Please help / can hear water under shower when empty bath.

sbird90

Hi all
hoping someone may be able to shed some light on my issue. Searched numerous forums and no one has the same issue as me. 

So long story short we have just moved into a property. We had a leak coming through the kitchen ceiling directly under the shower. Turns out it’s badly tiled so water is just running through. We have stopped using the shower and fortunately have a separate bath the opposite side of the room. Plumber advised even has its own sep waste pipe. Great. So since stopping using the shower the leak has stopped and dried up and all has been well (we will get round to replacing it eventually but funds are tight so bath is fine for now). So that was two month ago. Usually when we empty the bath it’s fairly quiet, can obviously hear water go down the plug but then it goes straight outside and I think nothing else of it however last night I emptied the bath and the sound the water was SO LOUD. It’s like it’s running through the hot water pipe that feeds water to the shower and also the loudest was coming from where the shower tray/plugs is (but no viable water coming up the plug). Now I’m clueless with plumbing but I’ve taken off the bath panel and had a look at the waste and no visible leaks no damp/water. I can’t get under the shower without ripping up flooring and don’t want to get ahead of myself and cause more damage if it’s something simple causing it. I’ve emptied the bath tonight and went outside and can hear the water gushing down the drain pipe so hopefully that means most water is leaving the house and not sitting soaking into my floor to come through the ceiling again. If it wasn’t for the leak I wouldn’t be overly concerned but I just can’t get over how it’s so loud now and why it sounds like it’s in the pipes to the shower when they have allegedly have different waste pipes?! 

The noise stops as soon as bath is empty so it’s 100% the water leaving the bath tub I can hear. Any ideas before I call a plumber please? 

tonyh66

does the bath waste pipe head towards the shower? both waste pipes will share the same soil pipe at some point. If you emptied a bath and there is no sign of water, you are probably fine. your probably just a little paranoid because you can hear the bath emptying from the shower drain, you almost definitely don't need a plumber.

TELLIT01

The waste pipes will probably merge at some point.  It's possible the water in the S bend from the shower has evaporated and allowing the sound from the emptying bath water to come back up through the shower waste.  Try pouring a small amount of water down the shower drain, about 1/2 pint should do it, and see if it makes any difference.

Melanie1972

Previous posters are correct but there's no way your waste pipe would be running through the hot water pipe...2 different elements to the same system.  I agree you don't have an emergency, but we have a similar issue in that when the bath is emptied the water sounds like it's going to bubble up through the shower waste.  It's usually linked to the layout of the pipes and the vacuum i.e. water going the wrong way.  As you're stuck for cash I'd probably ignore the noise and maybe get a trusted plumber to take a look when you have the chance.

sbird90

Thank you for the replies. I forgot I had posted so thought I’d come back incase anyone has the same issue. 

It was that because the shower is redundant the u bend water that prevents sewer gasses etc entering had evaporated, pint of water down the drain instantly stopped the noise!