Pipe/Cable detector question

[ellal]

I need to find a suitable cable/pipe detector, but the problem is it is to used on walls which are made of reinforced concrete.

The reinforcement is usually at half wall depth, but the cables and pipes are just below the surface in plastic conduits.

Since the pipes are steel I assume there would be confusing readings, or are some detectors capable of variable depth detection?

Would the cable finding part still work in these kind of walls?

If these things are possible, any recommendations?

 

[Andydevon]

To differentiate type and depth you will need a rather specialist detection tool like this Bosch example.

http://www.boschtools.com/Products/Tools/Pages/BoschProductDetail.aspx?pid=D-tect150

However please make sure you are sitting down before you Google for a price. Not sure if you can hire them.

 

[pinenot]

Do you know if the conduit carrying the cables are cast in or in a filled chase? ...pinenot

 

[ellal]

The conduits are placed inside the wall space before the concrete is poured.

 

[pinenot]

That's unusual, most of the Concrete house, or No-Fines as they were called, Were made with timber surface mounted conduit pattern strips, these were nailed on the face of the shutter, and when the shutter was striped in many cases these strips remained embedded and were first cemented over then plastered, making their hollowness easy to locate through tapping the wall (the different density makes an audible difference) that way you could detect the run casts in the wall. Worth trying even as you suggest the conduits are cast in, I would think...pinenot

 

[ellal]

The house is in Scandinavia.
Normally to add sockets/lights etc it's time to get the angle grinder out!
Being able to find the runs accurately would save a lot of time and mess.

 

[pinenot]

Ah, that's the missing information. So are these buried conduits open at the bottom of their runs i.e. under the floor? if so you can measure and mark their location through the floor, say after removing the skirting and where these can be replaced, hiding any holes. Logic dictates said conduits will run plumb. Also logic dictates the firsts one's width will set the cut out for all subsequent cuts. Is my answer making sense?? ...pinenot

 

[ellal]

Having worked on a couple of new builds quite a few years ago, reality dictates said conduits might not always run 'plumb'!
And the ceiling lighting in particular sometimes appears to run in irregular lattice like shapes!
There are no ring main circuits so you have to trace the radial circuits which again logic is not always applied and may have been added to previously.
The cables themselves aren't in the form of 'T&E' etc - they are individually run in the conduits.

 

[Norcon]

I have a Bosch GMS 120 scanner and would not recommend it.
Though it is good at picking up stud locations.

 

[pinenot]

ellal, I would still try the tapping technique...pinenot