Drip behind wall

tony3619

Hey, 
Every time I run the shower I hear a drip in the wall where the shower pipes obviously are. It lasts for about 20-30 seconds then stops . It doesn't seem to happen when the shower isn't running. 

I see no sign of water damage on the ceiling below or under the skirting board. Only way to make sure would be to rip the tiles off etc which Is alot of effort. 

Anyone had this ? Or can offer a reason for it? 

Cheers 

Hasbeen

Is it not the pipe expanding with the heat?

tony3619

It could be, is that the same kind of sound as a drip? Lol
would you personally leave it until any water signs appear? 

grumbler

What sort of shower is it?

If it's a pipe expanding, then usually you can hear similar sound in various places when central heating starts or stops working.

Grenage

Expanding/contracting pipes can sound exactly like a drip.  We have the same under the hot water tank.

tony3619

It's a bristan shower mixer sticking through the tiles.any way to test if heat effects the noise?

tony3619

Also it's strange it doesn't happen when the shower is not running after the first minute or so

ka7e

I've got the same thing with a hot water pipe in my kitchen. The drip starts as soon as the heating comes on and persists for 10 mins or so. I thought it was a drip, but a heating engineer checked the boiler pressure and heard it and said definitely pipe expansion.

grumbler

tony3619 said:

It's a bristan shower mixer sticking through the tiles.any way to test if heat effects the noise?

IMO, for this sort of shower (unlike for an electric one) there is no reason for leaking to start only when the shower is in use.

Jeepers_Creepers

Hi Tony.

You understand plumbing to a basic level at least? Cool. Ok, your shower has two pipes supplying it, a hot and a cold. These are 'in' (or behind) the wall, yes?

And the shower hose pipe - the ONLY pipe that carries water when the shower is running - is staring you in the face, either in the shower cubicle or bath? And that pipe/hose is not dripping?

Double-cool. Almost certainly, then, there is no actual drip in your wall when the shower is running. Almost certainly it's expansion of the hot pipe as suggested above.

I mean, why would a pipe which is already full of water and under pressure suddenly start to drip when that pressure is released a bit by running the shower? It would take a bizarre type of faulty joint for this to happen.

The fact that the tick/drip lasts only 30-odd seconds also suggests it's an expanding hot pipe - after this time it's done all the expanding it's going to.

Relax :-)

Lorian

does it make the noise if you run it on the coldest setting.