What Is a Water Leak Detector?
A water leak detector is a device that can check for water leaks in pipes.
Many pipes, such as water pipes, are installed underground. These underground pipes cannot be visually inspected for leaks. It is not practical to dig out the pipes every time for inspection because it is too costly and requires too much work.
Water leak detectors can be used to inspect areas that cannot be directly touched, because they use the sound that is made when a leak occurs to detect leaks. Naturally, it can also be used to inspect piping that can be seen.
Usage of Water Leak Detectors
Water leak detectors can be used to detect leaks in pipes that cannot be seen directly, such as underground. Therefore, they are used to check for leaks in water pipes buried in the street or to locate leaks.
Apart from underground piping, the inspection of household water systems is the main example of its use. They are widely used to detect leaks in toilet pipes, hot-water pipes for baths, water receiving tanks, and water meters.
For visible piping, such as valves, visual inspection and water leak detector inspection are sometimes performed at the same time.
Principle of Water Leak Detectors
When a leak occurs, an unusual water noise is heard as the water flows. For this reason, the sound-based leak detection method is widely used to detect leaks. In the case of underground water pipes, there is a risk that a leak could lead to a major disaster, such as flooding of roads, so water leak detection is a socially necessary technology.
Water leak detection by sound has been used for a long time, but the conventional method is to use a listening stick. However, the conventional method of using a listening stick to detect water leakage has the problem that the operator must identify the sound of water leakage by himself, which is affected by the skill of the operator and individual differences. In addition, water leak detection is difficult if the target sound is buried by road noise and other noises other than the sound to be detected.
Water leak detectors are able to treat sound as an electrical signal, making these issues less likely to arise. For example, the problem of differences in judgment results among operators can be solved by setting a common reference value based on the detector’s meter. Other signal processing can be used to remove noise, or to make the sound of a leak easier to hear by emphasizing or reducing certain frequencies.