Your water bill has crept up, and there’s no obvious reason why. No wet patch on the lawn, no damp wall, nothing you can point to. It’s one of the more frustrating calls we get from homeowners across Hervey Bay and Maryborough, because the instinct is to assume the leak will be visible somewhere close to where it started. Often, it isn’t.
Water Doesn’t Always Surface Above the Leak
Water follows the path of least resistance. In a lot of properties, the water service runs in the same trench as the sewer line, or very close to it. Sewer pipes are typically bedded in sand so the ground can move without damaging the pipe, and that same sand creates an easy path for leaking water to travel along. Instead of coming straight up, the water can follow the sand bedding for several metres before it ever reaches the surface. In some cases, it never does.
Ageing Pipes Fail in Different Ways
Across the Fraser Coast, we see a mix of galvanised steel, PVC and more modern materials, and each one fails differently.
- Galvanised steel: often looks fine from the outside but corrodes internally. As rust builds up, the opening inside the pipe narrows, reducing water pressure throughout the home and compromising water quality. Discoloured water or fluctuating pressure is usually the first sign.
- PVC pipework generally holds up well, but fittings like elbows and tees are often the first to fail if there’s any ground movement, primarily because the bend or change of direction creates a weak spot.
How We Actually Find the Leak
To locate a leak accurately while keeping digging to a minimum, our leak detection process combines acoustic technology, electronic pipe-locating equipment, and hydrogen tracer gas.
Acoustic detection listens for the specific sound water leaks make as they escape under pressure, which our equipment can pick up even through concrete and other materials. Combined with electronic pipe-locating equipment that traces the exact path of the pipe underground, we can pinpoint a leak’s location with high precision before any digging begins.
Hydrogen tracer detection works by introducing a small, safe amount of a Hydrogen-Nitrogen gas mixture into the pipework. As Hydrogen is lighter than air, it escapes through the leak and rises to the surface, passing through cracks and adjoining materials, where specialised equipment picks it up. It’s a non-invasive way to pinpoint a leak’s exact location before anyone touches a tile or a paver.
A Quick Check You Can Do Yourself
Before you call anyone, your water meter can tell you a lot. Turn off everything in the house and garden that uses water, take a photo of the meter, wait around 30 minutes, then take another. Any movement between the two readings means water is passing through the meter with nothing running, which points to a leak somewhere on the property.
If that check comes back positive, get in touch, and we’ll take it from there using the detection methods above.
What a Hidden Leak Can Cost You If It’s Left
A leak that isn’t found doesn’t just sit there quietly. Depending on where it is, it can undermine slab foundations, encourage mould growth inside wall cavities, or simply keep adding to your water bill every day until it’s found. The earlier a leak is located, the smaller and cheaper the fix usually is, which is really the whole reason non-invasive detection exists in the first place: finding the problem before it becomes a much bigger one.
We Can Help with the Paperwork Too
If a hidden leak has already caused damage, we also do a significant amount of work preparing documentation for insurance claims. Once a leak is located, we can provide a detailed report with photographs, so you’ve got what you need to lodge a claim without having to go back and forth explaining what was found and when.
Call Guaranteed Plumbing today for leak detection across Hervey Bay, Maryborough and the wider Fraser Coast.
