invoice; the claim decision is the insurer's.

Common questions in Borehamwood

Yes. When you book, say it is a rental and name whoever is paying. An absent payer may be asked to pay up front. On the day, the tenant shows us the meter, stop tap and the rooms that are affected.

Usually. In an unoccupied house, a dial that creeps during a meter test is almost certainly a leak. The supply must be on and the stop tap and valves must work, so check them first, and arrange for someone with keys.

Usually yours, from the boundary or meter up to your walls. Affinity Water’s part is the main and its connection to that point. If the meter keeps turning with your stop tap shut, the leak is probably on the outside stretch.

We do. A leak between flats is normally tested from the home above, so access there matters most. Tell us at booking if pipes serve more than one flat, so the tests disturb both households as little as they can.

Visits are usually booked within 24 to 48 hours of your call, and our lines open 8am to 8pm every day. When you ring, it helps to say whether anyone lives there, how we get in and who is paying.

Around Borehamwood

Radlett, next door to the north-west, has more Victorian and Edwardian houses. Bushey and Watford lie west, Carpenders Park beyond them, while Potters Bar and London Colney sit east and north.

Leak detection in Radlett Leak detection in Potters Bar Leak detection in Bushey Leak detection in London Colney Leak detection in Carpenders Park Leak detection in Watford Leak detection in Hertfordshire
1930s mock Tudor semi-detached houses with hedged front gardens on a frosty morning, typical of a Hertfordshire commuter 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 Microbore pipe leaks: finding a leak in thin heating pipes No find, no fee on home water leaks: what our terms cover and what they do not

Leak at a Borehamwood home or let?

Call 07700 102 008 any day from 8am to 8pm, and mention it if the home is let.

Call 07700 102 008 Get a quote
East Anglian Leak Detection