My water bill has tripled but I cannot see a leak. Worth investigating?

Yes, and usually urgently — a concealed leak wastes water constantly and quietly rots whatever it is sitting against. Do the meter test first: all taps off, watch the smallest dial. If it creeps, ring us. Keep the bill, too, because water retailers often have a concession for a genuine concealed leak once it is repaired and documented.

Can you find a leak under a concrete slab without breaking it up?

Finding it, yes. Acoustic detection and thermal imaging locate slab leaks from the surface, and we mark the spot to within a few centimetres. Repairing it does mean opening a small section of slab at that point, but the difference between a 300mm cut and a hallway of broken concrete is entirely down to locating it properly first.

Do I have to replace all the galvanised pipe at once?

No, and you rarely should. We replace failed runs in copper as they come up, usually starting with the main service and anything buried or hard to reach later. If you are already opening walls for a renovation, that is the moment to do the rest cheaply. Piecemeal patching of old threads is the only approach we argue against.

Burst pipes and leak detection

What does burst pipes and leak detection involve?

Turn the water off at the meter, then ring us — we repair burst pipes 24 hours a day across the inner north. For a leak you cannot see, acoustic listening equipment and thermal imaging narrow it down to within a few centimetres, so we open one small section of wall, floor or slab rather than guessing twice.

From $320 — leak detection, first hour on site

At a glance

Leak detection from: $320 for the first hour, including acoustic and thermal testing
Emergency repairs: 24 hours, with the water back on before we leave wherever possible
Accuracy: Hidden leaks pinpointed to within a few centimetres before any cutting
Pressure test: Every repaired run tested before it is closed up or re-sheeted
Insurance report: Photos, moisture readings and test results supplied on request

The pipes that actually burst around here

Housing age decides the failure. Pre-war homes often still have galvanised steel somewhere in the water service, and galvanised fails from the inside out: the bore silts up with rust until pressure and a corroded thread finish it, usually at a fitting rather than mid-length. Post-war copper fails differently, with pinholes from erosion at tight bends, or from stray current where an electrical earth has been run through the pipework. Modern PEX and poly almost never fail in the pipe itself; when they leak it is nearly always a crimp or compression joint that was never quite right.

A burst behind a wall or under a slab does not always announce itself as water. The first sign is more often a bill that has jumped, a patch of floor warm underfoot, a musty smell in one room, or a meter still ticking with every tap in the house closed. That meter test is the one worth doing yourself: shut every outlet, then watch the smallest dial for a couple of minutes. If it moves, water is going somewhere it should not.

Finding it without wrecking the house

We start with isolation, closing sections off at stop taps to establish which run is losing water, then bring in the gear. Acoustic ground microphones and a listening stick pick up the hiss of pressurised water escaping, which is remarkably precise on metal pipe. Thermal imaging maps the warm plume from a hot water line under tiles or screed. A tracer-gas test handles the awkward ones, where a line is empty or the loss is too small to hear. What you get at the end is a mark on the floor, not a demolition.

Repair, test, and the report

Once the section is exposed we cut back to sound pipe, repair in like or better material, pressure test the run before anything is closed up, and record the moisture readings. Where a wall, cabinet or floor has been wet long enough to matter we say so, because that part is an insurance conversation rather than a plumbing one, and a dated report with photographs and test results is what makes the claim straightforward. If a length of galvanised has gone we will quote replacing that run in copper instead of patching one thread and waiting for the next failure — and we will show you the section we cut out so you can see why.