Loading…
8
Pro tip: spent 3 days chasing one leak in a crawlspace before I tried the soap trick
Had a slow drip under a house in Boise last week. I checked every joint twice, cut out and redid two copper fittings, still wet. Took 3 days and about $80 in parts before an old plumber buddy told me to just brush soapy water on the pipes and watch for bubbles. Found it in 4 minutes, a pinhole I had walked past like 6 times. I used to think soap testing was for amateurs, now I do it first thing. Anybody got a trick like that for finding a gas leak?
1 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In1 Comment
lily975d ago
Funny how the simple stuff gets looked down on until it saves your butt. I've seen this same pattern with those little magnetic stud finders, my dad swore by his fancy electronic one until it died and a $4 magnet found every nail in ten seconds. Same thing with testing batteries by dropping them on a table, sounds dumb until you watch how they bounce. Simple tools work because they cut right to the truth instead of making you guess. For gas though, please be careful, soapy water works on gas line joints the same way it does on water pipes, bubbles mean a leak, but if you smell gas at all get out and call the utility first. The soap trick is great for checking a joint you already suspect, not for hunting around a whole basement.
3