ACME Detection Serivices – Santa Barbara Slab Leak Detection Service

Find your Santa Barbara Water Leak!

December 13, 2022October 13, 2014 by Neo

Try These 3 Easy Steps to Locate Your Water Leak

Step 1 – Read Your Meter

High water bill? Excessive moisture? Do you have an infamous Santa Barbara water leak? Your water meter will tell you. In most homes, the water meter is in a concrete box along the street. Once this box is located, open the cover hole and clear off any debris that may be obstructing the readout on the meter’s glass lense. There should be some sort of a micrometer in the center of this lense. Typically it is a black or red triangle, but can also be a pinwheel shape. Make sure all water in the house is off. Then, check to see if the micrometer is spinning. If it is, water is being used somewhere-aka leaking.

Step 2 – Find Your Shut Off Valve

Note: Not all homes have these, but the vast majority do!

In Santa Barbara, the waterline will typically run in a straight line from the meter to the house. Scan the walls of your home closest the meter and look for where the line is coming out of the ground and into the home. There will usually be a pressure regulator. This is a large piece of brass that is shaped like a bell or funnel, and a shut off valve. The valve with either be a rectangular handle or a circular gate valve that shuts off water to the house. Turn this valve off and check to see if the meter stops running. If it stops, the leak is in the house. If it doesn’t, the leak is in the yard and you are continuing to lose water.

Step 3 – Rule Out The Obvious

If it is in your yard

Walk a straight line from the shut off back to the meter. Pay attention for any particularly wet spots in the ground or especially green patches of your yard.
Check all hose bibs by unscrewing hose and examining the valve for leaks

If inside

Check for any dripping faucets, shower heads, or water softeners
Check all toilet tanks to see that they are shutting off appropriately. If it sounds like water is continuously cycling in your toilet tank, the float has faltered and is constantly leaking water!
walk the floor in socks, paying attention for any “warm spots”. This is an indication of water leaking and wrapping itself around the hot water pipe.

Thanks for watching! We hope these tips will help you find your next Santa Barbara Water Leak!

Gary Fuller
ACME Detection

Santa Barbara, California
(805) 565 LEAK
(805) 565 5325

Leak detection tools we use

LD 18 Sub Surface microphone
Metrotech Vivax HL 5000-4 microphone
Radio Detection RD 7000 locator

Driveway Leak Detection

December 13, 2022October 13, 2014 by Neo

Tips for Finding a Water Leak Under a Driveway

So you’re losing water, lots of it. You’ve shut the meter off at the house and the micrometer continues to spin. The only problem is, between your meter and the house is a long patch of driveway, readily hiding all signs of moisture. Need some tips to speed up your driveway water leak detection? Acme Detection is here to help!

Tip 1 – Determine How Much Water You’re Losing

It all starts at the water meter. Look at the triangle and try to measure how much water you’re losing in a given period. If it is a big leak(100 gallons or more an hour), you need to act fast. We would recommend calling a professional immediately. If it is a small leak(20 gallons an hour or less), you might be able to get away with waiting for the leak to truly present itself. The middle ground(20-80 gallons an hour)? That’s your call.

Tip 2 – Locate The Pipe

This may be a step for a professional because it probably requires a pipe locator. However a lot of times you can find some sort of plans or pictures of the house being built and you will know where it runs. Walk this line and check all surrounding areas. Look for any signs of settling in the concrete where the pavement has drooped down with ground sinking or cracked significantly.

Tip 3 – Listen For The Leak

Again this may be a step for a professional, but it is possible to do on your own. Simply take any pipe approximately 4 feet long and put one end to the ground and the other end to your ear. A lot of times you’ll be surprised by what you can hear. A leak in your water pipe will usually sound like a high pitched “sshhhhhing”.

Thanks for watching! We hope these tips will help you find your next Santa Barbara Water Leak!

Gary Fuller
ACME Detection

Santa Barbara, California
(805) 565 LEAK
(805) 565 5325

Leak detection tools we use

LD 18 Sub Surface microphone
Metrotech Vivax HL 5000-4 microphone
Radio Detection RD 7000 locator

Slab Leak Detection

December 13, 2022October 13, 2014 by Neo

How to Find a Slab Leak?

Do you have water leaking under a concrete slab in Santa Barbara? We’re here to help. In this leak detection video, we will show you how we will find your leak making Slab leak detection a breeze.

Step 1 – Thermal Imaging With FLIR Camera

Using a FLIR camera, we will look for thermal irregularities in the concrete. When pointed at any surface, this tool produces a video image based on temperature instead of light. From this image, we will determine any problem areas. Anything this camera registers as particularly hot or cold will give us a good place to start our slab leak detection.

In this video, we are looking at a hot-water leak that presents itself as orange while the cooler surrounding temperatures are blue-purple.

Step 2 – Pipe Locating

If nothing shows up on the camera, you’re going to need to locate the pipe. This requires some professional equipment but gives you a better idea of where to look. In this video, we’re using a Radio Detection RDL7000 pipe locator and a TX-3 signal generator. We are using a frequency of 512 Hz to track a copper water line.

Step 3 – Listen For The Leak

Our preferred microphone set up is the LD18 by Sub Surface. This microphone has some very sophisticated filters and noise canceling abilities for working in noisy environments. These are especially handy when working in apartment buildings or busy street as they easily allow you to blackout the neighbors dog barking or stereos being played down the hall.

Step 4 – Injecting Air Into The System…

For this, we usually use a dive tank. We inject air into the system at very low pressures and listen along the path of the pipe. When the air exits the pipe through the hole, it produces a a loud bubbling noise which makes it easier to dial in on the exact location of the leak.

Other Methods

For outdoor leaks, we can also use hydrogen gas and use special sniffers. This is often the case when the pipe is too deep to hear the actual leak or was run in pvc and cannot be located.

Thanks for watching! We hope these tips will help you find your next Santa Barbara Water Leak!

Gary Fuller
ACME Detection

Santa Barbara, California
(805) 565 LEAK
(805) 565 5325

Leak detection tools we use

LD 18 Sub Surface microphone
Metrotech Vivax HL 5000-4 microphone
Radio Detection RD 7000 locator

Find your Santa Barbara Water Leak!

Try These 3 Easy Steps to Locate Your Water Leak

Step 1 – Read Your Meter

Step 2 – Find Your Shut Off Valve

Step 3 – Rule Out The Obvious

If it is in your yard

If inside

Leak detection tools we use

Driveway Leak Detection

Tips for Finding a Water Leak Under a Driveway

Tip 1 – Determine How Much Water You’re Losing

Tip 2 – Locate The Pipe

Tip 3 – Listen For The Leak

Leak detection tools we use

Slab Leak Detection

How to Find a Slab Leak?

Step 1 – Thermal Imaging With FLIR Camera

Step 2 – Pipe Locating

Step 3 – Listen For The Leak

Step 4 – Injecting Air Into The System…

Other Methods

Leak detection tools we use

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