Surface area depressions in your driveway, footpath or patio? Water found pooling in a basement or sub-floor? Checking your own drainage system and cannot see water flowing through a manhole or inspection chamber?

Verifying Drainage Leaks

Sometimes called Water Pressure Testing, leak detection is a process where an investigation is carried out, testing the integrity of a drainage line, branch line or gully branch.

However, leak detection is only as good as the Operative's experience and the access available to implement the testing, as areas of the drainage system would often need to be separated or "bunged off" and tested individually. This becomes a process of elimination until the problem drain is located.

Process

Each drainage line to be tested would be filled with water and pressurized, building up a head of water, level at the designated testing point (ie. a manhole or rodding point). The water level would then be observed over a time period, making note of any significant water loss.

Unfortunately, depending on the number of available access points on site and the length of drainage being tested, pinpointing the problem to an exact location is not always easy. This is where the experience and knowledge of the Operative in dealing with both detection equipment and problem, is paramount in achieving accurate readings.

Camera Survey and Dye Testing

Leak detection can often be carried out in conjunction with underground camera sonar location in order to clarify the exact location of the leaking drain. If a drain is simply leaking from a pipe joint, a drain survey alone will not always determine the exact location, hence the need sometimes to combine multiple forms of testing.

Dye testing can also be implemented alongside pressure testing and/or camera surveillance.

Air Pressure Testing

This would be implemented in a similar way to the water pressure test, and although useful in conjunction with other tests, as a stand-alone test, will not always give accurate and conclusive results

See Sonar Location and Camera Surveys for more information.