Mysterious sound of running water- ideas please

candykisses

The other night, I was in the bathroom - before putting taps on etc and I could hear the faint sound of running water - well, more like a constant trickle. I firstly thought it was coming from the toilet, but then it seemed more like it was from the wall behind the toilet.

I live in a terraced house - next doors bathroom is joined onto my bathroom. I flushed my toilet and everything works as normal. ie. cistern doesnt keep refilling over and over, just works as it usually does.

My hubby said he could hear the same sound, so we put the heating on to see if there was an airlock, havent had it on for a couple of months - again, boiler seemed fine, no loss of pressure.

We've turned kitchen and bathroom taps on and they work fine, but the sound remains.

Today we went in the back yard and lifted the manhole cover. My hubby said there appears to be a small stream of clean water running along the pipe constantly. I flushed the toilet and that water came through the waste pipe into the same manhole and went as normal, but the clean trickle of water is still there, making the same sound as I can hear in the a bathroom.

We have switched off the water supply and put it back on again and hubby doesnt think its coming from our house. Went next door to try and listen for sounds in their bathroom, but awkward to hear anything due to the way their bath is positioned.

We are baffled as to what it could be? The water meter doesn't seem to be racking up units or anything.

We have looked on the water board website, they said if it's a leak they will do a maximum of £200 work on it and then the householder pays the rest.

I'm starting to wonder if it's further up the terrace - I am second from end with four houses to the other side of me, presumably where the water runs along the drains.

Just wondered if anyone had any ideas before I call water board etc and start paying out money to find the problem - also panicking in case it's under the house or something, how do they repair without a major digging operation?

thanks

docmatt

The water from the drains can sometimes be enhanced by travelling up the 4" soil pipe and you hear it near the toilet. (like an echo)


There is always some water trickling in the sewer drains at any time, clean water too.

candykisses

Hi docmatt

thanks for that - was curious because ive lived here 2 years now and its never made the noise before. :undecided

blossomhill_2

Has your loo got an internal overflow? If so it could be that

thedeester1

Check to see if there are any overflow pipes that are run into the drain paths. Ie Some overflows just stick through the wall and water runs out of an open pipe. However if there is say a storm (guttering) drain that runs into a Sink drain some plumbers will run the overflow pipe into this. Especialy if the overflow would come out over a door or window. It does sound like a leaking ball valve. Like the type you have in the toilet. This doesnt have to leak much before the overlow is activated and would give the trickle. Lift the toilet lid and find the overflow hole and make sure the water is below this hole. Most ball valves have an adjustable ball so it can be set to fill so high. Sometimes this adjuster comes loose and the ball valve fills too high and goes to overflow (Even if the ball valve isnt actually leaking).

Also if you dont have a combi boiler a standard heating boiler has a header tank. This is often fitted above a bathroom (because its the easiest place to extend water pipes from upstairs). These also fill with a ball valve and the overflows can be piped to a drain as described above.

I once worked on such a problem in a freinds house. The person who fitted the toilet had run the overlow pipe through a cavity wall and Tee'd it into the baths overflow pipe at the baths water trap. This was because the toilet wasnt on an outside wall so the plumber couldnt drill the overflow straight outside.

Its pretty good that you can see the water trickling into the drain. If you are sure this is the water you can hear. It may not be however as water does tend to trickle into drains in all but the driest conditions. I dont want to scare you but you may have a leaky pipe that is filling up the floor. In the room below knock on the ceiling and see if it echos or sounds dull. If its too dull sounding it may be full of water. Take care with this as ceilings that are full of water have a habbit off collapsing as soon as they are touched, (comedy sketch style) its not so funny in real life though when you fall off the step ladder and nearly smash your skull in on the edge of the work top!! If you do think there may be water in the ceiling poke a small hole with a thin screwdriver or long nail and see what comes out. If theres nothing its a simple job to polyfilla the hole and is much easier than taking up a tiled bathroom floor. Of course if you do find water in the ceiling the leak will have to found and fixed.

Lastly back to the central heating. If you do have a header tank it will have a pressure return. This is an open pipe that goes back into the header tank. I worked on a case where when people turned on their heating they heard running water in the loft. It turned out that the diverter valve was all choked up. This was restricting the flow from the pump and the pressure was backing up and the water running back into the header tank through the pressure return.

I know ive put a lot of things here and I dont want to scare you but people often only hear "running water" when that water is dripping into a pool of water.

On the Up side central heating pipes can sound like running water if they have an airlock in them. The water crossing the airlock sounds like a trickle. Try giving the radiators a good bleed (dont just get the air out leave the water running till it fills at least half a bucket for each radiator) and maybe bleed at the boiler end (only if its not a combi boiler as these are closed loop systems and should be done by a plumber and damage or even injury can occur).

Hope some of this helps and I hope it turns out to be nothing serious!

1984ReturnsForReal_2

blossomhill wrote: »

Has your loo got an internal overflow? If so it could be that

That answer is the most probable.

candykisses

hello

thank you for your in depth replies - just wanted to add:

the bathroom is on the ground floor of the house, so it's just a concrete floor with no rooms below.

the boiler is a combi boiler and that is located in the bedroom upstairs

i will get hubby to check the internal overflow and let you know the outcome
thanks again

1984ReturnsForReal_2

candykisses wrote: »

hello

thank you for your in depth replies - just wanted to add:

the bathroom is on the ground floor of the house, so it's just a concrete floor with no rooms below.

the boiler is a combi boiler and that is located in the bedroom upstairs

i will get hubby to check the internal overflow and let you know the outcome
thanks again

In the morning before you use the toilets lift the seat cover up & see if you can see the water running down the side of the pan. You should see the water moving about

Biggles

candykisses wrote: »

We have switched off the water supply and put it back on again and hubby doesnt think its coming from our house.

When you turned off your water supply, did the trickle of water along the pipe stop (either immediately or, if necessary, after leaving it for half an hour or so)?

If so, you do have a problem. If not, then at least you know it's coming from somewhere else.

evoke

I would call a plumber who should be able to find it within an hour or two. It's worth the fee just for the peace of mind, not to mention the possible damage.

Gloomendoom

I had something similar in my last house. I could hear running water in a downstairs cupboard (walk in type.) It turned out to be a fracture in the supply pipe from the main. The pipe came into the house underneath the cupboard.

If it is that it will need sorting pretty quickly as it can damage the foundations of the house.