Soundness testing

[tommyl18]

Hi everyone im looking at buying some sort of soundness testing kit for testing my plumbing but unsure what to get ive been looking at the hydraulic kits but obviously that fills the system with water and if thats the case surely i might as well turn the mains on and look for any leaks as they are really expensive?? but im also interested in the air dry test kits as i have a good compressor which i could use it with but unsure if they are any good as you cant see where the leaks are and more chance of air locks etc ur suggestions would be great thanks

 

[dextrous]

Not sure what your on about regarding airlocks

Air pressure testers are fine for what they do.

Get a mains pressure gauge, and make a simple T from copper - one tail to connect to the gauge, one to the pipework to be tested, and one to a mains water supply via an isolator . Bit of imagination and you've saved quite a bit.

 

[tommyl18]

i wasnt sure if you filled a system up with air wether id have a problem getting all the air out of the system after.I think air is the way i might go because i havent got to drain a system down again if there is a little leak. This might be a really stupid question but is for example 1 bar of fluid pressure the same as 1 bar of air pressure

 

[dextrous]

1 bar is 1 bar is 1 bar

What do you mean "get all the air out"? - when the system is tested successfully and flushed through, water will push the air out via the taps or by bleeding the radiators.

 

[tommyl18]

what even if your adding onto an existing gravity fed system and you cant be sure that all the pipework has a fall??

 

[dextrous]

what even if your adding onto an existing gravity fed system and you cant be sure that all the pipework has a fall??

WTF has this got to do with soundness testing?

Visual check will determine any possible places for airtraps/locks and should take place while you are designing and installing the pipe runs.