Leak Detection in Arlesey
We find the leak first and open the floor second, if at all
Thermal imaging, acoustic listening, tracer gas and moisture mapping, used in that order, so the only thing that gets lifted is the bit covering the fault.
Vantage Plumbing and Heating covers Arlesey and the whole SG15 district from Stevenage. Gas Safe registered 956889, twelve months on our workmanship, and a genuine 24/7 line for the leaks that will not wait until Monday.
Ground conditions in the Ivel valley, and why pipework here moves
Arlesey sits close to where the River Hiz meets the River Ivel. The medieval Etonbury complex at Church End is thought to have started life as an inland harbour on the Hiz near that confluence, which tells you how significant the water has always been to this piece of ground. The Environment Agency still monitors a River Hiz at Arlesey gauge station directly, with the River Ivel at Biggleswade covering the next stretch north.
On the geology, we will be careful about what we claim. Regional British Geological Survey mapping for the Biggleswade district shows this part of the Ivel valley on Gault Clay, with Lower Greensand of the Woburn Sands Formation beneath and to the east, and river terrace and alluvial deposits along the valley floor. Arlesey is not individually named in the summary we can point to, so that is a district pattern rather than a borehole log from your back garden. Before any work we would confirm what is actually under a specific property rather than assuming.
That said, the pattern matters, because clay behaves in a way that directly causes leaks. Gault Clay is a shrinkable clay. It takes up water in winter and swells, then dries out and shrinks through a hot summer. The ground moves seasonally, and anything rigid buried in it gets loaded and unloaded year after year. Old cast iron and salt glazed clay pipework cracks at the joints. Rigid supply pipe fails at fittings. A joint that has coped for thirty years finally opens after one dry summer, which is why leaks in areas like this so often appear in late summer and autumn rather than in the frost.
Trees make it worse. A mature tree within reach of a run of pipework drives the seasonal drying much harder in its root zone, and the differential movement between the dried ground near the tree and the wetter ground away from it is exactly the kind of loading that snaps a pipe joint.
The other local factor is the industrial ground to the south of the village. Arlesey made bricks on a serious scale, the Arlesey White, with five brickworks running by 1900 and production continuing until 1992, and the former chalk pits are now the Blue Lagoon and the Green Lagoon. Ground on and around former extraction and made ground is not the same as undisturbed ground, and where services cross it we treat settlement as a live possibility rather than a theory.
The first sign is almost always the bill
Most of the leaks we find were not discovered by anybody seeing water. They were discovered by an Anglian Water bill that went up for no reason anyone could explain.
Anglian Water supplies both the water and the sewerage in Arlesey, and this is where the responsibility split catches people out. The main in the road and the communication pipe up to your boundary are Anglian Water’s. The private supply pipe from the boundary into your house is yours. A leak on that private section can run for months into permeable ground without ever showing at the surface, particularly in the sandier deposits, and the only evidence is the meter reading.
The simple check anybody can do: turn every tap off, make sure nothing is filling, and watch the meter for half an hour. If it is still moving, water is going somewhere. If you want to narrow it down further, turn the internal stopcock off. If the meter keeps moving with the stopcock closed, the leak is outside on the supply pipe. If it stops, it is inside the house.
Other early signs worth acting on: a boiler that keeps losing pressure and needs topping up, a warm patch on a floor, a musty smell in one room, cracked or lifting floor covering, or a mysterious drop in mains pressure at one outlet.
How we actually find it
Thermal imaging. A calibrated camera shows temperature differences through a floor or wall surface. It is the fastest way to trace a heating pipe leak or an underfloor heating fault, because the hot water gives the leak away through the screed.
Acoustic detection and correlation. Pressurised water escaping through a small hole makes a noise, and that noise travels along the pipe. Ground microphones and correlators pick it up and place it. This is the core method for buried supply pipe leaks in gardens and driveways, on metal pipe. Modern plastic supply pipe carries sound poorly, which is a real limitation on the newer estates, so on those runs we go to tracer gas.
Tracer gas. Where there is no heat differential and no noise, because the pipe is not pressurised or the leak is tiny, we drain the section, introduce a hydrogen and nitrogen mix, and pick it up at the surface with a gas detector. It is the method that finds the leaks nothing else will.
Moisture mapping. Pin and pinless moisture meters and salt testing tell us where water actually is, and just as usefully, where it is not. That is what separates a genuine plumbing leak from a failure of sealing or from condensation.
Pressure testing and isolation. Sectioning off parts of the system to prove which circuit is losing water, which on a large system saves hours of hunting.
The leaks we find most often in Arlesey
Underfloor heating and screed leaks. The newer estates around the village, Samuel Gardens at Graves Paddock off Bates Avenue and Arlesey Gate off Stotfold Road, have modern floor construction and, in many houses, underfloor heating downstairs. A leak in a buried circuit is invisible and destroys the boiler pressure. Thermal imaging finds it, we open a single tile or a small area of screed, we repair the loop, and the rest of the floor stays where it is.
Shower trays and wet rooms sometimes turn out not to be plumbing leaks at all. This is the diagnosis we deliver most often and the one that saves people the most money. Water coming through a ceiling below a bathroom is very frequently a failed seal, a perished silicone joint or a tray that has flexed, not a burst pipe. At Fairfield, where the estate on the old hospital site now has bathrooms well over twenty years old, this is a very common finding. If it is a sealing failure we will say so, even though it is a smaller job for us than a pipe repair.
Leaks under solid floors. Older properties through the middle of the village and along the High Street have had extensions and floors laid over the top of pipework at various points in their history. Acoustic detection and tracer gas find these without a floor coming up on spec.
Private supply pipe leaks. In the oldest properties, including around Church End, the incoming main can still be lead or old iron. Combine an aged supply pipe with ground that moves seasonally and you have the classic slow leak in a front garden. We locate it precisely so the excavation is a hole rather than a trench, and we can replace the private section outright where that is the sensible answer.
Heating pipework in solid floors and behind plaster. Slow, small leaks that show only as a boiler needing pressuring up every fortnight. Easy to ignore, expensive to keep ignoring, because it is fresh oxygenated water going into the system every time and that is what turns a heating system into sludge.
Insurance, trace and access
Many home buildings policies include trace and access cover, which is the work of finding the leak and getting to it, separately from the repair itself. It is one of the most under used parts of a policy because people do not know it is there. Policies differ and we have no relationship with any insurer, so read your schedule and ring your insurer before instructing anybody rather than taking our word for what is covered.
We produce a written report with the findings and the evidence, including thermal images where they are relevant, in a form that insurers accept. If you are making a claim, ring your insurer before instructing anybody so you know what your policy actually requires, and we will work to it.
What it costs
Detection is priced as a survey, and we tell you the figure on the phone before we book it. What we will not do is give you a number for the repair before we know where the leak is, because that is guesswork dressed up as a quote.
Once we have found it, you get a written repair price and a plain explanation of what is involved. In many cases we can do the repair on the same visit. Where the honest answer is that a section of pipe has come to the end of its life and patching it is throwing money away, we will tell you that too.
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Related work in Arlesey
Finding a leak often reveals something else. A heating system that has been losing and refilling water for years will have magnetite in it and is a candidate for a power flush. A supply pipe that has failed once in an old property is worth replacing rather than repairing repeatedly. And a boiler that has been running on low pressure for a long period needs checking properly rather than just topping up.
Areas we cover for leak detection around Arlesey
The whole SG15 district, plus Henlow, Astwick, Stotfold, Fairfield, Clifton, Langford, Biggleswade, Shillington, Baldock, Ickleford, Letchworth Garden City and Hitchin.
Nearby: Leak detection in Stotfold · Leak detection in Henlow · Leak detection in Shefford
Once a leak is found it still needs fixing. General plumbing in Arlesey covers the everyday plumbing work.
Why Choose Vantage?
With a 4.9 Google rating from more than 460 reviews, fully qualified and accredited engineers, transparent pricing, and a 2-year labour guarantee on every job, Vantage delivers reliable, high-quality workmanship you can trust with fast response times, and genuine local service.
- Five-star Google reviews
- Gas Safe Registered No. 956889
- CHAS Registered
- City & Guilds qualified
- Checkatrade approved
- 2 year labour guarantee on every job
- Fully stocked vans most jobs fixed on the first visit
- Established local business with a dedicated office team and multiple qualified engineers
- No job too small
- Transparent pricing with a fixed price provided before any work begins
- 460+ Google reviews with a 4.9 star average
Frequently Asked Questions
Will you have to dig up my floor to find the leak?
No, not to find it. Thermal imaging, acoustics, tracer gas and moisture mapping locate the fault first. We open only the area over the leak, and often that is a single tile or a small patch of screed.
My Anglian Water bill has doubled and I cannot see any water, what now?
Do the meter test with everything turned off, then repeat it with your internal stopcock closed. If the meter still turns with the stopcock closed, the leak is on your private supply pipe between the boundary and the house, which is your responsibility rather than Anglian Water’s. Either way, ring us and we will trace it.
Why do leaks around here seem to happen in late summer?
Regional mapping puts this part of the Ivel valley on shrinkable Gault Clay. Clay dries out and shrinks over a hot summer, the ground moves, and rigid buried pipework and old joints fail under that movement. Trees close to a pipe run make it more pronounced.
Will my insurance cover it?
That is your insurer’s decision and policies differ. Locate the trace and access section in your schedule and speak to them before you commit to any work. We provide the written report they ask for.
Water is coming through the ceiling under my bathroom, is that a burst pipe?
Often it is not. A failed shower tray seal, perished silicone or a flexing tray causes exactly the same symptom. We will tell you which it is rather than pulling pipework about on a guess.
Do you find leaks on underfloor heating?
Yes, regularly, particularly on the newer estates in the village where downstairs underfloor heating is common. Thermal imaging is very effective on a wet underfloor system because the leak is warm.
Get leak detection in Arlesey
Call 01462 506374. Tell us what your meter is doing and what you have noticed, and we will bring the right kit first time.