Thank Your Plumbers — For Real!

How Does Hydrostatic Pressure Testing Detect Sewer Leaks?

27 June 2022 by Bill Turner

Leaks in a sewer pipe system are hard to detect. You can't easily access these pipes to give them a visual inspection. One of the easiest ways to detect a leak here is to run a hydrostatic pressure test on the sewer pipe. Learn more about sewer leak detections here.

What Is a Hydrostatic Pressure Test? 

You typically use hydrostatic pressure testing on sewer systems as a first-pass leak test. This test can tell you if you have a leak.

During this testing process, your contractor will usually raise your toilet to access the sewer pipe from inside your home. They need to be able to get to your sewer cleanout outlet from the inside of the pipe. This outlet sits at the point where your system meets the main sewer line or connection to your septic tank if you use one.

Your contractor pushes an inflatable ball down through your toilet's pipe and into the cleanout. They then inflate the ball. It then blocks the connection between your system and the main line.

They then fill your pipe with water. If you don't have a leak in your part of the pipe, then the water's level will stay the same. It can't move past the ball, so its level will be steady if the pipe is intact.

However, if you have a leak, then the water's level will go down. Depending on the size of the leak, this can be a slow or fast decrease. In some cases, a large leak stops your contractor from filling the space to capacity. The water will simply leak out too fast for them to fill the space at all.

What Are the Benefits of Hydrostatic Pressure Testing?

A hydrostatic pressure test is a fast, simple, and efficient way of finding out if you have a leak in your sewer pipe. If you don't have a leak, then you don't have to do any other work on this part of your system. If the test detects a leak, then your contractor can run further tests to find its source.

This is a quick and non-invasive test. You don't have to dig up your sewer line or pipe to visually inspect it. You can go into your system from the inside. The ball process can also find leaks that you might not be able to see even if you dig up the pipe.

So, you won't have to pay for labor-intensive excavation work. You'll find out if you have a problem more quickly. Even though you have to raise your toilet, this is a quick and easy job for an experienced plumbing contractor.

To get started with sewer leak detection, contact a company like John Blitch Plumbing.

Share  

Search