Leak Detection in Harlow
Harlow is mostly post-war new town housing with heating pipework set in concrete floors, plus the older houses of Old Harlow and the newer estates at Church Langley and Newhall. We travel out to all of them.
Leaks in Harlow homes
Most of Harlow was built after the war in neighbourhood clusters of terraces, flats and maisonettes with solid concrete ground floors. Heating pipes were often laid in the screed, and after decades in contact with concrete the copper corrodes. A boiler losing pressure with no visible drip is a frequent story in Mark Hall, Netteswell, Potter Street, Bush Fair and Great Parndon. Old Harlow keeps Georgian and Victorian houses with later extensions. Church Langley and Newhall are 1990s and 2000s homes with plastic pipework, push-fit joints and underfloor heating in some cases.
We cover CM17, CM18, CM19 and CM20. The usual calls are a heating system that needs topping up, a warm patch on a floor, a damp patch at the base of a wall and a water meter turning with everything off. A nitrogen pressure test on each circuit shows what is losing water. Thermal imaging then follows the warm pipe through the screed and tracer gas pinpoints the leak. In the newer houses a borescope camera checks behind plasterboard and under bath panels. Supply pipes are traced from the surface with the acoustic ground microphone.
Most Harlow homes have parking courts or driveways close by, and the town centre has pay and display. The equipment comes in on a trolley so distance from the van is not a problem. Allow two to four hours for a typical house. If a leak cannot be located without opening up, we say so plainly and explain what the next step would involve. The written report includes photographs, thermal images and pressure readings, set out for a trace and access claim with your buildings insurer.
What we detect in Harlow
Central heating leak detection
A boiler that keeps dropping pressure means water is escaping somewhere in the heating circuit. We find the pipe or fitting and fix it.
Heating leaks
Thermal imaging leak surveys
A thermal imaging camera shows warm pipe runs and cool wet patches through floors and walls, so the leak is seen before anything is opened.
Thermal imaging
Tracer gas leak detection
A safe hydrogen and nitrogen mix is put into the drained pipe, rises through the floor or wall and is picked up by the detector directly above the leak.
Tracer gas
Water leak detection
Hidden leaks behind walls, under floors and in ceilings, pinpointed with thermal, acoustic and tracer gas kit before anything is opened up.
Water leaks
Trace and access insurance reports
Leak detection carried out and documented the way insurers expect, with a report your claims handler can act on straight away.
Insurance reportsFrom your first call to a leak you can see in the report
Call or WhatsApp with a few photos and a line about the symptoms. We ask a handful of questions, agree a fixed price and book the survey, usually for the same or the next day.
On arrival we pressure test the mains, hot water and heating, check the meter and test the escaping water, so we know what we are looking for before the detection starts.
Thermal imaging, the acoustic ground microphone and tracer gas are used as the pipework dictates until the leak is marked on the floor or wall.
You get a written report with readings, thermal images and photographs, ready for a trace and access claim. If you want the leak fixed, we open that one spot and repair it.
Leaks in Harlow: questions answered
How quickly can you get to Harlow?
Usually within a couple of working days of your call, coming from Watford. If water is actively leaking, mention it when you book and we will do our best to come sooner.
Which parts of Harlow do you cover?
All of CM17, CM18, CM19 and CM20: Old Harlow, Church Langley, Newhall, Potter Street, Bush Fair, Staple Tye, Great Parndon, Katherines, Sumners, Mark Hall, Netteswell and the town centre.
My heating pipes are in the concrete floor. Can you find a leak without breaking it all up?
Yes. Thermal imaging shows the line of the pipe and the wet area through the screed, and tracer gas confirms the leak point, so only a small section is cut at the marked spot.
Do I need to drain the heating system before you come?
No. Leave the system as it is so we can see how quickly it loses pressure. We drain only the circuit we need to test, and only when tracer gas is required.
Suspect a leak in Harlow?
Call now and we will tell you straight away whether it needs a same-day visit. Or send a photo of the stain, the meter or the boiler gauge on WhatsApp.
07516 755 680