Glad to find your Forum

Excellent Forum,I look forward to participating.I am a lic.Plumbing & Gas contractor in Oklahoma city.I have a home I'm doing a gas pressure test on .I cannot reach a few fittings to put leak tech. on them or get near with a sniffer.I rarely can't find all the leaks but this is a large home which has bein added to a few times.I remember hearing of a gas which I can introduce into the system which really squeals/whistles when it is seeping from a opening but I can't remember which one.I don't think it was Helium.I think it is Hydrogen or Nitrogen.I don't want to walk away from the job so I need an alternative testing method.There is a lot of noise in the area so I need something very audible.I would ask the code official but they are closed for the week-end .I appreciate any insight.

Maybe?

I’m far from being a plumber or a gas contractor so take what I suggest as such. Are you able to take a leak check on the entire house, to see if you have any leaks? Or do you know that you indeed have a leak in one or more of the areas that you can’t get to? I know this is basic, but can you get soapy water to the fittings you can’t reach?
I have use a helium detector to look for water leaks in underground pipes before, but I think you would somehow have to get a above the fittings for that to work.

Hope I could help!

Mike

Mikebarone said:

I’m far from being a plumber or a gas contractor so take what I suggest as such. Are you able to take a leak check on the entire house, to see if you have any leaks? Or do you know that you indeed have a leak in one or more of the areas that you can’t get to? I know this is basic, but can you get soapy water to the fittings you can’t reach?
I have use a helium detector to look for water leaks in underground pipes before, but I think you would somehow have to get a above the fittings for that to work.

Hope I could help!

Mike

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Thanks for the input Mike.Yes I have followed the pipes through the home and leak tested roughly 100 joints.i have opened some walls to test the stub-outs.Their is a area in the crawl I cannot physically get to and wanted to introduce a gas that whistles a bit in order to possibly hear if there is a leak in a fitting I can't reach.I already have made 6 repairs,and obviosly there are more.The house has bein added onto more than once,along with gas extensions for the additions.Really hard to track some of the pipes with-out some demo and as always owner has limited funds.

The only thing I can think of is if you could isolate the pipe in the crawl space area, and fill it up with water pressure, and do a pressure check with a gage on the line. I don’t know how much water pressure you would have to put in the pipe, to find an air leak, (just because air can leak out of a smaller hole then water) but this way, maybe you could see water dripping out of the pipe in the crawl space, to the ground. Then you would have to blow out the water after the test…another pain.
Like I said, it’s just another suggestion to the limited knowledge I have, of what available out there. I sure hope someone else comes up with a good solution for you…I’d love to hear it, for sure!

Mike

Assuming you have the valves and appliances installed, you can't pressurize the lines very high or you'll damage things like the pressure regulators. Even the valves may not like high pressure, and I would not want to put water in the lines. If you've got everything capped off and you pressurize it with say 10# of air and have an accurate air pressure gauge that can read down to say 0.1# or even finer, then let it sit, it will tell you if you hava a leak. Finding it if you can't get to it is problematic, but what would you do if you could see a leak...you'd have to dig in there anyways.

I know of nothing you could put in the lines that contains valves and maybe applicances that you could put in there to provide an audible alert where a leak was. The do make some very sensitive gas sniffers...don't know how long their reach is, that may be enough to verify a leak is present if you just put gas back in the lines and purge them of air.

This gas leak detector will get a read on down to 5ppm gas...
http://www.tequipment.net/TIFTIF8800A.asp
You don't have to be real close to a leak to know there is one there. If you get within a few feet of a leak it will sing! How about fastening it on the end of an extension pole like painters use and getting it in there?

I can't take it....

So don’t keep us in suspense…. How did it go?

Thanks for your input.I have bein a Lic. Contractor for years ,Plumbing & Gas ,so this is not new to me .Sorry if I gave the impression it is.I test on average 2 systems a week.Guages here for tests under 15psi must be in 0.10 increments as well.I also own the Ridgid cg-100 gas sniffer which is a great tool.Basically ,if I were able to determine a certain section is leaking which I cannot reach,then I would re-pipe that section.It all comes down to charging for my time and the owners lack of funds.I nixed the gas idea after considering the additional pressure to make the gas squeal would strain the system a little too much.My solution.I spoke to the owner and said if he wants it done he is going to have to pay the freight for the time.I told him I would help him with the repairs but that he was going to have to take a day off work and he will be the one crawling under the house and doing demo work.This will be on Thursday.He knows he is being charged a fee ,to be paid up-front ,for me to supervise/ guide him.I don't normally get mixed up in this kind of crap.No-money,no work!But I like the guy,he has nice tenants who have no hot water or heat for about 5 days now.He worked out something with them.I know ,I know,I'm a sucker,but I have a good conscience and the beauty of being the owner is I can help him if I want to .Lastly,if he were paying for my time I could get to the pipes.There happens to be HVAC supply ducts underneath which I could take apart and then re-install,but like I said he doesn't have the flow and there's a lot of work.I'll still make money.Not my normal wage but the Good Lord sees I'm trying to be a good person and charitable,I just can't do it all the time.Have a great day!

Redwood said:

This gas leak detector will get a read on down to 5ppm gas...
http://www.tequipment.net/TIFTIF8800A.asp
You don't have to be real close to a leak to know there is one there. If you get within a few feet of a leak it will sing! How about fastening it on the end of an extension pole like painters use and getting it in there?

Click to expand...

Nice idea with the pole.

Redwood said:

This gas leak detector will get a read on down to 5ppm gas...
http://www.tequipment.net/TIFTIF8800A.asp
You don't have to be real close to a leak to know there is one there. If you get within a few feet of a leak it will sing! How about fastening it on the end of an extension pole like painters use and getting it in there?

Click to expand...

Will the sniffer go off if the plumber farts??

Yes it will,Methane.

Coal miners used to send canaries into their crawl spaces to sniff gas.

threaderman@yahoo.com said:

Not my normal wage but the Good Lord sees I'm trying to be a good person and charitable,I just can't do it all the time.Have a great day!

Click to expand...

I think that’s a real nice break your giving that client of your….we’re not going to be on this earth forever.
I have a client that’s a single woman trying to sell her house in this bad housing market. She called me the other day and told me that her kitchen faucet is leaking and she has to hold the handle down on the toilet, to get it to flush. Then she told me that she can’t pay me for it, because she has no money, but she will feed me dinner!
Well, being that I’ve been single for over eight years now, I guess a home cooked meal, is better then a poke in the eye…..LOL! I won't die rich, but I'll be fat!

Food is the universal bribe!I've learned to go hungry .

Miners of all different types used canaries. When the canary keeled over it was time to get out of Dodge.

Mikebarone said:

I think that’s a real nice break your giving that client of your….we’re not going to be on this earth forever.
I have a client that’s a single woman trying to sell her house in this bad housing market. She called me the other day and told me that her kitchen faucet is leaking and she has to hold the handle down on the toilet, to get it to flush. Then she told me that she can’t pay me for it, because she has no money, but she will feed me dinner!
Well, being that I’ve been single for over eight years now, I guess a home cooked meal, is better then a poke in the eye…..LOL! I won't die rich, but I'll be fat!

Click to expand...

I do this a lot myself. Help out people/friends with computer problems, replacing a light switch, or mowing the grass, etc. All I ask for if they insist on paying is just to buy me lunch or make me dinner or something. Works for me.

Jason