Floor heat leak

[Dirt Buster]

It is looking like my automatic bay floor heat is leaking. I don’t know where to start with fixing it. How do I find where the leak is at if the system can’t even heat up?

We had our cinder block walls rebuilt this past august and I’m wondering if during that the construction crew hit a line.

 

[Eric H]

Do you know anyone with a Flir infrared camera? They work great for diagnosing floor leaks for about $320

 

[Dirt Buster]

Do you know anyone with a Flir infrared camera? They work great for diagnosing floor leaks for about $320
View attachment 9506

I did buy a flir infrared camera! And also found the liquid from the floor heat coming up out of the concrete. So I have an idea of where it is coming from now.

Next step would be finding out exactly where to cut the concrete to be able to repair it. Any advice for that?

 

[Eric H]

In my experience, the leak has been very obvious or at least isolated to an area of less than 100 sqft. I have had to cut test holes to get a better idea of where the leak is. I try to cut a 1’x1’ square and then turn the water on and see which direction it is flowing. Then continue on from there. The most I’ve had to cut was 2 test holes before having the luck of finding the leak on the 3rd hole.
btw, I use a diamond blade on a skilsawto cut the outline of the hole, cut kerf cuts in the center area of the square, then Jack it out with a Hilti hammer drill with a hammer only mode.

 

[Chuck Ivey]

We got real lucky finding the leak in the floor heat. It was right where we drilled a hole for an anchor bolt. But it was an easy fix. LOL !!!

 

[Dirt Buster]

In my experience, the leak has been very obvious or at least isolated to an area of less than 100 sqft. I have had to cut test holes to get a better idea of where the leak is. I try to cut a 1’x1’ square and then turn the water on and see which direction it is flowing. Then continue on from there. The most I’ve had to cut was 2 test holes before having the luck of finding the leak on the 3rd hole.
btw, I use a diamond blade on a skilsawto cut the outline of the hole, cut kerf cuts in the center area of the square, then Jack it out with a Hilti hammer drill with a hammer only mode.

Thanks Eric for the information! That helps a lot in getting me started. Hoping this goes well. Yesterday I think we found where the leak was starting to come from. Now have to cut down and see what we can do.