Patent ID: 6877359

Claim:
An apparatus for detecting a liquid leak from a fluid vessel comprising: a pair of electrical conductors located in relative proximity to said fluid vessel, said pair of electrical conductors comprising at least one electrical conductor characterized by an electrically insulative, porous sheath effective to provide electrical isolation of said at least one electrical conductor from the other electrical conductor; circuitry coupled to said electrical conductors effective to measure a resistance of the combination of the pair of electrical conductors and an electrical short therebetween caused by local conductivity through the porous sheath at a location whereat said liquid leak penetrates said sheath, whereby the resistance indicates the existence of a leak and the relative location of the leak along said at least one electrical conductor, wherein the liquid leak is ionic in nature; and a drip tray wherein said at least one insulated conductor resides, and wherein the drip tray further has a portion of a circuit needed to determine a presence and a location of said leak, wherein said drip tray is electrically conductive, and wherein said drip tray is electrically grounded.