There are a lot of systems that require strict separation to function well. To name a few:
- The compressed air in my bike tire and the atmosphere.
- The water in the heating system of my house and the atmosphere.
- The vacuum in a vacuum chamber, and the atmosphere.
- The cold in the fridge and the heat in the living room.
These separated systems have the tendency to mix if any leak is present. In my adult life, I have spent more time finding leaks than I would like, and without a proper tool to identify where a leak is, the best way to deal with it is to just replace the whole part.
Bike tires are so cheap that I usually just replace the tire to avoid the risk of a new leak appearing. When a radiator in my home was leaking I found this a bit too expensive, luckily leaks in this system can be easily found by wrapping paper towels around connectors.
Locating leaks in a vacuum setup can be more difficult, and throwing away the whole setup when there is a leak is hardly an option either. Therefore, I can recommend helium leak detectors to all vacuum hobbyists.
If you can not find one at a reasonable price, and you live near Delft. You can always stop by, and we can do a leak check here :)(Keep in mind that my system is not calibrated in many many years so accuracy will be limited.)
Balzers HLT150 helium leak detector.