Geothermal Loop Leak Detection in British Columbia

Geothermal ground loops circulate a water-antifreeze mixture through buried pipes to exchange heat with the earth. A leak in a geothermal loop not only reduces system efficiency but releases antifreeze into the surrounding soil, creating environmental liability. The closed-loop nature of these systems means that even a small leak causes gradual pressure loss that eventually triggers system shutdown. Geothermal loop leaks are notoriously difficult to locate because the pipes are buried deep (typically 1.5-3 metres), the system operates at relatively low pressure, and the antifreeze mixture has different acoustic properties than water. We use tracer gas injection as our primary method for geothermal loop leak detection because the hydrogen-nitrogen mixture migrates through soil to the surface regardless of pipe depth or fluid composition.