DIY Underground Leak Detection

It probably won't at 3 feet, but with a smoke machine, I've found sewer clean outs and roof drains that were buried a foot and a half or so. It has a lot to do with soil type, Sandy material drafts better than clay types.

Thanks for that. I was just guessing. ;-)
 
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A cheap thermal imager “may” be able to see a cooler section of ground during the heat of the day. Etc.
drone mounted thermal imaging cameras are sometimes used to look for leaks in big utility water mains. The temperature difference might show up before the ground gets noticeably muddy. Ymmv though, I have no idea if it would work in OPs soil, depth, leak size, available equipment, etc
 
See if you know someone who can witch it for you. I thought it was BS until I watched my father-in-law do it several times. Witching for underground water.
 
See if you know someone who can witch it for you. I thought it was BS until I watched my father-in-law do it several times. Witching for underground water.
I can which utilities, but I haven’t been able to hit a leak. It is indeed a real thing.
 
Do you have a mechanic's stethoscope? I'd ping the hydrants and valves to see if I could get a hit.

Unless you live where it gets deeeep frost, there's little reason for it to fail anywhere but a joint.
 
I had a leak in my copper pipes and had a leak detection company come out and locate it. $300 for the leak detection. Ended up being under my concrete foundation. The original plan was to excavate the concrete and fix the leak. I was not really keen on that all! But what we did was slip a 3/8" line from a junction under the sink in my wet bar to the junction it had with my kitchen sink. The copper line was 1/2". Worked great.

For outside leaks, I've discovered them by accident when the soil was wet in a place it shouldn't have been.

But the leak detection company would be able to find the leak.

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That pump is on demand, so are you sure the check valve in the pump isn't just leaking back to your reservoir? Is it pumping uphill?
 
A company skilled in leak detection would have listening device to listen for a leak along whole run of pipe.

I’d start with the hydrants and check those connections.

Has been said, but worth repeating, don’t put 80psi of air in your pipe. Only put air in pipe for winter blowdown. Even that only needs 25 psi. Air and water psi not the same.
 
Just because its been mentioned allot.... air and water PSI are exactly the same from a pressure standpoint. What is not the same is the stored energy in the line. Air is compressible so can release a ton of stored potential energy if a line ruptures. Liquid is not compressible so much less stored potential energy. So if the line itself is rated for say 100PSI it will handle air or water at that pressure... just allot more stored energy.
 
That pump is on demand, so are you sure the check valve in the pump isn't just leaking back to your reservoir? Is it pumping uphill?
I was actually able to test the pump on another separate line the previous owner ran to a different part of the property and while pumping to that line only, the pump will shut off once pressurised and not calling for water.
 
Lots of good info thanks everybody. Looks like leak detection service is probably the way to go unless I somehow discover saturated ground somewhere. Could not hear anything definitive enough with the stethoscope unfortunately.
 
That is interesting. So it pulls the old line out while simultaneously pulling a new pex line in?
Yes, but it depends on what the original pipe is and how loose the soil is. It usually just splits poly pipe and moves it to the side but it can pull old pipe out.
 
Yes, but it depends on what the original pipe is and how loose the soil is. It usually just splits poly pipe and moves it to the side but it can pull old pipe out.
We pull water services all the time where I work. I didn’t watch the video to see what their set up looked like, but on my pulling line, I fabbed up a 3 blade broadhead that has an outside spread of a little over 2 inches. It splits poly and soft copper, but generally skids galvy out in a whole line. Makes for a long day when the cable breaks mid run.
 
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