- Joined
- 22 Feb 2006
- Messages
- 317
- Reaction score
- 17
- Country
Hi
Have an underfloor heating leak in a five-year old bungalow and trying to find the best way of tracking it down. The (copper) pipes are under screed. System only seems to lose pressure when cold (or maybe it just loses more when cold), so my initial thought of a thermal imaging camera has been put on hold. They're expensive, too. Most of the rooms have laminate flooring, and this has a foam membrane/underlay which may contain damp in the screed, so damp isn't obvious on the surface. Either way, there isn't an obvious damp stain anywere.
Was going to get a pipe detector, purely to find the lines I should be concentrating on, but pretty sure they're not going to pick up pipes buried in screed. Would a damp meter do anything, aside from working out that the bathroom is damper than the living room? Would an infrared thermometer be better? Tried pressurising to 2 bar cold and having a shuftie and listening with a microphone and sound meter. Can't hear a thing apart from my stomach gurgling when I lie on the floor! I haven't but could try shutting the rads and pressuring to two bar to see if that helps.
Have gone to some lengths checking and replacing above-floor componets: TRV gland seals, pressure vessel pressure valve, have tried a leak sealer, etc. Now getting desperate!
I suspect when the heating's on (as it's been cold) the damp patch which is forming is drying out again. Would it be a case of leaving the heating off, keep topping up and try and exaggerate the leak so its origin is more obvious? Or should I move?
Have an underfloor heating leak in a five-year old bungalow and trying to find the best way of tracking it down. The (copper) pipes are under screed. System only seems to lose pressure when cold (or maybe it just loses more when cold), so my initial thought of a thermal imaging camera has been put on hold. They're expensive, too. Most of the rooms have laminate flooring, and this has a foam membrane/underlay which may contain damp in the screed, so damp isn't obvious on the surface. Either way, there isn't an obvious damp stain anywere.
Was going to get a pipe detector, purely to find the lines I should be concentrating on, but pretty sure they're not going to pick up pipes buried in screed. Would a damp meter do anything, aside from working out that the bathroom is damper than the living room? Would an infrared thermometer be better? Tried pressurising to 2 bar cold and having a shuftie and listening with a microphone and sound meter. Can't hear a thing apart from my stomach gurgling when I lie on the floor! I haven't but could try shutting the rads and pressuring to two bar to see if that helps.
Have gone to some lengths checking and replacing above-floor componets: TRV gland seals, pressure vessel pressure valve, have tried a leak sealer, etc. Now getting desperate!
I suspect when the heating's on (as it's been cold) the damp patch which is forming is drying out again. Would it be a case of leaving the heating off, keep topping up and try and exaggerate the leak so its origin is more obvious? Or should I move?