Direct Answer
AnyLeak provides leak and moisture detection services in British Columbia using non-invasive methods — acoustic correlation, tracer gas, thermal imaging, and moisture metering — to find leaks without digging or damage. Every inspection includes a written, insurance-ready report. Call (604) 269-5325 for a free phone consult.
🔄 Reviewed and maintained by the AnyLeak team — October 2026. Rated 5 stars by BC customers.
Before a leak gets pinpointed, a service line gets cut, or a contractor breaks ground, one question has to be answered: where is the line, and how deep? Electromagnetic (EM) locating answers it for anything that conducts — metallic water and gas pipes, power and communication cables, and the tracer wires buried alongside plastic pipe. AnyLeak.ca has run EM scan and line locating across British Columbia since 1999, and it is the backbone of our buried-infrastructure work — on its own, and paired with ground-penetrating radar.
How electromagnetic locating works
An EM locator is a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter induces a traceable signal onto a buried conductor; the receiver, walked along the surface, reads that signal to map the line’s route and estimate its depth. We apply the signal three ways depending on access:
- Direct connection — clamping the transmitter to an exposed pipe, valve or cable for the strongest, cleanest signal.
- Inductive clamp — a coil around a live cable or pipe where direct contact isn’t possible.
- Induction — broadcasting a signal into the ground to energize nearby conductors when there’s no connection point at all.
Passive locating — reading the power-frequency and radio signals that already exist on buried cables and pipes — rounds out the sweep before any active tracing begins.
What EM locating finds — and what it can’t
EM excels on conductive targets: copper and steel water lines, metallic gas pipe, electrical and communication cables, and tracer wires installed over plastic mains. What it cannot see directly is non-conductive pipe — PVC, PE and clay with no tracer wire. That is exactly where the rest of our toolkit takes over: a sonde (a small transmitter pushed through the line on a camera or rod) makes a non-metallic pipe locatable, and GPR images both conductive and non-conductive targets and the disturbed ground around them. Knowing which method a target needs — and when to combine them — is the skill; see GPR vs EM locating and our combined GPR + EM approach.
The line-locating services we provide
- EM line locating · service line locating · distribution line locating · transmission line locating
- Pipe & cable locating · water mains · gas lines · sewer & drainage · fibre optic
- Sonde locating for non-metallic pipe · high-voltage cable detection · white-lining
For every property type — and for the trades
Homeowners use EM locating to find a buried service line before a leak repair; stratas and commercial sites map private networks across large grounds; municipal and institutional teams trace distribution mains and tracer wire across campuses. And contractors — excavators, directional-drill crews, plumbers, landscapers — rely on it to know what’s underground before the bucket moves: see line locating for contractors. Every locate is marked on the ground and, where useful, documented as an as-built map.
Locating that leads straight to leak detection
Locating and leak finding are two halves of one job: once a buried main is traced and its depth known, acoustic correlation and tracer gas pinpoint the leak on that line — so the one excavation lands on the breach. See water main leak detection and the full utility locating practice.
Across BC
We provide EM and line locating throughout the province — see service areas.
FAQ
Can you locate a plastic water line with no tracer wire? Not by EM alone — but a sonde or GPR makes it locatable; we select the right method per line.
How accurate is the depth? EM gives a reliable depth estimate on a clean signal; on congested sites we confirm critical points with GPR or potholing.
Can you energize a live cable safely? Yes — inductive clamping and passive methods locate live lines without direct contact.
Need a line traced or a leak pinpointed? Call (604) 269-5325 for a free phone consult or request a locate.
A Closer Look at This Service
The cost of finding a leak is small compared to the cost of the damage it causes. A month of undetected leaking can wet insulation, rot framing, wash soil, and attract mould in the time it takes to book an inspection.
A city’s building code, its typical construction era, and its soil behaviour all leave their fingerprints on the leaks it produces. Reading those fingerprints is what makes an investigation accurate on the first visit.
A professional investigation does not end with a verbal summary. It ends with a written report, and that report is the point of the exercise: a document that carries the finding, the evidence, and the guidance to the repair.
How the Investigation Is Delivered
Every investigation follows the same disciplined sequence: consultation, survey, testing, cross-verification, marking, and documentation. The sequence is deliberate, and each step builds on the last.
- Step 1: Consultation to understand the situation and the history
- Step 2: Site survey and indicator mapping
- Step 3: Testing of the suspected systems with matched methods
- Step 4: Cross-verification of the finding
- Step 5: Marking and documentation
- Step 6: Written, dated report
The most common mistake is waiting: waiting for the stain to dry, waiting for the bill to settle, waiting for the leak to announce itself. Water does not wait, and every week of waiting grows the repair scope.
What This Costs
Every property is different, which is why pricing follows the investigation plan rather than a menu. The free consultation defines the scope, and the fixed quote follows it. What you are quoted is what you pay.
Most property-level investigations in British Columbia are quoted as a fixed fee once the situation is understood. The quote covers the technician’s time, the instruments, the investigation, and the written report.
Insurance and Documentation
The report produced after a this investigation investigation is written with insurers in mind. It documents the cause, the extent, the methods used, and the readings taken, so the adjuster has everything needed to process the claim.
The report also protects the policyholder. When the cause is documented at the time of the loss, there is no later dispute about what was found, when it was found, or what the condition was.
What the Report Includes
The written report is the deliverable that separates professional detection from a good guess. It includes the confirmed location, the depth where applicable, the readings, the photographs, the methods used, and an interpretation of the cause and contributing factors.
The written report is the deliverable that separates professional detection from a good guess. It includes the confirmed location, the depth where applicable, the readings, the photographs, the methods used, and an interpretation of the cause and contributing factors.
When to Call
Call when a decision needs documentation: an insurance claim, a real estate transaction, a strata dispute, or a warranty process. Those decisions run on evidence, and the evidence has to exist before the deadline.
Call before the damage becomes visible if the meter is moving with everything off. That reading is the earliest and cheapest moment to act, and acting early is what makes the repair small.
How to Prepare the Property
Clear access to the meter, the main shut-off, the water heater, and the areas showing indicators speeds the investigation. A cleared path saves the technician’s time, which is your time on the quote.
Nothing else needs to be done. The investigation does not require demolition, preparation of the systems, or any work on your part beyond access. Showing up with the history is the whole preparation.
Common Questions
Is this service non-invasive?
Yes. Every method used works from the surface and leaves no marks. Nothing is cut, dug, or permanently marked during the investigation.
How accurate is the location?
With cross-verified methods, locations are typically within a metre or less, and slab locations within inches.
Is the report useful for insurance?
Yes. The report documents the cause, the extent, the methods used, and the readings, structured for claims and engineering review.
How long does an investigation take?
Most property-level investigations complete within a day, and the written report follows within one to two business days.
Do you repair leaks?
No. Detection and documentation are the service. The report guides the repair contractor to the exact location.
What does this cost?
The quote is fixed before work begins, based on the scope defined in the free consultation. What you are quoted is what you pay.
Call (604) 269-5325 or email info@anyleak.ca for a free consultation. The report is dated, documented, and written to the standard insurers and engineers expect.
★★★★★
"Our flat roof developed a leak, and Anyleak responded quickly. They completed a temporary repair right away."
Sorin Silivestru
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