What does Caledonian Leak Detection do?

Caledonian Leak Detection finds where water is escaping from pipes you cannot see, so a wall, floor or patch of ground is opened at the leak itself rather than wherever a guess lands.

The work usually falls into one of four services, and each one has its own page.

Leaks on the hot and cold pipes inside a property, which normally run under floors, inside walls or behind kitchens and bathrooms, are the work of hidden pipe leak detection.
A boiler that keeps losing pressure is usually the first sign that calls for central heating leak detection, which tests the heating circuit and traces its pipe runs before any floorboards are lifted.
The buried supply pipe between the stopcock (Scottish Water's valve, usually near the property boundary) and the house belongs to the owner, and pinpointing a leak on it is the job of underground supply pipe leak detection.
When a home insurer wants the source of escaping water found before a claim goes ahead, trace and access leak detection carries out the finding part of that cover; insurers differ, so it is worth checking with yours first.

Once a leak is found, its position is marked on the surface so any opening can be kept small. The service is for homeowners, landlords and letting agents, owners whose insurer wants a leak traced, and small commercial premises; a tenant usually reports the leak to the landlord, who arranges the repair.

Which methods does Caledonian Leak Detection use to find a leak?

Caledonian Leak Detection uses five methods to find a leak: acoustic listening, thermal imaging, tracer gas, pressure testing and moisture mapping, and the pipe decides which of them suit a visit.

Acoustic listening: A listening stick on a pipe or fitting, or a ground microphone on the surface, picks up the noise of water escaping from a pressurised pipe, and the leak lies near the point where the sound is loudest.; Suits Pipes under mains pressure, such as underground supply pipes, and pipework inside the property.
Thermal imaging: A thermal imaging camera shows the temperature of the surface it is pointed at, so water escaping from a hot pipe, central heating or underfloor heating shows as a warm patch, and damp can show as a cool one.; Suits Hot water and central heating pipes, underfloor heating, pipes in concrete or tiled floors, and showing where damp has spread.
Tracer gas: The pipe is drained and filled with a mix of 5% hydrogen and 95% nitrogen, which escapes at the leak and rises through the floor or ground, where a hydrogen detector finds the highest reading.; Suits Supply pipes, central heating and underfloor heating, and leaks too quiet to hear or too small to find another way.
Pressure testing: A system or a section of it is sealed, pressurised and watched on a gauge over a set time, and a part that will not hold its pressure normally has a leak.; Suits Sealed central heating systems, underfloor heating loops (tested one by one) and water pipework, and confirming a suspected leak before anything is opened.
Moisture mapping: Moisture meter readings taken across a wall, floor or ceiling, often on a grid, show how far water has spread and where the material is wettest.; Suits Walls, floors and ceilings wetted by a leak, including behind tiles and floor coverings.

No single method suits every pipe. Thermal imaging, for example, has a plain limit: it cannot see through walls or floors and needs a temperature difference at the surface, so what it shows is confirmed with other checks. Acoustic listening has another, because it needs the pipe to be under pressure and the leak to make a noise; where it does not, tracer gas is used instead.

Where in Scotland does Caledonian Leak Detection work?

Caledonian Leak Detection works across mainland Scotland: 382 postcode districts in 14 postcode areas, with no island districts.

Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee each have their own page.

Every other covered town, Paisley, Perth, Falkirk, Inverness, Kilmarnock and Ayr among them, is listed with its postcode districts on the areas and postcode districts covered page.

Why is the company called Caledonian Leak Detection?

Caledonian Leak Detection takes its name from Caledonia, the Latin name the Romans used for the north of Britain. Since the eighteenth century, Caledonia has also served as a poetic name for Scotland itself.

Sources: Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911), "Caledonia"; Wikipedia, "Caledonia".