Tracer gas or acoustic: which method suits your social housing leak?

Full transcript

George and Dave in conversation. Every word of the episode, exactly as recorded.

George

Welcome to the ADI Leak Detection podcast. I'm here with Dave from ADI Leak Detection, the UK's leading leak detection company, who's here to answer your questions and provide expert leak detection advice. Dave, today's question comes from a housing officer who manages a large social housing estate. She wants to know what the actual difference is between acoustic leak detection and tracer gas detection, and when you'd use one over the other.

Dave

It's a great question and one we get a lot from housing teams. The short version is this: acoustic detection listens for the leak, and tracer gas finds where it surfaces. They work on completely different principles, and the property itself usually tells you which one to reach for first.

George

So talk me through acoustic detection. How does it actually work?

Dave

When water escapes a pressurised pipe through a breach, it creates a sound. That sound travels along the pipe and through the surrounding ground or structure. ADI's engineers use acoustic listening devices, which are essentially very sensitive ground microphones, to pick up that noise and follow it to its strongest point. That strongest point is almost always directly above the leak.

George

And that works through floors and tarmac and that sort of thing?

Dave

It works brilliantly on supply pipes under tarmac, gravel, soil, even timber suspended floors. The sound travels well through those materials. Where acoustic starts to struggle is under thick, dense concrete, particularly if the pipe's deep or the water pressure's low. The signal gets absorbed and you're chasing something very faint.

George

Which brings us to tracer gas, I'd imagine. That's where it steps in?

Dave

Exactly. Tracer gas detection uses a mixture of hydrogen and nitrogen, which is completely safe and non-toxic. ADI's engineers introduce that gas into the pipework under pressure, and the gas escapes at the point of the breach. Because hydrogen molecules are tiny, they permeate up through concrete, screed, tile grout, almost any floor finish, and a sensitive detector on the surface picks up where it's coming through.

George

So for a social housing block with solid concrete floors throughout, tracer gas is the better starting point?

Dave

For a concrete slab with underfloor pipework, yes, tracer gas is what ADI's engineers would reach for first. Acoustic just can't give you the pinpoint accuracy you need when there's a thick concrete floor between you and the pipe. Tracer gas cuts straight through that problem.

George

What about a property where you've got a mix, say part solid floor, part suspended timber? Does that complicate things?

Dave

That's very common in older social housing stock, and that's where we combine both methods on the same job. Our engineers will use acoustic listening on the suspended floor sections where it performs well, then switch to tracer gas if the pipe run passes under concrete. The two methods complement each other rather than compete.

George

From the housing officer's point of view, is there anything she needs to prepare before the ADI engineer arrives?

Dave

Access is the main thing. We need to isolate the water supply and, for tracer gas work, have a connection point on the pipework. It's also helpful to have any existing drawings of the pipe runs, though our engineers will work without them if they're not available. The survey itself is non-invasive, so there's no digging or lifting of floors at this stage.

George

And once the leak's been pinpointed, what does ADI actually hand over to the housing team?

Dave

Our engineers produce a report that identifies the location of the leak as precisely as possible, so the repairs team knows exactly where to excavate or lift. That's the whole point of the process: the detection work should mean minimal disruption when repairs happen, because nobody's digging blind.

George

Dave, that's genuinely useful, thank you. So to summarise for anyone managing a social housing property: acoustic detection traces the sound of an escaping pipe under permeable surfaces, tracer gas finds the breach under dense concrete where sound can't carry clearly, and ADI uses both on the same survey where the property demands it. If you've got a suspected hidden water leak in your social housing stock, ADI Leak Detection, one of the most experienced specialist leak detection companies operating across the UK today, is the team to call in.

How this episode was made. This episode was produced using AI-generated voices and script, based on real leak detection questions and the working knowledge of ADI Leak Detection engineers.