I don't want to worry you....

Thumbs_Up

But as a home owner do you or have you ever checked to see if there are any water leaks around you house? If there are any problems upstairs you would normally see yellow rings marks on the ceiling notifying you of a problem so you can rectify the faulty plumbing.

But what about down stairs, with older houses stop cocks / isolation values tend to be hidden away, what about behind the kitchen sink. Just a thought, and I am talking with experience here. If you have called out a plumber to fix faults would you monitor the work he has done, like putting tissue paper around the joint to see if it has been resolved?

 

casper_gutman

If you're going away on holiday for a relatively extended period, one way to check whether you have any leaks might be to read your meter as you leave and check it again when you return.

Of course, this will only detect biggish leaks as the numbers will only tick up when a pretty large slug of water has passed through the meter, but it could be one of the few ways to find a leak from a pipe under ground.

The professionals will detect underground leaks by using a "listening stick" to try and detect the sound of running water, but again, you aren't going to detect a very slow leak this way.
https://akrovalve.com/listening-sticks/listening-sticks/

ka7e

I actually had the stop !!!!!! moved when we had the kitchen refitted. It was inaccessible before, behind a corner kitchen unit but is now in the adjoining shower room. If you have a leak that causes a small stain, draw a faint pencil line around it. Then you can tell if it continues to get bigger after you "think" it's repaired. Only repaint when you're sure the leak has been rectified (voice of experience!).

Thumbs_Up

Speaking from my experience I had a Plummer come out to do a small meat and drink (easy) job. Once you put back all the stuff that had to be moved for the job to be resolved naturally you would think no more of it. (Think of a OAP here). But in my case the issue was not resolved. The purpose of this post was to make people aware.

Mistral001

This reminds me of an old public information film you used to see in the days of black and white TV.  It was about a family who discovered a leaks, in their home and how the initiated a drill with almost military efficiency to turn off the stop valve.  At the end of the short film the family all posed together smiling while the narrator congratulated them on doing such a good job, then the narrator said words to the effect that it was pity they let the leak happen in the first place. 

PS I think the leaks were caused by frozen pipes and the film was about insulating pipes etc. but the message of prevention instead of cure applies to leaks of any type I suppose.

FreeBear

Mistral001 said: PS I think the leaks were caused by frozen pipes and the film was about insulating pipes etc. but the message of prevention instead of cure applies to leaks of any type I suppose.

Agreed, prevention is better than cure, but... For a while, there was a batch of poor quality copper pipe being used by quite a few of the large house builders. After 15-20 years, some pipes were developing pinhole leaks due to corrosion even on cold water feeds.