Farm near Truro, spring 2026. A leaking agricultural water main across a working farm. Priced honestly up front, because farm mains are genuinely hard to quote. Extra tracer gas allocated, exploratory trenches dug by the farmer between visits, special fittings ordered in for the repair, and the final report worded to support the insurance claim.
The problem: farm mains do not behave like house mains
A domestic supply pipe runs a few metres from the boundary to the house. A farm main can run hundreds of metres between buildings and troughs, laid at varying depths across land that has been worked for decades. We said so plainly at the start: farm environments are difficult to price, so the approach and the costs were agreed honestly before anything began, with two cylinders of tracer gas allocated for the search rather than the usual one.
Finding it: a team effort across visits
The search ran across more than one visit, with the farmer digging exploratory trenches between them at the points our detection indicated. That combination, our equipment narrowing the search and the customer's machinery opening the ground, is how large rural jobs get done economically. The leak was found, and the repair needed non-standard fittings, which we ordered in rather than improvising something that nearly fitted.
The outcome: repaired, documented, claimable
The report was written with the insurance claim in mind, describing the leak, the search and the repair in the terms an insurer needs. On a job of this size the paperwork is not an afterthought; it is a meaningful part of what the customer is paying for.
What this job shows
- Honest pricing beats confident guessing. When a job is hard to quote, we say so and agree the approach first.
- Farms are our regular work, from arable fields to working yards, across both counties: see underground water leak detection and our Kingsbridge farm case study.
- Insurance-ready reports come as standard. The claim is part of the job: our guide to trace and access cover explains what policies pay for.
Got a leak that needs finding?
DCI Leak Detection finds hidden water, heating and pool leaks across Cornwall and Devon using tracer gas, acoustic listening and thermal imaging, with an insurer-ready trace and access report on every job. No find, no fee on residential work, subject to terms.
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