Leak detection in North Zealand
The pressure drops and the hole works both ways.
A leaky water pipe will lose water as long as the pressure is up. If the pressure drops — due to a break further down the line or during a shutdown — water can enter the pipe through the same opening. The direction depends on the pressure difference, not the condition of the pipe.
In North Zealand, where wells have been closed over the years and extraction has been moved, this makes density more than just a calculation of cubic meters.
Density is a physical barrier between what flows in the pipe and what lies outside it. We measure the barrier and document where it is broken.
Leak detection in North Zealand from well and valve
We go into the network where it is already available. The ground microphone is placed on fixtures and followed along the route until the sound level stands out from the neighboring measurements. If the leak gives off too weak a signal — a fine hole in a plastic pipe under a thick soil cover, for example — we delimit it with tracer gas instead.
The demarcation is most important on rural networks, where the sections are long and the measurement points are few. If we can close a valve and see what the sound level does on each side of it, a large part of the network is out of the picture before we fine-tune a position. We always agree on closures with the operator before anything is operated.
Along the way, we calculate the water loss section by section. Technically, this is called North Rhine-Westphalia, and the report tells you just as much about which parts of the network are tight as it does about where the leak is.
Leak detection in North Zealand for consumer-owned water utilities
The region has many small waterworks, where the operation is the responsibility of a board and a single waterworks supervisor. There is no operations department to conduct a systematic review, and the equipment is not in the shed. We review the network section by section and provide a basis for the board to decide on — what needs to be repaired now and what can wait until the next budget year.
For a waterworks without employees, it is often more valuable to be able to take the first measurement themselves than to have to assess over the phone whether a consumption is alarming. That is why we also sell and lease search equipment, so that a waterworks attendant can have a ground microphone in the car all year round. The exercise comes at a basic course at DWI Leak Academy, where they get the instruments in their hands before they can use them on their own network.
If the network is to be monitored continuously instead, data loggers in the network and notification through HydrantAI cover the stretches you are most unsure about.
Several small waterworks often share a technician or advisor, and a review can be arranged so that we take two networks on the same trip. The drive is shared, and each board gets its own report on its own network.
Route planning on a network without permanent operating personnel
A review begins with what you know yourself. Where are the stretches that have caused problems before, and what does the daily consumption from the waterworks show. From there, we lay the route so that the network is taken in a sequence that is geographically coherent, and so that the waterworks attendant only has to be present where it is actually needed.
A network that has been expanded stage by stage over many years rarely has drawings that can be measured against. Therefore, the task at several of the region's waterworks begins with a pipe search: we demonstrate where the main pipe and the old connections actually run, and only when the course is known are there enough measurement points to delimit a leak.
We also agree in advance what should happen if we find something serious along the way. If repairs are required the same day, we will call your plumber or contractor while we are at the point, so that they can be informed of the location and access conditions immediately. The board does not need to be an intermediary in the technical conversation.
The documentation the municipality can read
The measurements are turned into a report with the method chosen and the positions found. You can send it to the contractor and use it in your report to the municipality about what has been done on the network and when. We comment on density and position — water quality is part of the analyses.
If we have two reviews to compare, you will also be given a ranking. A section where the sound level has increased since the last one may appear in the renovation plan, even if there is nothing urgent to repair yet. After a repair, we are happy to measure the section again from the same measurement points, so that the two results can be compared. We also write down which sections we could not measure and why — a missing measurement point is in itself information that you can act on.
When pressure drops, water can be sucked in through the same leak that would otherwise be losing water. Therefore, we treat a leak as an open spot in the barrier and mark it so that it can be closed quickly.
This speaks in favor of a review. A pressure drop is rarely an isolated incident, and the sections where the barrier is weak are the same ones where water can get in. A review shows how many open points the network currently has.
Yes. The report lists the method and date of each measurement along with the positions we found. It documents what was measured online and what was found — not the quality of the water.
Only access and information about the network. We bring the equipment and agree on the route in advance so that the waterworks attendant only follows where valves need to be operated or wells opened.
Contact DWI
Contact us for competent advice, leak detection and pipe location for your waterworks or water supply. We also assist commercial customers and private households with professional solutions.
