Water running even when stop cock turned off???

[number49]

Evening All,

This has been puzzling me for ages:

I cam hear water moving in the mains throughout the house. It's constant and doesn't correspond to taps or ball valves operating. Closing the stopcock changes the sound slightly but doesn't stop the noise, but it does stop the water flowing to outlets as it should. I've checked for leaks, running ball valves including F&E and cylinder feed (and associated overflows), there's no signs of water escaping anywhere that could explain it.

I thought it could be something to do with a common main as we are in a terraced row, but can't see how this could explain the sound occuring upstairs in the bathroom and throughout the house too???


Any ideas??? I'm stumped...

 

[Breesey]

Have you got suspended floors on the ground floor?
Does the water main come up from the floor to the stop cock?

 

[number49]

The house is a 2up 2down, the kitchen is an extension onto the back of the old kitchen/diner.

The main comes up through the slab in the kitchen and the stopcock is fitted a couple of inches above where it appears through the floor.

The stopcock doesn't affect next door as we've left it off for a couple of weeks whilst on holiday on more than one occasion.

 

[HERTS P&D]

Turn it off outside and see if you can still hear the noise, if so then its a leak under the floor.

Andy

 

[big-all]

what was my shared supply came through at ceiling height from next door and was audible from upstairs and down stairs
the supply seperated to the tanks and to under the sink so turn the sink off the storage tank would still fill
maybe you have a similar set up

 

[Breesey]

Turn it off outside and see if you can still hear the noise, if so then its a leak under the floor.

Andy

That's what I was getting at...,!

 

[HERTS P&D]

Ok, you have a leak under your floor!

Andy

 

[Agile]

Turn it off outside and see if you can still hear the noise, if so then its a leak under the floor.

Andy

If its turned off outside AND there is a leak under the floor then where is the leaking water coming from?

Tony

 

[number49]

As far as I can tell I have no other isolation; the main comes through the slab and has a gate valve stocpcock.

I've never seen any external isolations and don't know where to start looking.

Also, the only tanks I have are the F&E for the heating and a small tank integrated into the DHW cylinder. Both have float valves and both appear to shut off properly.

The fact I can hear it upstairs confuses me even more...

 

[smashy]

Could it be a hot water secondary re-circulation system? I have one of those that is incredibly noisy and i'm trying to figure out how to make it quieter, but it is great because I have instant hot water without waiting for 10 minutes.

 

[Agile]

Smashy, the pump may have a slower speed.

But the best solution would be to have a pipe stat that only turns it on for a couple of minutes when it has cooled.

Also best to have it on a timeclock so its only powered when hot water use is expected.

Tony

 

[number49]

As far as I recall no pump on the DHW, just a small grundfos on the heating. I did wonder if the pump had been wired to run continuously but dismissed it when closing the stopcopck caused the noise to change so on the mains cold and not the heating

 

[bolshy]

Your street tap will be adjacent to the boundary of your property, could be front or back. Gate valves tend to pass, not much use as a stop tap, so the valve in your kitchen is probably not entirely shutting off your mains anyway..

 

[Sparkgap]

My house is in a terrace of 6. The original water supply runs from a single stopcock in the road down the side passage then under the back kitchen extensions of the houses with the house stopcocks in the kitchens. If yours is similar you could be getting noise transmission from other houses using water.

 

[smashy]

Smashy, the pump may have a slower speed.

But the best solution would be to have a pipe stat that only turns it on for a couple of minutes when it has cooled.

Also best to have it on a timeclock so its only powered when hot water use is expected.

Tony

Thanks Tony. Great advice about the pipe stat, I didn't even know you could get one of those. I will fit one of those anyway.

It was noisy a couple of years ago, so I turned the pump off. Now my wife is at home all day (new mum) I turned it back on. It was quiet for the first 2 months, then has steadily been getting noisier. It sounds like there could be air in the system. It is a megaflow, and not sure if that makes a different. I was thinking about going through megaflow reset instructions.

Do you have any ideas around that?

Thanks

Mike