Park home site leak traced through drains in Addlestone
Booster pumps on a large park home site could not build pressure. Listening picked up the sound of water flowing in the site drains, which the engineer followed along three roads to an empty plot, where the leaking pipework was found and repaired.
Signs of the leak in Addlestone
Two of the three booster pumps were running all the time but could not build pressure, air was passing through the pumps, and the water tower was not holding enough water. The site meter showed about 3 cubic metres per hour, which included normal use and the tower refilling. Incoming mains pressure was about 2.5 bar with low flow.
How acoustic equipment found it
Acoustic listening picked up strong water-flow noise in the site's drains. The engineer followed that noise through the drain network along three roads to the point where it entered the drains, in front of an empty plot. Focused listening on the plot then located the leak to one spot in the middle of it.
The investigation, step by step
- 01Reviewed the site's supply and took a meter reading of about 3 cubic metres per hour.
- 02Measured incoming mains pressure at about 2.5 bar with low flow.
- 03Isolated the pumped supply and confirmed a large leak downstream of the booster pumps.
- 04Found a separate leak and badly eroded copper pipe at the expansion vessel in the pump room.
- 05Listened across the site and heard strong water-flow noise in the drains.
- 06Followed the noise along three roads to the drain entry point in front of an empty plot.
- 07Listened on the plot, located the leak to one spot, and exposed and repaired the pipework there.
- 08Retested the system, which then had good flow and pressure, and made a temporary repair to the expansion vessel pipework.
What was found
- Found
- Failed underground pipework in the middle of an empty plot on the site, plus a leak on eroded copper pipework at the expansion vessel in the pump room.
- Repair
- The underground pipework on the plot was exposed and repaired, and flow and pressure were restored across the pumped supply. A temporary repair was made to the expansion vessel pipework, whose leak got worse once pressure was back.
- Worth knowing
- The combined loss from the two leaks was estimated at between 200 and 500 litres per hour; this is an estimate, not a measurement. The expansion vessel repair was temporary.
