Leak Detection Guides & Advice
Practical guides from MCR Leak Detection: finding hidden water leaks, trace and access insurance, boiler pressure problems, and what Scottish homeowners, landlords and businesses need to know. New guides are added regularly.
Water Coming Through the Ceiling: Emergency Steps That Limit Damage
Water through the ceiling punishes hesitation. The first ten minutes step by step: stop the water, isolate electrics, deal safely with a bulging ceiling, trace the source above and gather the evidence your insurer will ask for.
Burst Water Pipe? What to Do in the First 10 Minutes
A burst pipe at mains pressure floods fast. The first 10 minutes decide the damage: stopcock off, taps open, electrics off, contain the water and photograph everything. Then work out whose pipe it is before anyone digs.
Frozen Pipes: How to Thaw Them Safely and Prevent a Burst
A frozen pipe does its damage as it thaws. Find the freeze, open the nearest tap, thaw gently with a hairdryer or warm towels, and inspect the whole run for splits, because the ice often plugs the crack it made.
Central Heating Pipe Leaking Under the Floor: Signs and What to Do
A heating pipe leaking under the floor gives itself away in warm patches, ceiling stains and a falling boiler gauge. What changes between timber and solid Scottish floors, and how the leak gets pinpointed without lifting the lot.
Boiler Pressure Dropping Overnight: What It Usually Means
An overnight pressure drop has three usual causes: harmless cooling contraction, a flat expansion vessel, or a small hidden leak. The overnight gauge test separates them in three or four mornings, before anyone lifts a floor.
How to Find a Leak in a Central Heating System
A sealed heating system that keeps losing pressure is leaking somewhere. Work through radiators, boiler and visible pipework first, then learn how thermal imaging and tracer gas find the hidden runs without wrecking your floors.
How to Repressurise a Boiler (and When You Shouldn’t)
Repressurising a boiler takes five minutes and no tools. The step-by-step filling loop guide, the safe pressure range, and the trap to avoid: weekly top-ups that quietly mask a leak damaging your home.
Boiler Losing Pressure? Causes and What to Do Next
A healthy sealed system needs topping up once or twice a year. If your boiler loses pressure faster than that, water is escaping somewhere. Here are the causes ranked, and the diary test that narrows them down.
Protecting Your Pipes in a Scottish Winter: Heat, Insulate, Protect
Around 3,100 bursts hit Scottish Water’s network in winter 2023/24, and over 30% of winter incidents happen on customer property. Here is the heat, insulate, protect routine that keeps your pipes out of the statistics.
How Much Does Leak Detection Cost? UK and Scotland Price Guide
What does leak detection actually cost? Published UK market ranges, the factors that move the price, and why trace and access cover means many homeowners pay nothing at all.
Moisture Meter Readings Explained: What’s Normal and What’s Not
Moisture meter numbers confuse more homeowners than any other survey tool. Here is what the %WME scale means, what counts as a normal reading, and why one high number is never proof of a live leak.
Damp Patch on the Wall but No Obvious Leak? Start Here
A damp patch with no visible cause has four usual suspects: a hidden leak, condensation, penetrating damp or rising damp. The timing, position and pattern clues that separate them, and the moisture tests that settle it for certain.