East Anglian Leak Detection
07700 102 008
East Anglian Leak Detection
Call us
Home / Hertfordshire / Hoddesdon

Lea Valley leak detection

Leak detection in Hoddesdon

A letter says water is escaping, nothing looks wet, and you are out at work all day. We establish whether the leak is before or after your stop tap, then trace it from the surface.

Tracer gas for quiet leaks

Supply pipes under lawns and drives

Written report after payment

Call 07700 102 008 Get a quote

Get a quote

Lines open 8am to 8pm, every day.

From its old high street, Hoddesdon spread into family housing after the war, when it became a commuter town for London. In a commuter town many homes are empty all day, so the first sign of a leak is often a letter or a bill rather than a drip.

Leak detection in Hoddesdon is often about pipes nobody can see: supply pipes under front lawns and drives, and plastic pipework in the floors of newer homes. Water leaks in Hoddesdon can also be quiet ones, and quiet leaks are where tracer gas helps most.

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 kinds of leak we see in Hoddesdon

Quiet supply leak under a gravel drive

The property

A post-war semi with the meter in the pavement, a gravel drive over a plastic supply pipe, and its stop tap beneath the sink.

The problem

Both owners work away all day and came home to a letter about continuous use. Checks on the toilets and outside tap found nothing.

How we found it

Even with the stop tap shut the dial crept on, so the leak was outside. Through the gravel the ground microphone caught only a murmur; tracer gas found the spot and listening there agreed.

The outcome

A small area of gravel was raked back and dug for the repair, priced separately and done before we left. The report went to their water supplier with the repair details.

Laminate lifting in a newer kitchen

The property

A newer three-storey town house, with plastic push-fit pipes in its ground floor and laminate running right through the kitchen.

The problem

Laminate by the sink had begun to swell, and a skirting board had darkened. The meter crept overnight, though no tap dripped.

How we found it

Readings peaked under the corner units. Pressure testing showed the hot pipe holding and the cold losing, and tracer gas fed into the cold pipe rose behind the kickboard.

The outcome

We marked and photographed the joint. Only the kickboard and a strip of laminate came up, and the repair was quoted separately.

Who rings us from Hoddesdon

Commuters with a letter on the mat

Measure, roughly, the distance from the meter to your inside stop tap, and note what covers the ground between. That lets us plan tests before anyone books a day off.

Owners of newer homes with plastic pipes

Push-fit joints in floors and behind kitchen units can weep for weeks before laminate lifts or a skirting darkens. Moisture readings show where the water has gone; testing shows which pipe.

Landlords with homes let in the town

A tenant often forwards the letter to you. Book it as a let, name whoever will open the door and say who pays; paying from afar may mean paying up front.

Which water company supplies you?

Check the supplier's name on your bill or on the letter about the leak, rather than going by your neighbours or the town. Whichever company supplies you looks after the main and the connection to your meter or boundary; the buried pipe after that, as far as your indoor stop tap, normally falls to the householder.

From the letter to the leak

1

What the letter tells us

Read us the figure on the water company's letter, if it gives one, and describe where the meter sits and where the stop tap is. That tells us what to bring.

2

Inside or outside the stop tap

A still meter with everything off rules out a supply leak. If it moves, shutting the stop tap divides the outside pipe from the plumbing indoors.

3

Tracing the quiet leak

Our engineer Charlie listens first. Where plastic pipe or the ground itself deadens the sound, he switches to tracer gas. Nothing is marked until a second test agrees.

Tracer gas and other methods in Hoddesdon

Tracer gas

Tracer leak detection in Hoddesdon means filling the isolated pipe with a hydrogen and nitrogen mix. Wherever the pipe has split, the gas finds a way out and up through soil, gravel or concrete to our detector.

Acoustic listening

A leak under mains pressure hisses. Moved along the route, a ground microphone hears it loudest right above the leak, unless plastic pipe or deep gravel muffles it.

Pressure testing

Holding a closed-off pipe under pressure shows whether it leaks. Testing the hot and cold pipes apart tells us which to trace, before a single board or tile moves.

When your insurer asks for a price first

Some insurers want a quote from you before they agree to a trace and access claim. You will have the visit's price before booking, agreed by phone or email; an email can go straight on to your insurer. Our report follows payment and gives the location, methods, readings and photographs.

Common questions in Hoddesdon

The pipe is isolated and charged with a hydrogen and nitrogen mix. At the failure the gas leaks out, works up through the soil, and a detector at the surface picks it up. It suits plastic pipe that a microphone struggles to hear.

Yes. Someone has to open up, walk us round the meter, stop tap and boiler, and see the marked spot at the end. It need not be you, as long as they can reach you by phone and payment is arranged.

Not to search. Every test is done from the surface first, and digging for the repair starts at the spot we mark. On gravel that may mean raking back a small area; on a lawn, lifting a few turves that can go back afterwards.

It helps, so have the figure ready when you ring. It shows how fast water is escaping, and no find, no fee on home water leaks only applies at half a litre a minute or more, so 30 litres an hour or above. Full conditions are on our terms page.

Expect the search to take longer. The meter and the stop tap mark the two ends, and we listen along the likely line between them. Mention it when you book, because it helps us decide how much time to price for.

Also serving

Broxbourne and Cheshunt continue south down the Lea Valley towards Waltham Cross, with Ware and Hertford up the valley to the north. Harlow is just over the county border in Essex.

Leak detection in Broxbourne Leak detection in Hertford Leak detection in Ware Leak detection in Cheshunt Leak detection in Harlow Leak detection in Waltham Cross 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

Letter about a Hoddesdon leak?

Call 07700 102 008 with the letter to hand. Visits are usually booked within 24 to 48 hours.

Call 07700 102 008 Get a quote
East Anglian Leak Detection