US Patent 7174771 Leak detection system

A leak detection system capable of automatically detecting a leak in a pressurized piping system. A pressure decay test is utilized to test for leaks in the piping system. Disruption to users of the piping system is reduced by only performing the pressure decay test when there is no user demand on the piping system. Thus, a leakage test is performed by first determining whether there is user demand on the piping system and proceeding with a pressure decay test only if there is no user demand present. If user demand is initiated during the performance of a pressure decay test, the system detects the user demand and halts the pressure decay test until the user demand stops.