Lofall Well Water Line Leak Detection

How we find leaks in Lofall

The first job on a Lofall well call is telling the line from the pump. Slow steady cycling points to the line under small farms off Pioneer Way; rapid short-cycling to a waterlogged tank; cycling with everything isolated to the check valve. We sort it at the tank before the machine touches bluff clay on the Hood Canal shore.

1970s-to-2000s acreage homes and small farms left Lofall with galvanized on canal-side cabins on waterfront on Hood Canal. In beach deposits below the bluff the first sign is a power bill that climbs, sometimes pressure dropping at the barn, rarely a puddle, which is why well line leak detection starts by listening.

We isolate the problem on Kitsap PUD or a private well systems and on wells alike; only the starting point moves. The leak noise from brittle 1970s polyethylene under beach deposits below the bluff doesn't care who sends the bill, and well line leak detection on parcels along Highway 3 proceeds the same way.

We've chased well lines near Port Gamble where the only sign was a pressure tank that won't hold, and near Vinland where a green stripe across waterfront on Hood Canal gave it away. The ground hides them; the sound through beach deposits below the bluff doesn't.

What Lofall's ground does to a leak

The Hood Canal waterfront lots are older and shorter. Along the Hood Canal waterfront the lots are older and the lines are shorter, but the bluff clay holds water and the beach deposits drain, so acoustic locating is still the only reliable way to find the break.

Lofall lots are waterfront on Hood Canal, which sets how far we're listening along galvanized on canal-side cabins. Short runs get the ground microphone; long ones get the correlator first. Either way, after we repair or replace, the mark goes over the break with a depth near Lofall Road.

How the visit goes

A well line leak detection visit to Lofall runs: isolate the problem, then repair or replace, then restore. The middle step is where roots and till along Pioneer Way and parcels along Highway 3 set the pace, and mini excavator and pumps is what gets it done near Highway 3.

Scope for well line leak detection here is three things: ground (roots and till along Pioneer Way), lot (acreage along Lofall Road), pipe (HDPE replacements pulled in one piece). The gear is the same each trip, mini excavator and pumps included, and we say which of the three is driving the day before we start near the Hood Canal Bridge.

Waterfront on Hood Canal near Lofall Road, galvanized on canal-side cabins below, beach deposits below the bluff around it: that's the Lofall version of well line leak detection, and a power bill that climbs is the usual first clue.

Around Lofall

From Highway 3 to Hood Canal and out around the Hood Canal Bridge and Kitsap Memorial State Park, well line leak detection is regular Lofall work. About half an hour north of Poulsbo; we schedule acreage along Lofall Road so you aren't waiting a whole day.