BLOCKBUSTER
Contact Lee Brand
083 458 4836
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BLOCKBUSTER
Contact Lee Brand 083 458 4836 |
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Link to EMERGENCY leak repair! Water Leaks - What you can do to stop them!It is estimated that between 30-40% of water pumped from the Vaal River never gets to the users tap! It gets "lost" on the way! This is due to the poor state of our water reticulation/distribution systems in Gauteng. This problem is not limited to South Africa however. It happens all over the world - even in the USA where it's a major issue. In most cases the problem does not directly impact the home, business or factory owner. Indirectly it results in huge wastage of National resources, a major component being electricity. Water users are charged a high premium for the "lost" water. Some metropolitan areas take this problem very seriously. They constantly monitor their water supply and their revenue. They detect and repair leaks all the time and they even reduce the water pressure during off peak times. Unfortunately, in Gauteng the primary method of leak detection is by spotting the fountain of water jetting 6m into the air!! The kind of leak that the home or business owner needs to worry about is one that occurs AFTER your water meter. This is a leak that you pay for directly! What is the primary cause of leaks? RUST! The steel pipes eventually rust from the outside and a pin hole leak forms. This pinhole grows fairly quickly, assisted by the movement of the water. Galvanised steel pipe last pretty well if you consider that they are often in a very hostile environment. My house has galvanised pipes that are 60 years old that are still working. I am sure that there are lots of systems that are over 100 years old that are still okay, but then there are some pipes that don't even make 5 years! Why? Well there are a number of factors that determine the life of a galvanised pipe under ground. These include - - The quality of the galvanising (and steel) and the condition of the pipe when installed. The use of a pipe spanner that has scraped the galvanising off is going to cause a localised rust area. - The depth that the pipe is laid at. The deeper the pipe the more inert the soil. Pipes closer to the ground are exposed to more minerals with a ready supply of oxygen. This is exacerbated when you have shallow pipes under watered flower beds. - Water. Other leaks may cause excess water in the ground that will speed up the corrosion of both the leaking pipe and other pipes around it. - Very acidic soil. Do water pipes rust from the inside? Yes, but our experience is that the prime source of leaks is most often external. Steel pipes build up a scale layer inside that offers a degree of rust protection. The exception to this is on cut threads that are not protected. These corrode equally from the inside and out. Impact on the home owner. This can be rather dramatic! I was recently contacted by the owner of a small house in Benoni who had just received an account for R11000.00 for a months water consumption. When we went over the accounts it all looked ok. We checked for leaks and found none. The fight continues. In another case a home owner got a bill for R3500.00 for a month's water. In this case we found a significant leak that was running directly into the sewer pipe. It was thus undetected for some time. In yet another case a townhouse complex was charged R9000.00 above their normal water bill. The leak also ran directly into the sewer so there was no evidence of the leak on the surface. The municipalities are quite rigid in these cases - if it's your pipe that's leaking (after the meter) then you are responsible for the account! How do know if you have a water leak? It's VERY easy and you certainly don't need a plumber to tell you that you have a leak although you will often need a plumber to tell you where it is. First, you stop all the consumption of water in the house. Switch off the toilet cistern taps if you must. Make sure the dishwasher and washing machine are off. Go outside and watch your water meter. It should stay DEAD still. Watch it for 5 minutes. If it moves you have a leak. While you are looking at the meter make a note of the reading. Compare your reading with the last water & lights account reading. Does it make sense? You can then work out your daily consumption. Does this tie in with previous month's daily consumption? If the meter moves then you have a leak - it is a significant leak if you can see the meter moving and you need to contact a plumber urgently. It's costing you money. If you can barely see it move over 3 minutes then you have a small leak. Keep an eye on it - it will get worse over time. So you have a leak - now what? You should try to find out where it is. Follow the probable line of the pipe to the house and look for obvious signs. Damp, mud, moss on walls etc. If you find it that's great. You will avoid a bill for detection. If not then there is actually more urgency involved. It may be leaking under your house or some other structure. This is a big problem because leaks under structures threaten the integrity of the structure itself. You need to call a plumber. There are a variety of methods used to detect leaks - The most popular methods are sound or gas. Sound (Acoustic) detection can be very simple or pretty sophisticated. The plumber uses one or many ground microphone/s to locate the leak. If he uses gas then he would pump a mixture of Hydrogen and Nitrogen into the pipe and use a very sensitive detector to pick up the highest concentration of hydrogen. Beware - you don't always have to pinpoint the leak! As long as you know where the pipe starts and finishes you can simply replace the entire pipe with some polycop pipe. The leak can be anywhere in between. The pipe is scrapped - leak and all. This is the approach followed by BLOCKBUSTER wherever possible. We do however have to use high tech methods under certain conditions! Is there anything that you can do to prevent the pipes from rusting? No, not really. You can slow the rust down a bit in some cases. Methods include making the soil more alaline (if its too acidic) or using cathodic protection. This involves making the pipe negative .85 volts in respect to ground. Easier said than done :-). Contact me if you have any specific water leak related questions - info@blockbusterdrain.co.za
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