Wierd running water sound......

Hi all,

I got up for a pee last night and in the quiet of the night, it sounded like there was water running downstairs. Not the actual sound of water, but sort of the "water under pressure" sound from the pipes. Just like it sounds when you have the washing machine on and you are in another room, you can hear a mid frequency "roar" from the pipes.

Anyway, when I go into the garage and the bathroom I can hear a background noise coming from the cold water pipes. Now, I would asume that if no water is running in the house, then the pipes should not make a sound. Am i right?

If not, then does this sound like I have a leak somewhere??

Cheers Mike

Reply to
Mike Hibbert
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Or your neighbours have...

Lee

Reply to
Lee Blaver

In message , Mike Hibbert wrote

Did you flush the toilet?

Reply to
Alan

I had a similar problem hearing running water, I eventually traced it to my garden after suddenly getting a marsh under the kitchen window. I was in rented property and it turned out to be a leak at the outside stopcock. It took them ages to get the waterboard out to turn the estate water off so they could replace the stopcock!

Jim

Reply to
Jim Rhead

"Mike Hibbert" wrote in news:hgVpb.336$ snipped-for-privacy@news-text.cableinet.net:

No, you just had one

mike r

Reply to
mike ring

You should have turned the opposite way and into the bathroom.... :-)

There could be an underground leak in the road or water flow at an adjoining property. Otherwise, have you checked all ball valves?

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

Reply to
Andy Hall

Turn everything off in the house, including your mains stopcock, and then listen again. If you can still hear it, then it is running somewhere else out with your property and you'll need to call the water company in to have it checked out.

Reply to
BigWallop

"I can hear a background noise...".

The way I would approach this is to turn off every water consuming device in the house. Then put the sharp end of a screwdriver onto the pipe and the handle in your ear - this is a great way of listening to low intensity sounds, and will reveal whether there is water running or not.

You should be able to trace it from there I would think.

PoP

Reply to
PoP

Then turn of your street stop c*ck and listen again. Hopefully it is now quiet otherwise the leak is in your service pipe and you'll have to pay for it to be repaired, insurance?

Or if the leak is at or just after the street stopcock, which is the boards responsibilty, they'll come and fix it for free.

Hope your not on a meter with the leak after it, a leak that you can hear singing will be "using" at lot of water...

And a tip to trace the noise, use a short length of something (1/2 dowel, pencil (bit narrow), broom handle (long and big) to touch on the pipework valve WHY and put the other end just in front of that little roundish sticky out bit just by your ear canal.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

It is almost certainly a leak, and the best way to find out if it is your responsibility (unless a shared supply) is to turn off the water at the stop c*ck in the street, then if the noise stops, the leak is somewhere on your property, or at the joint with the stop c*ck.

Reply to
Gavin Gillespie

BTDTGTTS [1]

I had a similar sound going on for weeks in my previous house. Couldn't fully isolate the house water supply though, 'cos it had originally been 2 flats and there was 2 stopcocks in the kitchen - one for downstairs and one for up and I couldn't turn the upstairs one off.

Anyhoo, the problem eventually manifested itself when a corner of the yard partially collapsed and I gained a nice water feature - seems that a lead pipe originally intended for the outside bog (according to the water board) had been truncated and sealed by bashing the end with a mallet, then it had been concreted over.

It then sprang a leak and over time blasted away the aggregate until gravity took over!

Fortunately the water board capped it gratis and for nothing, so good on Northumbrian Water :)

-- cheers,

witchy/binarydinosaurs

Reply to
Witchy

Cheers all,

I think I will have a good old investigate at the weekend!

Where does my responsibility start and end? Who owns the pipe between the boundary stop and the kitchen stop?

cheers Mike

Reply to
Mike Hibbert

I guess you do.

Are you on a metered supply? If so, where is the meter? Can you read the meter before you go to bed, and again when you get up to see whether any water has been used?

Roger

Reply to
Roger Mills

between the

It is usually the water boards responsibility, from the street stop c*ck to the border of your property, then it is up to you, but some water boards will repair a leak foc if it is straightforward, even on your property.

Reply to
Gavin Gillespie

I turned off the house stopcock and the noise continued, if I turn off the street stopcok and the noise stops then wouldn't this mean that the leak is in the service pipe then?

Reply to
Mike Hibbert

Or in another house supplied by the same stopcock. If the street c*ck only supplies your property, then the leak is somewhere between the street and the stopcock in your house.

Reply to
BigWallop

There was a great cartoon in Private Eye when Yorkshire Water was in trouble for leaky pipes. There was a YW man having a pee in a urinal and it was squirting out of the side of his dick through a row of holes. Oh well it was funny at the time

Reply to
Peter Scott

Maybe a leak.

I had this once, the leak was in the copper bit of the pipe that was outside the house, not that this is the normal way to do these things.

Rick

Reply to
Rick Dipper

Hi Mike,

Could it be that the hot water in the HWC, etc., is cooling overnight, contracting, and you can hear the mains supply `whistleling' as the valve is slightly open in the loft?

Cheers,

Reply to
Ralph Corderoy

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