204
Views
7
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Research articles

Determination of leakage inside buildings with a roof tank

&
Pages 287-303 | Received 18 Jul 2011, Accepted 20 Jan 2012, Published online: 30 Apr 2012
 

Abstract

Buildings with a roof tank are common in countries with intermittent water supply. For these buildings, it is difficult to determine the leaks inside with the methods developed for pressurised networks of drinking water. A proposed alternative is Continuous Automatic Tank Gauging. Although commonly used to check the tightness of gasoline storage tanks, this method still has not been used to determine water leaks. This study explains how to set up the method and shows its application to six buildings. As expected, the leak magnitude was found to increase with the size and age of buildings. In practice, the method can estimate (within ± 30%) a leak as small as 1 l/h in buildings with a small roof tank and 20 l/h in buildings with a large roof tank.

Acknowledgments

Any reference to a commercial model and its manufacturer is for product identification purposes only, and does not represent an endorsement of the product. Thank you to Prof. Bruce E. Hansen for making the software available for conducting the statistical tests described in his 1992 publication ( www.ssc.wisc.edu/∼bhansen/ [Accessed 26 October 2011]), and to Pilar Guerrero for her great help.

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.