Sep. 09, 2024
You&#;ve got a lot of questions about hydrostatic plumbing testing. For starters, what IS a hydrostatic plumbing test? But then you&#;ve got a plethora of follow-ups, like what does it tell me, when do I need one, how is it done, and more! You&#;re looking for something that answers all the major questions in one place. This is it, baby.
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At Anchor Foundation Repair, we&#;ve been helping Brazos Valley homeowners handle their foundation problems since . We make sure that hydrostatic plumbing tests are conducted during every slab foundation repair project and have observed thousands of hydrostatic pressure tests over the years. We can sure *fill* you in on the basics. . .
That was a hydrostatic pressure test joke, but you probably didn&#;t get it. I guarantee that you will after you read this article though!
This article offers quick answers to the most common general questions homeowners have about hydrostatic plumbing tests when they don&#;t know anything about them at all. By the end, you will have a good basic understanding of hydrostatic testing including why and when it&#;s important for your home plumbing system.
When you know *nothing* about something, you tend to have many basic questions. Here&#;s a list of common homeowner inquiries we will cover in this article.
If you don&#;t want to read the whole post, you can always click on your main questions and jump to the answer. Or if you don&#;t want to skip over any details, you can take in the full narrative for a Hydrostatic Plumbing Test 101.
Let&#;s get right to the good stuff by listing the questions and a quick basic answer. There might be some sub-questions to cover or if you need more info than we can cover quickly, we&#;ll send you to another more detailed article to check out if you like.
Some industry professionals call it a hydrostatic plumbing test, while others call it a hydrostatic pressure test. Both terms are accurate and interchangeable. This type of testing can be used on any closed rigid pipe system. In this case, we&#;re only talking about plumbing drain lines that carry water away from your home.
Hydrostatic means &#;standing water&#; in Greek&#;&#;hydro&#; for water and &#;static&#; for standing still. Thus, a hydrostatic test involves using standing water to check the plumbing drain lines for issues by pressurizing the system with water and observing if there is any pressure loss.
For a hydrostatic plumbing test on your home, the drain lines are first sealed off from the outside sewer system. Then the lines are filled with water up to floor level as revealed in a tub or shower drain opening.
Then you just watch and wait for at least 15 minutes. You&#;re looking to see if the water level remains the same and *holds water* or if the water level drops revealing an issue. If the water level changes, then the drain system is compromised somewhere.
The purpose of a hydrostatic pressure test is to detect breaks or leaks in the under-slab plumbing system. Using this testing method determines if your home&#;s drain lines are intact or if there are hidden leaks that need repair.
Hydrostatic pressure testing is important because it offers an early alert to an issue that should be fixed before more costly and serious problems can develop.
Unaddressed leaks under your home can lead to bigger issues. Not only do you have sewer water and other *stuff* that could leak into the soil, but you also run the risk of clogged and backed-up pipes, inconvenient flush and drain problems, recurrent tree roots growing into the lines, and eventually even foundation issues.
Check out this article for the top reasons to conduct a hydrostatic test on your home plumbing.
Even though the words sound complex, a hydrostatic test is not super high-tech. It&#;s actually pretty simple stuff. You need an inflatable test ball device and an air pump of some kind to inflate the ball.
The plumbing test ball looks like a rubber balloon going flat and has an air valve to fill it up. You can fill the test ball with something as simple as a bicycle pump. The ball is inserted into the plumbing clean-out pipe located just outside your home. Then it is pumped full of air to isolate your home drain line system from the rest of the sewer system.
You also need water to fill the lines &#; most often provided by the tub faucet in the home. An extra piece of pipe is sometimes used to extend the level of the clean-out pipe to match the floor elevation of the home. Oh, and you need eyeballs to watch the water level.
Check out this article for more details about the hydrostatic testing equipment, process, and steps.
A hydrostatic test from start to finish probably takes about an hour, with most of the time taken for filling up the lines with water. Once everything is set up and the lines are full, the actual active part of the test should take about 15 minutes or so.
It doesn&#;t take that long to determine if your pipes are holding water or if the water level is going down indicating a leak somewhere.
Once the drain lines are full, it creates just enough pressure to gently test the lines for cracks, breaks, or separations. No further pressure is exerted on the lines other than the pressure of the water from filling the pipes. That&#;s where the *pressure* comes from in this type of pressure test.
Some people think that a hydrostatic test on your drain lines can damage them, but that is not accurate. A hydrostatic plumbing test will not damage a plumbing system in good repair. However, the test can reveal cracks, breaks, and separations that have not yet started to cause issues.
Like, it didn&#;t *seem* like anything was wrong before the test, so people think the test caused the problem, but that&#;s not right.
Think about it this way &#; If you fill up a pipe that is meant to hold water, filling it all the way up should do nothing impactful because it is already made to withstand that amount of pressure.
If you fill up that same pipe and it has a hairline crack in it or two parts of it joined together are not well sealed then a problem will be uncovered and something will start to leak during the hydrostatic pressure test. The test didn&#;t cause the problem because the issue was already present, just not yet discovered.
This subject probably deserves a whole article all to itself, but we don&#;t have one just yet. I&#;ll add it to the list for future publication!
These things have already been mentioned, but in case you just jumped here, hydrostatic testing of your drain lines can reveal:
This kind of test can identify quite a few issues, but it can&#;t detect *every* under-slab plumbing issue. Here are some things that a hydrostatic test won&#;t be able to pick up:
Leaks under a slab-on-grade foundation are tricky because you have to get under the slab to fix them. A plumber can approach under-slab leak repairs in one of two ways:
We do under-slab tunneling BTWThere&#;s a lot to consider when you&#;re trying to decide between these two options to handle under-slab plumbing repairs. You might want to check this out for the full rundown: Under-Slab Tunneling vs. Breaking Through Your Slab (Pros and Cons).
A hydrostatic pressure test is not difficult to perform with a little know-how &#; it&#;s definitely not *rocket science* as they say. Sure, someone could probably do it themselves if they had the inflatable test ball and were able to locate and open the clean-out.
This was you . . . 10 minutes ago . . .But remember, you didn&#;t know *anything* about hydrostatic testing before reading this super-basic article on the internet. Reading this article is frankly not enough to qualify you for this task. You should probably leave it to a professional who has done this sort of thing before.
You want someone who can confidently place the test ball in the correct location and has experience with plumbing systems. So even though the testing process seems simple, I would still recommend letting someone who knows what they&#;re doing do it instead of trying to DIY.
Some states or cities have regulations about who is allowed to do such things. If you were to violate any codes or mess something up on the city side of the sewer system, you could be fined in addition to being on the hook for more repair costs. Yikes!
Any plumber should be able to perform a hydrostatic pressure test. If for some reason your plumber doesn&#;t know how to do it or doesn&#;t want to do it, then you probably should fire that guy. Find a different plumber who has more experience with under-slab plumbing issues.
Many municipalities have codes regarding sewer line access. Cities typically only want plumbers performing this kind of work.
We make sure that hydrostatic pressure testing is done because it&#;s important for our foundation repair services. Hydrostatic testing is conducted for every slab foundation repair job we do, but it&#;s not offered as a stand-alone service. We only have it done for our foundation repair customers, so your best bet is to find a plumber of your own.
Now that you know all about hydrostatic testing, first off, do you get my joke now? It&#;s hilarious, right? Ok, maybe just mildly amusing or worth a light groan? But now you&#;re wondering why a foundation repair company knows so much about hydrostatic testing in the first place.
At Anchor Foundation Repair, we don&#;t fix things that don&#;t need fixin&#; and we don&#;t try to sell you stuff that you don&#;t need. After 35+ years in business, we know that&#;s what&#;s best for conscientious homeowners like you. We want to make sure that your foundation repairs last and one of the ways we do that is by making sure you don&#;t have leaks under your home before we finish our foundation work.
Want to know more about plumbing leaks that cause foundation problems and what to look for? Check out the Top 5 Signs Your Plumbing Problem is Foundation Related.
(Mechanical)
(OP)
20 May 09 14:45Does anyone have a hydrostatic test procedure and what type of equipment is used?
Replies continue below
(Mechanical)
20 May 09 14:52YesQuote (kenwk):
Does anyone have a hydrostatic test procedure?
For more information, please visit hydrostatic test pumps.
Some water, a pump, and a pressure gauge. And, of course the equipment being hydro-tested.Quote (kenwk):
What type of equipment is used?
YesSome water, a pump, and a pressure gauge. And, of course the equipment being hydro-tested.Now, if you actually have a question, and are not just looking for someone to do some free work for you, please ask a real question.
(Nuclear)
20 May 09 18:38What if he doesn't want to use water?
Can he hydrostatically test with something else if he wants to?
Or - if the something else - gets hot and blows up - does that make it become a hydrostaticaerodynamically test?
(Mechanical)
(OP)
21 May 09 07:22Do I need a special pump? Or can I fill the tank with water and connect my air compressor(or compressed gas i.e nitrogen) and apply the required pressure?
(Mechanical)
21 May 09 08:41ohhhhh geeeezzzus
please publish date and location of test
so i won't be anywhere near there.
any pump that will reach the desired pressure will do
gas in a hydrostatic test is a no-no
pnuematic test or combination hydrostatic/pnuematic is allowed if you know what you're doing.
do you have a hydrostatic test procedure in place?
pressurized gas stores a lot of energy parts can be found far away if an accident happens.
3
brandonb73(Mechanical)
21 May 09 11:12We use a portable pressure washer for field hydro's. But be very careful, they can generate up to psi. You can also get hand pumps if your vessel is small.
Your procedure should include:
1. Test medium
2. Test pressure
3. Temperature range
4. Pressure gauge range requirements and calibration
5. Hold time
6. Acceptance criteria
The ranges for these can be found in whatever code of construction or repair you are using to build or repair this item.
Double check the code of construction, but the pressure gauge range should be approximately double the intended test pressure, not more than 4 time and not less than 1.5 times.
Hope this helps.
(Chemical)
21 May 09 11:49vesselfab: I hear your frustration, but "any pump which will generate the required pressure will do" conjures up unpleasant images of huge pump connected to small, improperly vented pot...
It's possible, though not preferred, to use the "air over water" method to generate pressure for a hydrotest if you don't have a suitable pump. This does make the test less sensitive and more hazardous- a proper pump, used with a well considered procedure, is safer AND better. Keep the volume of compressed gas under test as small as humanly possible, as the hazard of the test is directly proportional to P x V of the GAS.
(Mechanical)
22 May 09 12:20Also..... no one has mentioned how much fun it is to hydro test plastic and FRP systems.For more laughs, fun and surprizes than a houseful of pipefitters - try a hydro on non-metallic systems..!!!!Tell your friends !!!Be sure to have any expendable staff stand near "things of large diameter" during the test..... :)-MJC
(Mechanical)
22 May 09 12:25Pressure testing using gas can be special fun..The Chinese found this out a couple of months ago...-MJC
(Mechanical)
22 May 09 12:52YES MOLTENMETAL
I know what you mean, one stroke of a fair size pump can over pressure a small part.
Every now and then we have to dig out the old hand pump to test a single spool.
it's a pain, the check valve leaks back and we have to shut off the gate valve quickly to maintain pressure. One of these days gonna have to fix the old antique, but, when you only use once every 2-3 years.....
(Nuclear)
22 May 09 17:00I, too, would like to be someplace else when this tank is pressurized.
Far, far someplace else.
(Mechanical)
22 May 09 17:23Pardon me, but I would like to comment on some of the condescending remarks made about this question.
Do none of you remember when you didn't know the first thing about a hydro test either? Does it make you feel smarter to embarrass the author of this post? People including myself post questions and comments on this forum to collaborate with people that have more experience or different perspectives than our own. By posting a question we are already showing vulnerability, acknowledging that there is something we don't understand. It is therefore not helpful when people make jokes and snide comments.
People should not be afraid to ask questions on this forum for fear of ridicule. People who are afraid to ask questions end up making mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes are catastrophic.
I respectfully request that if you don't have anything helpful to add to a particular thread, then please don't waste your time.
(Mechanical)
22 May 09 19:06It's not the lack of knowledge or "elementary" questions that draw ridicule. It's the lack of doing ANY work prior to coming to ask for help that gets the condescension.
For example if the OP would have done a little bit of homework, such as a Google search, particularly of this site, then they would have found the answer to their question, or at the very least, been able to frame their question in a much better manner.
We all started out knowing very little. However, through a little bit of self-directed research, many of us have become the engineer that we are today. Eng-tips is not a forum for spoon-feeding any one. Show a little bit of initiative, an indication that you have thoroughly researched a problem, and if are still stumped, you are very welcome to ask a good, thought-provoking question.
Clueless questions, or "I don't want to do the research, please tell me what I need to know" questions will continue to receive healthy doses of ridicule and condescension.
(Petroleum)
22 May 09 22:38Some of us enjoy teaching others humility. Others move on to more productive threads.
(Aeronautics)
23 May 09 01:20I would sooner see a poster ask a stupid question on here than do a stupid act.
As an apprentice I got blown 20 feet across a shop by an air over hydro test that failed, resulting in a welded seam opening in a tank.
At that time( ) there was no Internet to post a question like the one the original poster asked, you relied on the common sense of the engineers and journeymen who were your mentors.
None the less it would not hurt the OP to at least hit Google first before asking here.
B.E.
(Industrial)
26 May 09 07:56I was always taught, and in turn dictatate to all my people, there are no stupid questions, only stupid answers.
I understood this to be a professional forum.
(Mechanical)
26 May 09 10:48Amen TGS4.....
(Mechanical)
26 May 09 12:53grantak - This wasn't a stupid question, just a completely poorly thought-out question that really needed to be researched and a very small amount of thought put into it before posted.It's the lecherous nature of these poorly thought-out and very poorly researched questions that prompt the above-noted ridicule.I have tonnes of time for folks who need assistance (e.g. "Where would be the best place to start researching about hydrostatic tests?"), and then if they are confused by a reference, asking here for clarification questions (e.g. "In XXX, it discussed using a YYY pump for pressurization of the system for hydrostatic test. I've search the internet for information on this pump, but can't find our why it's preferred. Why is this pump preferred, and what are people's experience with other types of pumps?).Perhaps it's worthwhile re-posting the "Rules" for posting on an internet discussion forum, again...
(Mining)
26 May 09 13:16See ASME PCC-2&#;, PART 5, EXAMINATION AND TESTING, Article 5.1, Pressure and Tightness Testing of Piping and Equipment.This Article provides general good practice for determining the type of test, the test pressure, and the procedure for pressure and tightness testing of pressure equipment, including tubular heat exchangers, pressure vessels, and piping systems.Note that this is a general guideline. Follow the appropriate Code requirements applicable to the system you are testing and do whatever research to further your understanding of the dangers involved.
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