Section 14

Holiday/Pinhole Detection
14 Holiday/Pinhole Detection
Holidays and pinholes in a paint film are defects which allow ingress of an
electrolyte and therefore are detrimental to an anti-corrosion system and need
repair. Not all defects of this nature are visible to the naked eye and we
therefore need equipment to facilitate the detection.

For coatings of thicknesses above 500m it would be necessary to use a high

voltage holiday detector, but for coatings of less than 500m it is normal to use
a wet sponge pinhole detector. Most paint systems on new steel fall into the
latter. The wet sponge pinhole detector is a very simple piece of equipment and
consists of a small control box, usually pocket size, with two terminals, positive
and negative. The negative terminal is connected to bare steel on the structure
to be tested. The positive terminal is connected to a hand stick with a sponge
on the end. The operating power is provided by two, 1½v batteries in the
control box.

To use the detector the sponge electrode is wetted in water with a tiny amount
of detergent/washing up liquid added and squeezed out to remove excess
water. After switching on and selection of operating voltage, the sponge is
traversed methodically over the area. On a vertical surface it is better to work
upwards. On contact with a pinhole, the wetting agent (detergent) allows
immediate penetration of the water, so providing a very low resistance circuit
back to the control box. A high pitched bleep indicates the presence of a
pinhole, the exact position of which is located by using a corner of the sponge.
The position is then marked ready for repair.

14.1 Voltage setting

Basic models have two options for setting, 9 and 90V. More sophisticated
models have an intermediate setting. For DFTs of less than or equal to 300m
the 9V setting is normal. For DFTs of 300-500m 90v or 67½v intermediate
sensitivity would be preferred.

ATC88-40915
Holiday/Pinhole Detection 14-1 Copyright © TWI Ltd