He Chases Leaks Now, Instead of Criminals

Richard B. Rennick, president of American Leak Detection, was once a police officer; today he’s in charge of a national franchised electronic system for locating underground water pipe leaks.

“I’ m still in the detection business,” he said. “I grew up with plumbing, working as a teen-ager in our family plumbing business, so the business I’m in is a logical combination of two careers.”

Rennick founded his firm in the early 1970s, while working as a police officer in Los Angeles and Riverside. He based the business in Palm Springs because of the enormous number of swimming pools in the Coachella Valley; most of the leaks American Leak Detection finds involve swimming pool plumbing.

Today, the firm has 77 franchises in California, Arizona, Nevada, Texas, Alabama and Georgia. The various franchises are listed in the white pages under American Leak Detection.

Southern and Northern California are thoroughly covered, Rennick said, adding that he is as eager to stop swimming pool and other underground leaks as he was stopping criminals as a policeman. His father was a plumber and he operated the business after his dad’s death in 1963.

“When workers got through smashing test holes all over a swimming pool deck, the place looked like the scene of a demolition derby,” he recalled. “With today’s sophisticated electronic equipment our franchisees use, the damage is kept to a minimum.”

He credits electronics engineer Jim Ray with helping him develop the high-tech hardware used to detect leaks. The device combines sound, sonar and radio technology to pinpoint the water leaks; it can also be used for gas leaks, Rennick said.

Using the authorized name “Leak Busters,” American Leak Detection franchise operators perform leak location services that typically cost from $150-$250 a job, with a no-cost guarantee if a water leak can’t be located.

“We’ve done thousands of jobs and have always found the leak,” he said. “Our franchise owners are typically licensed plumbers, so they’re prepared to fix the leak as well as find it,” he added.

Among the 39 owners of the 77 franchises are Glenn Beebe in the South Bay, Joseph Sarfati for the Westside and San Fernando Valley, Lee I. Trimble for Glendale/Los Angeles and the Pomona/Ontario area, and Chris Graham in the San Gabriel Valley and Downey/Norwalk/Whittier.

In addition to interviewing Rennick, I met with Beebe, Sarfati, Trimble and Graham to discuss the peculiarities of their territories. Graham has been exceptionally busy in the wake of the Oct. 1, 1987, Whittier Narrows earthquake.

Beebe said that 50% to 95% of the leaks involve swimming pools, with Sarfati saying that the higher number is closer to his experience.

All agreed that the prevalence of concrete slab floors has been a boost to the leak detection business; if a house with a raised foundation or basement has a leaky pipe, it’s easier to locate than a pipe embedded in concrete.