What is the main drawback of using soap and water for leak detection?

The main drawback of using soap and water for leak detection is that it can only be effectively used on low-pressure systems. Soap and water create bubbles when they come into contact with escaping gases or liquids, which allows for visual identification of leaks. However, in high-pressure systems, the force of the escaping fluid or gas can exceed the surface tension of the soap solution, causing it to wash away quickly or not form bubbles at all. This makes it much less reliable for detecting leaks in high-pressure scenarios, where more sophisticated methods are generally required to accurately identify and assess leaks.

While cost, time consumption, and effectiveness can be concerns in other contexts, they do not capture the specific limitation related to pressure that makes the use of soap and water less suitable in high-pressure applications. Therefore, the focus on low-pressure systems highlights a critical limitation in the applicability of this method.