Acoustic leak detection case studies

Real ADI jobs where listening located the leak, or one of the leaks. Each one is written from the engineer’s job record and shows their own photos. Customer names and addresses are left out.

Covers swimming pool, water supply pipe, hot water pipe, central heating, underfloor heating leaks.

An engineer's arm lowering a black hydrophone cable into the water inside a white pool skimmer pot

Two pool leaks traced with a hydrophone in Dunstable

A home swimming pool was losing water, and faster when the pump was running. A hydrophone in the skimmer pot picked up leak noise, and the investigation found a cracked skimmer body and a cracked glued joint in the filtration pipework.

Swimming pool, DunstableRead the case

Red and white ground microphone sitting on wet tarmac beside a gravel border, with the amplifier and ear defenders on the ground nearby

Leak under tarmac pinpointed by ground microphone in Cricklade

Water was coming up through tarmac at the front of a house. An acoustic listening device picked up a strong leak signal on the tarmac, and a single targeted dig exposed a leaking 25mm metal supply pipe, which was repaired the same visit.

Water supply pipe, CrickladeRead the case

ADI engineer wearing headphones, holding a ground microphone on a pole on a site road beside an open drain cover

Park home site leak traced through drains in Addlestone

Booster pumps on a large park home site could not build pressure. Listening picked up the sound of water flowing in the site drains, which the engineer followed along three roads to an empty plot, where the leaking pipework was found and repaired.

Water supply pipe, AddlestoneRead the case

Flat silver ground microphone with a red cable resting on large grey floor tiles

Two leaks under tiled floors found by listening in Neston

A hot water cylinder kept making a noise and a pressure test on the hot feed pipework failed. Listening with a ground microphone found a leak under the corridor floor, then a second under the bathroom floor after the first repair, and both were fixed.

Hot water pipe, NestonRead the case

Blue acoustic amplifier and ear defenders on a kitchen worktop, with a red and white ground microphone on the terracotta floor tiles below

Heating leak under a kitchen floor located in Bollington

A newly fitted combi boiler would not hold pressure. Listening picked up leak noise at the boiler and kitchen radiator, and a ground microphone survey under air pressure marked one spot on the kitchen floor, where a leaking tee joint was found and repaired.

Central heating, BollingtonRead the case

Ground microphone and blue acoustic amplifier with a lit display on a bare concrete floor, next to a moisture meter and carpet gripper

Split underfloor heating pipe located in Marlborough

An underfloor heating circuit would not hold any air pressure. Acoustic equipment followed the sound of escaping air across the floor to one corner of an office, where a split was found in the buried 22mm plastic pipe.

Underfloor heating, MarlboroughRead the case

Silver and red ground microphone on a doormat inside a front door, with the engineer holding its handle

Mains leak under a front doorstep found in Kensington

A water meter was turning with no water in use. Tracer gas pointed to the front door, and a ground microphone, first on the mat and then inside the floor void, placed the leak just under the concrete step outside, where a failed 32mm fitting was replaced.

Water supply pipe, KensingtonRead the case

Red and white ground microphone, blue amplifier and ear defenders on a path by a garden border and a black gate

Lead supply pipe leak by a front gate found in Dinmore

The meter kept turning with the inside stopcock off. Listening along the outside supply gave a high reading by the boundary wall and front gate, tracer gas gave a high reading at the same spot, and the damaged lead pipe was repaired there.

Water supply pipe, DinmoreRead the case