Noise of water rushing through pipes, but no sign of leaks

oliveoil54

I have noticed recently that there is a noise coming from under our kitchen sink near the stopcock which sounds like water flowing through the pipes. When I turn the stopcock off the sound appears to disappear but with a stick
held to my ear and the pipe near the stopcock, I can still hear a faint noise.

I can’t be certain when this noise started so it could have been like that for several weeks.

I’ve tried switching the Central Heating off with no change to the noise.
I’ve checked the cistern to the toilet and that is OK.
There is no water flowing into the outside manhole from any pipes.
I’ve checked the whole house inside and out thoroughly and can’t find any evidence of leaks or damp.
All the pipe work is above ground level and our floor base is concrete.
There are no header tanks in the loft to worry about as we have a Combi boiler.
We dont have a water meter, so no way of tracking useage.

We live in an old stone cottage built in 1900 which is located on a private estate. I’m worried that there may be a leak in the pipe outside from the Water Authority stop valve to the house (approx 15 yards away from cottage).

Would appreciate any advice, am fairly competent diyer, but this has got me stumped.

Mr_Ted

Quite possibly a leak underground on the incoming mains service pipe as you say you can still hear a slight noise when the stopcock is turned off!
Try with a listening stick at the incoming mains service stop valve outside the property?
Also try turning the outside stop valve off and see if it disappears, in which case if it disappears it is between the outside and inside stop valves?
Either that or if the stopcock does not "completely turn off" it could still be a leak inside that is lessened by the stopcock being off but still a slight flow, hence the quieter noise?

anotherbaldrick

oliveoil54 wrote: »

I have noticed recently that there is a noise coming from under our kitchen sink near the stopcock which sounds like water flowing through the pipes. When I turn the stopcock off the sound appears to disappear but with a stick
held to my ear and the pipe near the stopcock, I can still hear a faint noise.

I can’t be certain when this noise started so it could have been like that for several weeks.

I’ve tried switching the Central Heating off with no change to the noise.
I’ve checked the cistern to the toilet and that is OK.
There is no water flowing into the outside manhole from any pipes.
I’ve checked the whole house inside and out thoroughly and can’t find any evidence of leaks or damp.
All the pipe work is above ground level and our floor base is concrete.
There are no header tanks in the loft to worry about as we have a Combi boiler.
We dont have a water meter, so no way of tracking useage.

We live in an old stone cottage built in 1900 which is located on a private estate. I’m worried that there may be a leak in the pipe outside from the Water Authority stop valve to the house (approx 15 yards away from cottage).

Would appreciate any advice, am fairly competent diyer, but this has got me stumped.

You probably will hear a faint noise from the main , this will be coming from the distribution in the street. But the louder noise with the stopcock open should also stop when all the taps are closed and the ballcocks in wc cisterns and tanks are satisfied . If when everything is off you are still getting the roaring noise start looking for a leak within your system. Have you perchance got a pipe which runs from your property to an outside water tap ?

Canucklehead

Turn of your stopcock and open the kitchen cold tap until the flow stops. Close the tap.

Leave for a few minutes.

Open the cold tap with the spout of the tap dipped into a glass of water.
Is it sucked back?

oliveoil54

Thankyou for your prompt replies.
The Water Authority stop valve is in a grass bank, down a hole and has a metal cover which is so rusted I cant budge it. So at the moment dont think i can turn the water off outside, without major excavations. Am also conerned as it isnt under my ownership, i might cause some damage.

One of the local farmers digging ditches just before our property accidently brought up a section of our water pipe last year, fortunately he didnt appear to do any damage. Managed to listen with stick at this point and heard the noise of water rushing through, but i would expect that as i am unable as yet to turn the water off externally.

Yes we do have an outside tap exactly on the opposite side of the wall to the internal stopcock, this has been turned off all winter, doesnt have a leak or any sign of water/damp near it.

Canucklehead - which stopcock are you suggesting we turn off before trying the syphon test, inside (easy) or outside w/a stopcock (really quite difficult to get at)?

Canucklehead

Inside (easy)

Looks like you might be going at the farmer for some repair costs.

One of the local farmers digging ditches just before our property accidently brought up a section of our water pipe last year, fortunately he didnt appear to do any damage.

oliveoil54

Did as you suggested nothing happened.?

Canucklehead

Repeat the test using the external water authority stopcock ( really quite difficult to get at).

This will obviously have to be made easy to get at by digging or call the water authority and get them to deal with it.

This will confirm the leak is external and may well be down to the farmer.

oliveoil54

Thanks, hopefully scottish water are coming out to look at the stopcock tomorrow, will let you know how we get on then.
Thanks once again

oliveoil54

Many thanks once again for all your advice and replies.
Found the leak outside, runs along ajoining wall in neighbours field. Scottish Water will come out next week to locate it exactly and will do a one off repair free. Thats if they can locate because that corner of the field is really wet.

However it appears that a similar repair had been done in 2003, could the ditch digger by pulling the pipe up have dislodged the repair? The ditches were cleared at least 6 months ago, surely we would have noticed before now?

If we accept the one off repair it will still leave part of the pipe in the bottom of the ditch. Or do we pay to have the entire connection relayed on our land where it wont be subjected to ditch digging, or problems with tree roots etc?

Anyone any idea of how much it would cost, its approx 20m from WA stopcock to our stopcock, unfortunately it would also mean digging up and relaying part of our rough stone track, plus front garden and fence, and pulling out the newly fitted kitchen sink area. So its not something we would undertake lightly.

Any advice would be really appreciated.
Dont know what I would without the advice from this forum, its def a lifeline.

Canucklehead

It depends on the material the water main is made of.

Lead, replace all of it.

Metal, steel, replace all of it.

Metal, copper, repair.

Plastic, black, repair.

Plastic, blue, repair.

The cost of 25m of 20 or 25mm water main is very low compared to the cost of laying it.

If you need to replace it;

You might want to do a deal with the farmer who has machinery.

If the water main is in the kitchen on an outside wall then this might be of use to you. Watch the video.

See what Scottish Water have to say when they have found the leak.