Pipe Location and Utility Tracking
Pipe location and utility tracking is an appropriate and useful method to locate underground water pipes and drain pipes for leak detection purposes. Identifying and mapping underground water supply pipes, drainage pipes, field drains, and electrical cables are vital when an excavation is taking place.
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
As we all know, water pipes below ground can run in any direction and go anywhere. Without knowing their path, you could unintentionally hit another service and damage it, causing delays and costs. Not to mention the costs of digging in the wrong place, which soon mounts up.
HOW DO WE DO THIS?
For example, if there is a leak on an underground waste pipe between two buildings, we would use our utility tracking equipment. This allows us to find the water pipe location and its path. We can then accurately input the data into our devices to give us an exact location of the leak. If utility tracking was not possible one could end up digging all over the place finding nothing but earth in an attempt to locate a service.
The most common methods we use for utility tracking and pipe location is through Signal Generators. These send signals at various frequencies through conductive materials (Copper, Brass, Steel & all other metal ). With our receiver unit, we are able to follow the signal along the service line allowing us to mark the layout and give depths with high accuracy.
Pipe locating on non-conductive material like plastic is a lot harder; in these circumstances, we would use either our “knocker” or “tracer reel” to locate the service.
The “knocker” is a battery driven piston which is attached to the pipe and sends a “heartbeat” like sound along the line. With the use of our ground microphone we are able to follow the sound allowing us to locate the layout of the service.
The “Tracer Reel” is a glass fiber reel with a sonde on the head, this is inserted and fed along the service line, the Utility Tracking tool can then detect the sonde and reel and map the layout of the line.
At Water Loss Solutions we have invested into the best pipe locating and utility tracking equipment from Sewerin in Germany. This allows us to find water and drain pipes with great accuracy, saving ourselves and most importantly our clients a lot of time, money and inconvenience in senseless and destructive inaccurate digging.
If you need help call the experts at Water Loss Solutions Ltd or email us here