Split underfloor heating pipe located in Marlborough
An underfloor heating circuit would not hold any air pressure. Acoustic equipment followed the sound of escaping air across the floor to one corner of an office, where a split was found in the buried 22mm plastic pipe.
Signs of the leak in Marlborough
The underfloor heating circuit had already been isolated. When pressurised with air to 2 bar it held no pressure at all, and air could be heard escaping on the other side of the wall from the test point.
How acoustic equipment found it
The sound of air escaping through the wall gave a first direction. The engineer then used a ground microphone on the floor to follow that sound and pinpoint it to one corner of the office room, so the floor was opened only in that corner.
The investigation, step by step
- 01Confirmed the setup: an oil boiler running underfloor heating downstairs and radiators upstairs, with the underfloor circuit already isolated.
- 02Disconnected the underfloor pipework and put in air at 2 bar; it held no pressure.
- 03Heard air escaping on the other side of the wall from the test point.
- 04Followed the sound across the floor with a ground microphone to one corner of the office room.
- 05Opened the floor in that corner and found the leak in the buried 22mm plastic pipe.
- 06Made a temporary repair at the leak and, at the customer's request, replaced the run back through the wall to the garage in protected copper.
- 07Turned down the boiler flow temperature.
What was found
- Found
- A split in the buried 22mm plastic (PEX) heating pipe in a corner of the office room.
- Repair
- A temporary repair was made at the split. The pipe from the repair back through the wall to the garage was replaced in protected copper at the customer's request, and the boiler flow temperature was turned down.
- Recommended afterwards
- Re-pipe the flow and return to the manifold in copper. Fit automatic air vents at the high points near the boiler, as the existing vent had been capped off.
- Worth knowing
- The repair at the leak point is temporary and cannot be warranted: the pipe manufacturer does not recommend permanent push-fit fittings on buried plastic pipe of this type, and the customer was told this.
