Advanced leak detection in Finland

Polygon Finland received an interesting and challenging Leak Detection job back in April. An energy company contacted Polygon Finland, asking for help in finding a leak in a large district heating pipe. The pipeline was installed a long time ago and since its installation, the road arrangements in the area have been changed, with a roundabout having been built with the pipeline remaining underground.

Polygon’s Service Manager, Jari Kokko, received a phone call from the energy company describing the leak situation. Hot, steaming water had begun to enter the ditch next to the road, showing roughly in which area the leak was.

”The energy company calculated that approximately 2cbm of water was leaking out from the heating pipe to the ground every day, so they were eager to solve the problem quickly,” says Jari Kokko.

The leak was close to the intersection area, so the customer wanted to get into repairing the leak with minimal damage. The cost was another important aspect: if the leak had been picked up with a bucket excavator, the cost of digging the road open again would be tens of thousands of euros. High rental costs were to be avoided, and Polygon was therefore expected to provide expert assistance in determining the exact location of the leak.

Polygon’s Leak Detection experts, WDR Manager, Hannu Kärki, and Technican, Matti Korhonen, quickly arrived to locate the leak. They had with them various listening devices for leak detection, with which they listened to noise underground. With the help of the devices, the experts were able to locate the point of the leaking noise so accurately, that a point about 50cm in diameter could be drawn on the asphalt where the leak was assumed to be found. The road was opened from that point, and the leak was located there.

The leak was brought to an end quickly. The work was done on a Friday and the pipe was repaired and ready to be used again on Tuesday the week after.

”We found the leak in less than an hour. Working with leak detection instead of excavating and patching saves a lot of time and money for our customers. The customer was very happy and satisfied that we found the leak exactly where it was,” says Jari Kokko.

Polygon Finland is seeing a lots of potential in working with leak detection.

”In Finland these kind of services are quite rare and I see a lots of business opportunities here. Since this job was so successful the customer is interested in using our services further as they have more leaks to be found,” says Jari Kokko.