Leaking detection and repair without cutting the ceiling

Leaking issues always bother us a lot. Conducing effective detection and locating the leaking point accurately can promote our success in solving the issues a lot. In terms of leaking detection, some professional tools help a lot. This passage shares a case of using a thermal camera to detect and repair leaks without cutting the ceilings. Thanks to the sharing from our technician Ben.

The customer was bothered by the water leaking from the ceiling in his bathroom in an apartment. We got there, observed and analyzed the building structure to locate the approximate area of the water leak from the floor above, which is below the tub of the unit above.

We used the thermal camera to diagnose the cause and location of the leaking below the tub. If the tub leaks, there are many possible reasons: the shower head, shower valve, spout, tub drain, and tub strainer seal could all be the cause. Turned on the shower and run hot water. With the thermal camera, the flow of hot water inside the wall could be clearly seen as orange-red. When the spout was pulled up, a large amount of hot water was seen leaking inside the wall. The initial assessment was that the leak was coming from the spout inside the wall.

Removed the spout and discovered that this poor-quality spout had a missing internal sealing ring during installation. When the divertor was pulled up, water sprayed along the outer wall of the copper pipe into the wall.

Upon further inspection, it was found that there was no seal between the copper pipe and the wall. The sprayed water flowed directly into the wall through the gap in the copper pipe. The poor-quality spout had also damaged the copper pipe during the initial installation.

We sealed the gaps around the hole with silicone and polished the copper pipe to repair it. This way, even if there was a leak, water would not flow into the wall.

Reinstalled a high-quality Moen spout. The Moen spout uses a mechanical clamp seal, which won’t damage the copper pipe like the screws of a regular spout.

After we done the job in an effective way, rechecked with the thermal camera, and there was no more leakage. The client was very happi with our professional service. He kept saying that we not only just saved much of his money in cutting the wall, but also saved his time in getting it fixed.

We are way more happi to help.

客户问题：一个公寓浴室天花板漏水

1. 分析建筑结构，找到楼上漏水的大概位置，是楼上单元的浴缸下方漏水。
2. 用热敏摄像仪Thermal camera诊断浴缸漏水的原因和位置。浴缸如果漏水，会有很多种可能性，shower head, shower valve, spout, tub drain , tub strainer seal, 都有可能漏水。 打开shower, 放出热水，用thermal camera 可以清晰地看到墙内桔红色的热水流动情况，当把spout 拉出来时，发现大量热水从墙内漏出。初步判断是spout 漏水到墙内。
3. 卸下spout ,发现这个劣质spout 安装的时候，内部密封圈遗失，当拉出divertor 的时候，水就会顺着铜管外壁向墙内喷射
4. 进一步检查，发现铜管和墙面没有做密封，喷射的水将直接顺着铜管的缝隙流入墙内，劣质spout在安装的时候同时损伤了铜管。
5. 用硅胶密封洞口缝隙，同时打磨修复铜管。这样即使漏水，也不会流入墙内
6. 重新安装高品质的Moenspout, Moen spout 是靠机械箍密封，不会像普通spout的螺丝损伤铜管。
7. 完工测试，重新thermal camera 检测，不再漏水，客户非常HAPPI！