Water leak underground,help.

paulthefarm · Sep 28, 2023

We have a water leak somewhere on the farm, with 15 water troughs in various fields and a network of underground blue plastic pipe that previous farm owner did not record.

Has anyone suggestions for a national reputable company that can locate leaks? We are in Glouscestershire.

britt · Sep 28, 2023

Have a walk around and look for a wet area, it'll soon show up. If you can't find one check the yard drains to see if there is water flowing. Failing that check your field drain outfalls to find a clue as the where it's going.
We had a major leak 3 years ago. It showed up 2 days later, under some concrete that had only been down 3 weeks

. But it did crack the new concrete directly above the leak so easy to find.

Paddington · Sep 28, 2023

Dowsing rods to locate the pipes.

PI Stsker · Sep 28, 2023

We had similar situation 20 odd years ago. Got an old fella in the village out with his metal rods and he walked the entire farm and marked out where he thought all the pipes were on a map.
low and behold 20 years later we’re still using that map and so far it’s been accurate.

Only cost a pint of bitter and couple pickled eggs

paulthefarm · Sep 28, 2023

Thanks, I have walked round the property looking for a wet patch, the problem is I think the dry weather made the ground move in places and this may have opened a plastic pipe joint somewhere. Do not see any obvious wet spots.

I need a company that can find the leak, in about 3 miles total of plastic pipe.

Anyone used such a company?

Paddington · Sep 28, 2023

Presumably your leak is being shown by your water meter ?
Can you isolate any sections of the pipe ?
Is your house supply separate from the field supply ?

serf · Sep 28, 2023

This blokes ace on domestic job !

TikTok - Make Your Day

paulthefarm · Sep 28, 2023

If you can imagine a spiders web of underground pipes to various out buildings and fields, then stop cocks in various places but allows water flow from other sections, the whole lot is pumped to 3 bar, the pump used to run after any use, then shut off until the next use. Now the pump runs constantly to about 1.3 bar but never reaches 3 bar. I think the leak is pressure related.

workin f nowt · Sep 28, 2023

Or pump tiring maybes. Is there an isolation tap just after the pump to test it I'm sure you'll have done this already. Mine on a borehole can sometimes need a tap on the pressure switch dodgy contacts

Blue. · Sep 28, 2023

If it's mains water it bleaches the grass white,depends if its finding a drain though

paulthefarm · Sep 28, 2023

workin f nowt said:
Or pump tiring maybes. Is there an isolation tap just after the pump to test it I'm sure you'll have done this already. Mine on a borehole can sometimes need a tap on the pressure switch dodgy contacts

Thanks for the suggestion, have a ball valve directly after the pump, and when in the "off" position pressure holds and pump stops, but as soon as I re open the valve to the whole system the pressure falls and the pump runs continiously.

Am looking for a company suggestion to find the location of an underground leak.

Paddington · Sep 28, 2023

We had a similar problem with Severn Trent, our water meter was turning with everything as we could see turned off. We still had the old black plastic pipe from the meter which they suspected was the cause. At the time we had a couple of very slightly dripping taps and a frozen stopcock, but nothing to explain the amount of water we were "using". Had a blitz on every leaking item and our next water bill dropped, couldn't believe the odd drip every minute or so could add up to so much.

Alchad · Sep 29, 2023

You have my sympathy - had a similar problem last year and took me ages to sort and then was lucky.

You don’t say what sort of system you have - do you have any sort of map of where you even roughly think the pipes go from the source so you can start trying to isolate by locating and installing isolating valves - which is time consuming to say the least.

This link is helpful

Underground Water Leak Detection - Best Methods

Underground water leak detection can be tricky but we are experts at it and have trained leak detection engineers who use specialist devices.

waterleak.co.uk

i’ve no info on the company other than the link but they sound OK and maybe worth a call?

I wouldn’t rule out using a water diviner if you can find one locally, I’ve seen too many people recommend them to discount them without trying, and as said a cheap option.

Other than that if you want DIY, have a look at this.

water leak detector diy - Google Search

Or perhaps buy a proper version?

Good luck

Optimus · Sep 29, 2023

Last time we had a leak we chucked some calf powder down the line.soon showed up a couple of fields along.

britt · Sep 29, 2023

Alchad said:
I wouldn’t rule out using a water diviner if you can find one locally, I’ve seen too many people recommend them to discount them without trying, and as said a cheap option.

Good luck

Anyone can do it. You just need 2 pieces of bent wire.
Dad always insisted on wearing leather soled shoes. But I found it worked wearing wellies, I only had a go because I thought that he was making it up, but it works.

paulthefarm · Sep 29, 2023

Thank you everyone, I really need a company that can find what must be a relatively small water pressure leak, the water pressure at the pump drops, which then triggers the pump to run again. I suspect it is a pipe joint that has been stretched due to land movement during the dry weather.

We were running at 3 bar, with pump running constantly, but only reaching 2 bar, have reduced the pressure at the pump to 1.3 bar which now runs and stops for a short period.

thorpe · Sep 29, 2023

britt said:
Anyone can do it. You just need 2 pieces of bent wire.
Dad always insisted on wearing leather soled shoes. But I found it worked wearing wellies, I only had a go because I thought that he was making it up, but it works.

ive found everything, old footings, stone walls, sewers, electric just don't know what till you dig down!

PI Stsker · Sep 29, 2023

Optimus said:
Last time we had a leak we chucked some calf powder down the line.soon showed up a couple of fields along.

Humour me. How…?

a milky patch in a field maybe?

Optimus · Sep 29, 2023

PI Stsker said:
Humour me. How…?

a milky patch in a field maybe?

Yup that's pretty much what it did.

PI Stsker · Sep 29, 2023

Optimus said:
Yup that's pretty much what it did.

Interesting. But if the OP can’t find a wet patch anywhere as it is I’d imagine finding a milky patch just as hard…? Although a good idea to store for another day up there

Water leak underground,help.

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