Metal covers of control valve boxes are often lost during resurfacing of roadways or from nearby excavation work, making the location of the valves difficult for traditional metal detectors. If the nearest line valve to a burst main cannot be easily located then the next accessible valve has to be isolated, potentially affecting an additional two or three hundred households and creating a lot more work.

With the aid of the Elcometer P520 Deep Cover Metal Detector, Scottish Water has been able to avoid this situation on numerous occasions. Commenting on the Elcometer P520 , Robert Wilson, Leakage Detection Section, East of Scotland Water said:

"The location of buried apparatus has saved massive disruption to countless customers on numerous occasions. And in today’s climate with the price of water and the high public profile, it is important to keep customer disruption to a minimum".

In one application the P520 successfully located a 6" branch valve, which had no metal frame or cover at all, that was buried at a depth of 11" thus enabling a significantly smaller shutdown to be carried out with minimal disruption to customers.

East Of Scotland Water - Web-site