Leak detection · Tampa, FL
Leak detection in Tampa
Found first, then fixed. No opening walls or the slab on a guess, and the cheapest possible cause ruled out before the expensive one.
- Recirculation loop ruled out first
- Isolated before we listen
- Water and refrigerant leaks
Sound familiar?
Signs of a hidden leak
The water is going somewhere. These are the usual clues.
The meter won't stop
Everything off and the leak indicator still turning.
A warm spot on the floor
Hot water under the slab, or a recirculation valve stuck open.
The water bill jumped
Often a toilet, an irrigation valve or a hidden supply line.
Before anyone cuts concrete
The slab leak that isn't always a slab leak
A warm floor, a jump in the bill and a meter that won't settle all point to a slab leak, which means jackhammers or a reroute and days of work.
But a hot-water recirculation system with a failed crossover valve under a far sink produces the same symptoms, and costs a fraction to fix. So the loop gets ruled out first, every time.
How we do it
The order we work in on a water leak
The order matters more than the equipment.
Meter test
Everything off, ice maker and irrigation included, and watch the leak indicator.
Isolate
Water heater and recirculation loop, then irrigation and the outside lines.
Pressure test
The section that's still losing, so we know we're hunting in the right place.
Locate precisely
Acoustic, thermal or tracer gas, so we open one small spot, not a search pattern.
What it costs
What leak detection costs
What moves the price
- How far isolation gets us: a stuck valve found at step two is the cheapest outcome.
- Where the leak is: in a wall, a ceiling, the slab or the yard.
- The repair: a spot repair, or a reroute through the attic.
- Refrigerant leaks are priced after a nitrogen test finds them.
The visit charge, up front
There is a diagnostic charge for a service call, and we tell you what it is on the phone before anyone drives out. You keep the written report whether or not you go ahead.
Repairs are priced as a job, part and labor named, and agreed before we start.
Request serviceThe details
Refrigerant leaks, too
Same principle: a leak gets found, not fed.
Refrigerant doesn't get used up, so it went somewhere
A refrigerant circuit is sealed. 'It needs a pound every summer' isn't maintenance, it's an unrepaired leak with a payment plan attached. Knowingly venting refrigerant is also illegal under Section 608 of the Clean Air Act.
What finding it involves
Recover what's left properly, pressurize with dry nitrogen and walk every joint with an electronic detector, then soap where it alarms. Common culprits are a Schrader core, a flare joint, or a corroded evaporator coil.
Proving it's fixed
Evacuate to 500 microns and watch for decay. If it keeps climbing, the job isn't finished. Then the charge is weighed in and checked on superheat and subcooling.
Irrigation: the leak nobody looks at
Sprinkler zone valves that weep are a genuinely common cause of a mysterious bill with no visible water. We isolate the irrigation before we hunt inside.
Questions
Leak detection questions
My floor is warm and my meter is spinning. Slab leak?
Could be, and it could equally be the hot-water recirculation loop. One is an afternoon and a small valve; the other is concrete. We rule out the loop before anybody cuts.
Will you have to open my walls?
Only where the leak is. Isolating and locating precisely means one small opening, not a search pattern.
Is a small drip worth a service call?
A drip you can see usually isn't urgent. A meter that turns with everything off is, because the water is going somewhere you can't see.
More from Copperfield
Tampa · Hillsborough County
Find the leak before anyone opens a wall.
Water coming in right now? Find your main shut-off first, then call. For everything else, tell us what you're seeing.