Droning noise in water pipes

[reubin78]

Hi Hugh,

Two useful nuggets of information - thanks. Every day is a school day

All taps are quarter turn so based on your feedback they will have discs not washers.

I've not come across the disc type before (I am only a DIYer). Are these replaceable like washers or is it a new valve job?

 

[reubin78]

FYI - taps and associated plumbing are approx. 3 years old. No previous issue with taps. I've done a little "Google research" and it seems they should last far longer than 3 years. Could dripping TAP be contamination or a sign of excessive water pressure? Could excessive water pressure be a logical root cause for the newly leaking tap and the newly acquired drone?

 

[RigidRaider]

I haven't the will re re-read everything you've written above but - you say the tank is dripping? Is that through the overflow? That would mean the float valve on the tank filling main is goosed, allowing the tank to overfill. This could cause resonance through the mains pressure pipework, I guess.

Are your WC cisterns the modern pneumatically-operated plastic type? Are they Geberit? Geberit have a QC problem whereby the main washer at the bottom of the mechanism develops blisters of water, causing a small leak of water down the WC and strange sqoink sounds coming from the cisterns. You won't see the leak but a handful of bog paper will get wet if you hold it at the back of the pan under the rim.

 

[JohnD]

dripping tank

tank? what tank? you didn't mention a tank before. You said you had a combi boiler.

 

[reubin78]

Hi RigidRaider,

The tap (bathroom basin) appears to have developed a leak. We do not have a tank nor cylinder (just mains water and combi boiler) - tank was a typo (result of a night spent lay in bed pondering over this plumbing challenge!). I wonder if the leak is due to me changing the position of the mains stop tap(?)

Toilets are not Geberit. FYI - I have isolated the toilets (using the 1/4 isolation valves) and this has not eliminated the foghorn/drone.

 

[terryplumb]

If I have understood correctly you have a branch pipe that feeds the affected taps , cold water is it ? And the isolator is fitted the wrong way about ,so sort that. ( I would use full bore ,lever operated rather than the ball o fix type that has a slot that a screwdriver goes in to open / close it ). I am a bit confused about bathroom basin taps as one of your posts said it was problematic ,another said its not. Do you have more than one bathroom ?anyway ,I would do the following to establish if this drone sound is tap related . go to the worst basin tap .turn isolators off. Undo the flexi hoses going to the tap , but not at the tap end ,leave them attached to tap. If you don't have one in alladins cave ,buy a flexi tap connector hose 500 mm long with 1/2 inch bsp thread at one end ,that you can screw straight onto the isolation valve ,and attatch it to the cold first. Run it into a bucket and turn on the cold isolator. See if you get the drone sound. Then do same test on the hot. If no drone ,the tap is the problem .hope this makes sense ??

 

[reubin78]

And the culprit is.....

....the upstairs basin's cold tap valve which my wife luckily spotted dripping. The moment i isolated the tap, the drone stopped. Open valve and drone starts. This basin had sat there quietly while the downstairs basin and bath had droned on!

As a temporary fix (while I check warranty details) I have almost closed the valve for the affected tap (provides sufficient flow through tap), slightly restricted the bath and fully opened the downstairs basin. All of this currently provides the pleasant sound of drone free running water on demand.

FYI - while making these tweaks, I notice water running from the basin tap while I ran the bath tap. Not bad when you consider it is in the fully closed position.

Anyway, many thanks to all for your prompt input. Even more appreciated as it was upsetting my little lad.

I will aim to post one more update to state whether drone gone when tap fixed.

 

[terryplumb]

happy days are here again !!

 

[dilalio]

I have to say... my first suspects were the small bore ballofix’s being fitted against flow, BUT... I’m pretty confident that my plumber’s instincts would have kicked in, if I was there and had eyes on

 

[reubin78]

RESOLVED

Fitted new tap valve 2-days after my last post and problem instantly gone.

FYI - Got full tap assembly FOC from the manufacturer (Bristan) as our Heritage taps had a 5-year warranty. No quibble service. Valve out of stock so sent full tap assembly - arrived next day. If part had failed in year one then they'd have fitted the replacement. As it is year 2.5, I had to fit my own but small price to pay for a fantastic service. Just hope new part is more durable!!