“Communication was excellent from my 1st contact with Moe to the completion of the work. This included follow-up messages…”
Christine M. · Glasgow
Google review
Leak Detection in Kilmacolm
A heating leak is supposed to give itself away. The pressure gauge on the boiler drops, somebody tops it up, and before long everyone knows there is a problem. In plenty of Kilmacolm's older villas that never happens, because the heating is still open vented, fed from a small tank in the loft that quietly refills whatever the system loses. The leak can run for years. The clues are a tank you can hear filling when nobody has run a tap, black water when a radiator is bled, and a damp mark under a floor that no pipe seems to explain.
- Gas SafeRegistered
- £5mInsured
- 25+ YearsTrading
- 250+5★ Reviews
Request a Callback
Tell us what's up, we usually get back within the hour with a clear price.
In short: Leak detection in Kilmacolm PA13 for heating leaks a loft tank hides. Traced with thermal imaging while the heating runs, clear price first.
Covering Kilmacolm PA13. Monday to Saturday 8am to 6pm. Call Mo on 07988 591331.
Covering Kilmacolm PA13 and Quarriers Village
Heating leaks traced with thermal imaging
Clear price before any work starts
About Kilmacolm
Kilmacolm is a village of large detached villas with heating systems to match, and a good number still run on an open vented system with its own small tank in the loft.
Kilmacolm grew from a small village into a place of substantial villas once the railway made it possible to work in Glasgow and live in the hills above the Gryffe. The line has long gone and is a cycle path now, but the houses remain: large stone and harled villas in generous gardens, a few by well known architects, Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Windyhill among them, with later detached houses filling in between. Quarriers Village lies just to the east.
Houses this size were built with big heating systems, and many still have long runs of pipe up through several storeys to radiators in rooms that are not always in use. Where the system has never been converted, it is open vented: a feed and expansion tank in the loft keeps it full, and a float valve in that tank tops it up from the mains whenever the level falls. That is a perfectly good way to run a heating system. It also means a leak is replaced as fast as it escapes, so the system never shows a fault.
What the fresh water brings in with it is the slow damage. Every litre that tops the system up carries oxygen and dilutes the inhibitor, so the steel radiators start to corrode from inside and the sludge builds. A house that keeps bleeding black water, or keeps needing radiators replaced, is often a house with a leak nobody has found.
Property Types We Work On in Kilmacolm
- Victorian and Edwardian stone villas
- Harled Arts and Crafts houses
- Large detached houses in big gardens
- Villas divided into two homes
- Later detached houses and bungalows
- Cottages in Quarriers Village
What We Do in Kilmacolm
Emergency Callouts
If water is coming through a ceiling, turn the heating off, close the stopcock and call 07988 591331. On an open vented system the loft tank will keep feeding a leak until the mains is off.
Boilers
Older heat only boilers on open vented systems in Kilmacolm villas, and the newer system boilers that replace them.
Drains
If the loft tank overflow pipe is running outside, the float valve is often stuck, which is a different and simpler fault.
Heating
Finding the leak first, then cleaning the system and restoring the inhibitor once it can stay in.
Common Problems in Kilmacolm
A loft tank that fills when nothing is running
The small tank in the loft should sit almost still once the system is warm. If you can hear it refilling at night, or the float arm is never at rest, water is leaving the heating somewhere. That sound is often the first sign, and it is one people have usually heard for months before they mention it.
Radiators full of black sludge
Bleeding a radiator should give a hiss of air and then clear water. Black or rust coloured water means the steel inside the system is corroding, and on an open vented system the commonest reason is fresh water coming in to replace a leak. Cleaning the system without finding the leak only buys time.
A radiator in a room nobody goes into
Big houses have spare bedrooms and attic rooms that are rarely opened, and a weeping valve or a pinholed pipe in one of them can drip into a carpet or a cupboard for months without anyone seeing. When a loft tank is restless, walking round every room with the heating on, and looking at each valve, is the first and cheapest step.
A brown mark on the skirting under one radiator
Old radiator valves weep from the gland around the spindle, and on a radiator that has been painted over many times the drip runs down behind the pipe. A brown mark on the skirting or a soft board under one radiator is often a valve, and the cheapest leak there is to fix.
Who You'll Get in Kilmacolm
Heating leaks are where Mo comes in, and on a big open vented system he starts in the loft rather than at the damp. With the float valve tied up and the tank level marked, a system that is leaking shows it by the next morning, and how fast the level drops says whether he is looking for a drip or something bigger. Then the heating goes on and the thermal camera goes over the floors and walls, because warm water escaping into a cold wall or floor shows up clearly. He would rather spend an hour proving there is a leak than open a floor on a hunch.
Convert to a Sealed System, or Find the Leak First?
Find the leak first, every time. A sealed system runs at a higher pressure than an open vented one and has no tank to make up losses, so a leak that the loft tank has been hiding will show as a falling gauge within days of the conversion, and an old joint that held at low pressure may not hold at the new one. If the system has been leak tested and is sound, converting is a reasonable choice, especially if the loft tank is old or the boiler is being replaced anyway. If it is not sound, mend it, clean it and dose it, and then decide. Keeping the open vented system is also a perfectly sound choice for a big house with large radiators.
What Locals Say About Mo
250+ five-star reviews across Google, Trustpilot and Facebook, from real Glasgow customers.
“Our radiator pipe was bent and leaking. They answered straight away… Guy was here an hour later and he was wearing ID, very professional, patient and kind. We just got a new carpet in this room and he done an amazing job on getting little to no water on it. Couldn't recommend enough, price was reasonable.”
Kayleigh A. · Glasgow
Google review
“We lost heating just in time for the coldest day of the year with a baby in the house… When I contacted them they were ready to dispatch that night. Fixed by the afternoon. Quoted that morning and no extra charges were added. Honestly cannot thank them enough.”
Jemma M. · Glasgow
Google review
“As a small business owner, I needed a drainage company that could respond quickly. The team attended first thing in the morning, cleared the blocked drain and carried out a full CCTV survey. All documentation emailed across promptly. Professional, efficient and great value for money.”
Eric V. · Glasgow
Google review
Kilmacolm Questions
Very often, yes. Once the heating is warm the small feed tank should be quiet. If it refills when nobody is using water, the heating is losing water somewhere, or the float valve is letting by and running out of the overflow. Look outside for a dripping overflow pipe first. If that is dry, the water is going into the house, and that is a leak to find. Call 07988 591331.
Damp Patch Or A Bill That's Crept Up? Let's Find It.
07988 59133125 years, 10,000+ jobs, £5m insured, call or WhatsApp, day or night. Clear price, tidy job, guaranteed.