Drone Leak Investigation · Institutional & Campus
District Energy & Buried Heat Loop Survey by drone.
Buried hot-water and steam distribution mapped by thermal drone — line losses, failed insulation, and active leaks on district energy systems, hospital and university campuses, found from the air in a single evening flight.
Free phone consult · No pressure · Mon–Sat 8am–6pm PT
Why owners and operators choose it
- A hot buried loop is the perfect thermal target — leaks glow
- Distinguishes normal line loss from failure-grade anomalies
- Annual baselines turn maintenance reactive to planned
- No trenching, no tracer shutdowns, no guesswork digs
Built for
How the investigation runs
- 1
Network mapping
Routing drawings and operating temperatures define the loop. Where drawings are stale, the first flight itself recovers the true alignment — buried hot lines trace themselves thermally.
- 2
Contrast-window flight
Flown on cool evenings when the ground has shed solar gain: supply and return lines appear as clean linear signatures, and anomalies — hot spots, plumes, lateral spread — stand out against them.
- 3
Anomaly classification
Uniform warmth is normal line loss. Localised intensity, asymmetric spread, or surface wetness signatures are classified as insulation failure or active leakage and ranked by severity.
- 4
Dig-sheet report
Each actionable anomaly delivered with RTK coordinates, thermal evidence, and severity ranking — the document your mechanical contractor digs from, first time, right spot.
Aerial screening + ground confirmation, one company
The aerial survey ranks where the problems are; Leak.ca's ground crews — the same team pinpointing BC leaks since 1999 — confirm them with acoustic correlation, moisture probing, and flood testing where the finding warrants it. One accountable report from first flight to repair-ready coordinates, instead of two vendors pointing at each other.
Frequently asked
How well does thermal imaging work on buried heating lines?
It is the single best application of aerial thermography on buried utilities. A line running 60–120 °C under a metre of soil produces a clear, continuous surface signature in the right window — and a breach or failed insulation section produces an unmistakable local intensification. We routinely recover the routing of loops whose drawings were lost decades ago, then rank every anomaly along them.
What does a leak cost a district energy operator compared to this survey?
A buried heat-loop leak wastes treated, chemically dosed, heated water continuously — energy, make-up water, and treatment, around the clock. Operators typically find a single confirmed leak repays the survey many times over within a season, before counting the avoided excavation of wrong-spot exploratory digs.
When should campuses fly this survey?
Late fall through early spring, on cool, dry evenings — peak season for both thermal contrast and heating load. An annual flight in the same conditions builds a year-over-year baseline, so the question shifts from 'do we have leaks?' to 'what changed since last year?' — the cheapest maintenance posture there is.
Can you also check our buildings while you're flying?
Efficiently, yes — campus surveys commonly bundle the heat loop with roof moisture screening and envelope passes on priority buildings in the same mobilisation. One flight program, several maintenance answers. Ask for the campus bundle when you call.
Related drone leak services
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Aerial thermal screening of buried water mains and service corridors — kilometres of distribution line surveyed per flight, leak-suspect zones mapped for targeted ground confirmation. The screening layer that shrinks non-revenue water programs from guesswork to a short list.
View servicePost-Storm Portfolio Leak Assessment
After an atmospheric river, windstorm, or freeze event — every roof and site in your portfolio triaged by drone in days, damage and active water entry documented while the evidence is fresh and the insurer's clock is running.
View serviceAerial Moisture Orthomosaic Mapping
The deliverable layer: survey-grade, georeferenced moisture orthomosaics — radiometric thermal fused with RTK photogrammetry — exported to CAD and GIS for engineers, consultants, and owners who need leak evidence they can measure from.
View serviceWater Tank & Standpipe Leak Inspection
Municipal reservoirs, standpipes, elevated tanks, and rooftop tanks inspected by drone — shell weeps, overflow malfunction, wet insulation, saturated foundations, and coating failure documented without ladders, lifts, or confined-space entry.
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