Looking for feedback from members who have used a leak detection company to locate a leak possibly under the slab or in a block wall. Did they find it? How accurate where they? How confident where they that they had "the spot"?
Here's the back story. While at the family weekend house over the 4th my wife heard a sound similar to a running toilet. I went and listened and sure enough it sounded like water running. So I start by checking every plumbing device in the house and nothing was on or leaking. Look at all the walls inside and out for any signs of a leak, nada. So I shutoff the hot water at the water heater and the sound is still there. Turn the main shut off and the noise goes away, so its on the cold water side. So I established there was definitely a leak some where. The city had recently replaced the water meter with a new fancy digital one and to the best of my abilities to read it I came up with 1/17 of a gallon per hour, so its small. With the new meters the city tracks usage very tightly and can tell you by the day of an crazy changes, wife talks to the person at the city and they run a report and everything looks normal. So it confirms a small leak and probably just recently started.
Back, Back story. About 5 years ago we had a similar leak at our house in the bathroom (same situation of hearing the noise one day). Everything I read about the local franchised leak detection company wasnt very positive so I held off hiring one. I dont remember everything I did but I spent a fair amount of time looking for it. Ours was on the hot water side, so I basically shutoff the water heater and only turned it on when someone was showering or doing dishes. That allowed me time to find it. It was not easy to find as every time I thought I knew where it was, it wasnt. I even had a friend with an expensive flir camera that I borrowed that didnt help. Although I did find a place in the attic where a bay was missing insulation. Eventually I did figure out that it was in the wall behind the vanity and repaired it without destroying anything major.
So since the weekend house is about 2hrs away and belongs to my wifes family I am not in the best position to solve the problem. The following Tuesday they called a local small plumbing company that came out and confirmed that there was a leak. Didnt charge them and basically said we use abc123 leak detection. My wife calls them and they said it would be at least a week before they could get there. There was a big reunion this past weekend and she wanted to try and get the problem solved as there would be at least 18 people staying the weekend. So she calls a few other plumbers to see if they have there own leak detection and everybody says they use abc123 leak detection. So she schedules an appointment with abc123 for this past Friday and they make alternate arrangements for some of the guests to reduce water usage as they where worried the pipe might "blow". Even though I explained that it wouldnt be a problem like that.
So Friday comes and basically there is nobody at the house as they are out boating and having fun. I am at work and my wife ended up having to go help someone for the day that was admitted to the hospital. She has another cousin on the other side of the family that lives close by and could meet the leak detection tech. The cousin is a smart guy, mechanically minded and understands how things work. She forwards both of us a text from the company that the guy is on his way and would arrive by 10:00am. Also included was another text about the tech that was extremely long and read like a Tinder ad about all his hobbies and other things he does. It didnt mention anything about his abilities to find a leak and I honestly thought it was unprofessional to even include all this. First thing when he meets the cousin he wants to know who is paying today? My cousin tells him that he expected that my wife had already set that up, but the guy says no and he cant start until he knows how they are getting paid (company policy). Cousin asks how much it would be and he tells him $350. Cousin says no problem I have that on me and you can get started. I guess he hooked up a nitrogen tank to the cold water supply for the washing machine thats in the garage and uses the typical listening device. Guy works at it for a couple of hours and could not tell him exactly where it is. Thinks he hears something in one room and another spot, but says its loudest in front of the dishwasher on the floor. Lets cousin listen to it as well, but is inconclusive. Cousin offers to pull the dishwasher to get more access but he says not to bother. In the end he cant say for sure where its at and decides not to charge them. Later, after he leaves we find out that my wife had to prepay over the phone before they would even schedule the appointment. She is contacting the company this morning to get that mess straightened out.
So back to the top. Looking for feedback from anyone that has used a leak detection company. I found a couple of other companies in a bigger city close by that say they service our area. Was going to do some research on them and probably call and see if I can get a feeling for there abilities. I feel like its almost like the locksmiths now where they advertise but are just a dispatch service that sends a guy out in his own car to fix your lock.
If I cant find someone that I feel confident enough about finding the leak I guess it will fall on the Tres Amigos Leak Detection Company (me,myself & I) to figure it out.
Here's the back story. While at the family weekend house over the 4th my wife heard a sound similar to a running toilet. I went and listened and sure enough it sounded like water running. So I start by checking every plumbing device in the house and nothing was on or leaking. Look at all the walls inside and out for any signs of a leak, nada. So I shutoff the hot water at the water heater and the sound is still there. Turn the main shut off and the noise goes away, so its on the cold water side. So I established there was definitely a leak some where. The city had recently replaced the water meter with a new fancy digital one and to the best of my abilities to read it I came up with 1/17 of a gallon per hour, so its small. With the new meters the city tracks usage very tightly and can tell you by the day of an crazy changes, wife talks to the person at the city and they run a report and everything looks normal. So it confirms a small leak and probably just recently started.
Back, Back story. About 5 years ago we had a similar leak at our house in the bathroom (same situation of hearing the noise one day). Everything I read about the local franchised leak detection company wasnt very positive so I held off hiring one. I dont remember everything I did but I spent a fair amount of time looking for it. Ours was on the hot water side, so I basically shutoff the water heater and only turned it on when someone was showering or doing dishes. That allowed me time to find it. It was not easy to find as every time I thought I knew where it was, it wasnt. I even had a friend with an expensive flir camera that I borrowed that didnt help. Although I did find a place in the attic where a bay was missing insulation. Eventually I did figure out that it was in the wall behind the vanity and repaired it without destroying anything major.
So since the weekend house is about 2hrs away and belongs to my wifes family I am not in the best position to solve the problem. The following Tuesday they called a local small plumbing company that came out and confirmed that there was a leak. Didnt charge them and basically said we use abc123 leak detection. My wife calls them and they said it would be at least a week before they could get there. There was a big reunion this past weekend and she wanted to try and get the problem solved as there would be at least 18 people staying the weekend. So she calls a few other plumbers to see if they have there own leak detection and everybody says they use abc123 leak detection. So she schedules an appointment with abc123 for this past Friday and they make alternate arrangements for some of the guests to reduce water usage as they where worried the pipe might "blow". Even though I explained that it wouldnt be a problem like that.
So Friday comes and basically there is nobody at the house as they are out boating and having fun. I am at work and my wife ended up having to go help someone for the day that was admitted to the hospital. She has another cousin on the other side of the family that lives close by and could meet the leak detection tech. The cousin is a smart guy, mechanically minded and understands how things work. She forwards both of us a text from the company that the guy is on his way and would arrive by 10:00am. Also included was another text about the tech that was extremely long and read like a Tinder ad about all his hobbies and other things he does. It didnt mention anything about his abilities to find a leak and I honestly thought it was unprofessional to even include all this. First thing when he meets the cousin he wants to know who is paying today? My cousin tells him that he expected that my wife had already set that up, but the guy says no and he cant start until he knows how they are getting paid (company policy). Cousin asks how much it would be and he tells him $350. Cousin says no problem I have that on me and you can get started. I guess he hooked up a nitrogen tank to the cold water supply for the washing machine thats in the garage and uses the typical listening device. Guy works at it for a couple of hours and could not tell him exactly where it is. Thinks he hears something in one room and another spot, but says its loudest in front of the dishwasher on the floor. Lets cousin listen to it as well, but is inconclusive. Cousin offers to pull the dishwasher to get more access but he says not to bother. In the end he cant say for sure where its at and decides not to charge them. Later, after he leaves we find out that my wife had to prepay over the phone before they would even schedule the appointment. She is contacting the company this morning to get that mess straightened out.
So back to the top. Looking for feedback from anyone that has used a leak detection company. I found a couple of other companies in a bigger city close by that say they service our area. Was going to do some research on them and probably call and see if I can get a feeling for there abilities. I feel like its almost like the locksmiths now where they advertise but are just a dispatch service that sends a guy out in his own car to fix your lock.
If I cant find someone that I feel confident enough about finding the leak I guess it will fall on the Tres Amigos Leak Detection Company (me,myself & I) to figure it out.
