East Anglian Leak Detection
07700 102 008
East Anglian Leak Detection
Call us
Home / Suffolk / Brandon

Brandon homes on solid floors

Leak detection in Brandon for heating pipes in solid floors

A boiler that needs refilling every few days, in a house with no damp anywhere, can mean a heating pipe leaking in the floor. Many homes from Brandon's expansion have solid floors; we find the leak from the surface.

Heating leaks traced through concrete

Price agreed before booking

3 month guarantee on repairs

Call 07700 102 008 Get a quote

Get a quote

Lines open 8am to 8pm, every day.

Brandon stands on the Little Ouse, which marks the Norfolk border here, with Thetford Forest all round. The town grew fast from the late 1960s, when the Greater London Council built homes here. Many of those homes have solid concrete floors, some with heating pipes inside.

A leak inside a concrete floor rarely shows as a wet patch, because the water soaks downwards. The first clue is usually the boiler gauge or a meter letter. Pipe leak detection in Brandon starts by proving which system leaks, long before a drill comes out.

Painted Victorian houses on a seafront road above a shingle beach, typical of the Suffolk coast Brick family homes with gravel drives in a cul-de-sac on the edge of a market town, typical of Suffolk

The sort of leak a Brandon call leads to

Thin heating pipe leaking under a terrace living room

The property

A terrace from the town's expansion on a concrete floor, with heating pipes little thicker than a pencil running through it to each downstairs radiator.

The problem

Every two or three days the boiler wanted more water. Carpets were dry, nothing smelled damp, and the boiler engineer found no fault.

How we found it

Nobody had used sealer. Valving off the downstairs radiators steadied the gauge. Once the heating was on, the thermal camera found heat spreading by the front wall; tracer gas confirmed it.

The outcome

The owner accepted our repair quote, so the concrete was opened over the mark and nowhere else, and we mended the pipe that visit.

Copper supply worn where it rises through concrete

The property

A semi from the town's expansion on concrete. The copper supply rises through the kitchen floor under the sink, just before the stop tap.

The problem

Anglian Water wrote about constant use, and damp crept along the kitchen units. The insurer would not move the claim on without a located leak.

How we found it

Shutting the stop tap left the dial moving, which put the leak on the stretch before it. Listening peaked under the sink, and tracer gas rose where the pipe enters the concrete.

The outcome

The report went with the claim once the visit was paid; the repair was quoted separately. Opened at the mark, the copper had thinned against the concrete.

How we search a floor nobody can see into

1

What the gauge has been doing

Ring with the pressure your boiler starts at, how low it drops and how often you refill it. Mention any sealer, and which rooms sit on concrete.

2

Circuits tested one at a time

Our engineer Charlie closes off parts of the system one by one and watches the gauge. Whichever part keeps dropping is where the leak is.

3

Camera first, gas to confirm

Hot radiators let the thermal camera pick out heat escaping into the concrete. Tracer gas or a pressure test must agree before the point is marked and photographed.

The Brandon households we hear from

Homes where the boiler gauge keeps falling

Your boiler engineer says the boiler is fine. Tell us your refill routine, which rooms are on concrete, and whether sealer went in, as it can upset tests.

Brandon households with a meter letter

Anglian Water may write when your meter never stands still. On concrete floors the supply can run under the kitchen before the stop tap, so a leak that seems outside may lie under your floor.

Policyholders whose claim has stalled

Some trace and access claims stall because the leak has no location yet. Our report supplies it: the location, methods, readings and photographs, sent once the visit is paid.

What each test can and cannot do in Brandon

Thermal imaging

It shows warm shapes on a floor's surface, so the heating must be on. Deep or insulated pipes can hide from it; tracer gas then helps.

Tracer gas

We put a hydrogen and nitrogen mix into the pipe. Where it leaks out, the gas threads up through sand, concrete or paving to a detector held at the surface.

Acoustic listening

A pressurised supply hisses at a leak, and our ground microphone hears it from above. Copper carries that sound well; plastic muffles it, so tracer gas takes over.

What a letter from Anglian Water means

Anglian Water supplies Brandon. A letter about continuous use means your readings never fall to nothing, which suggests a leak somewhere past the meter. Anglian Water answers for its mains and its own pipe up to your boundary or meter. The length after that is normally the householder's, including any stretch under a concrete floor to the stop tap.

A stalled claim and a missing location

A trace and access claim on a Brandon home can stall while the leak has no location. Read your policy, and ask whether your insurer must give the go-ahead before we visit. Our report then shows where to open up, with photographs of the mark. Paying out is for the insurer to settle.

Around Brandon and over the border

Weeting is just over the river in Norfolk, and Thetford is the next town through the forest. We also reach Lakenheath and Mildenhall to the south-west, and Watton and Swaffham deeper into the Brecks.

Leak detection in Lakenheath Leak detection in Thetford Leak detection in Mildenhall Leak detection in Watton Leak detection in Littleport Leak detection in Swaffham Leak detection in Suffolk
A pink colour-washed thatched cottage with a picket fence and cottage garden, typical of a Suffolk village

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

Common questions in Brandon

Shutting off sections one by one tells us which length is leaking; we then scan it with the heating warm and confirm with a second method. Only the marked spot in the concrete needs opening, and any repair is quoted separately.

Please do. Sealer in a heating system can plug a small leak for a time and stop pressure tests and tracer gas giving a clear answer. Tell us which product went in and roughly when, so we can plan for it.

No. No find, no fee on home water leaks does not cover central heating. A heating search costs the price we settle on by phone or email before you book, whatever the outcome, so tell us everything you know first.

Clear access to the boiler, radiators, meter, stop tap and pipe cupboards, plus valves that turn, as the tests rely on them. Please keep a parking space for us within 100 m of the door; any parking charge is added at cost.

The price, agreed before we come, buys a fixed block of searching: half a day, or the full day. It stays the same if the leak turns up early. Heating leaks in concrete need the system hot, so allow time for warming up.

Boiler losing pressure in Brandon?

Call 07700 102 008 with a rough idea of how often you refill the boiler. Visits are usually booked within 24 to 48 hours.

Call 07700 102 008 Get a quote
East Anglian Leak Detection