detecting a water leak under the floor of dwelling house

[aidan]

in the dwelling house have a bit of a problem

water tank in the attic filling constantly and its not just a drip

as no taps or toilets are dripping there must be a leak under the floor somewhere, there is a lot of trunking under the house for the water to drain away through

is there such a thing as a leak detector available to try and catch such a problem ?

 

[Suffolk Serf]

I'm no plumber but....there should be an over flow to that header tank in the roof perhaps sticking out of the side of the house, is that running?
If so all that is wrong is the float valve is the tank. If you are a livestock farmer you will know all about sorting them out! If you don't have stock you will soon suss it out.

 

[aidan]

I'm no plumber but....there should be an over flow to that header tank in the roof perhaps sticking out of the side of the house, is that running?
If so all that is wrong is the float valve is the tank. If you are a livestock farmer you will know all about sorting them out! If you don't have stock you will soon suss it out.

100% sure its not the overflow

 

[multi power]

if there is much of a leak a damp patch is bound to appear

 

[Davey]

Only real way to find it (assuming you cant hear water under the floor) is to lift the carpet & a couple of floorboards to have a look.

I hate plumbing, leaks always happen in the worst possible place!

 

[Komatsu]

Thermal imaging camera if you can get header tank filled with warm/hot water so as hot water goes to leak, have done this couple of years ago to find leak in pipe buried in concrete floor, wasn't 100% accurate but narrowed down the area it was in and allowed us to find pipe routing under floor rather than digging blindly,should also mention some insurance will pay a small amount towards finding unknown leaks.

 

[Shetlandsheep]

Also near in mind leaks can come up a long way away from the source. We installed underfloor heating and concrete floor over then stone floor. Water started to appear in grout near door. Floor dug up at that location.....nothing.

Leak eventually traced to defect in brand new toilet bowl, water leaking into floor under toilet but floor then dry for yards around, damp patch only came up yards away!

Was not a happy bunny but relieved to track it down.

 

[Lincsman]

Is this tank for hot water top up or does it also supply some cold taps?, if its just hot then that limits the number of locations its piped to?, If it does do some cold.. EG Toilets then is one of them overflowing into its bowl?

 

[blackbob]

You could try connecting the tank outlet(s) directly to the inlet, thereby increasing the pressure at the leak and hopefully making it more obvious/audible? That white plastic pipe and fittings are easy to use and dismantle, and compatible with copper pipe