Contstant flow of water in mains pipes - do I have a leak?

dubber

Was rummaging around the crawl space in the front of my house and noticed I could clearly hear water flowing in the mains pipe that comes into my house. Initially I though no big deal - maybe the tank is filing. However, an hour later I could still hear it flowing, despite all the taps being off etc. I presume this means I've a leak somewhere? Any tips on trying to track this down or anyone know any good "leak finding" plumbers?

Solair

It could be a faulty attic tank or toilet ballcock / float valve too.

dubber

Solair wrote: »

It could be a faulty attic tank or toilet ballcock / float valve too.

Thanks for the reply. It's not the toilet, but I'll check the tank ... it's fairly new, but you never know I suppose.

Solair

Actually, some of the new water-saving toilets are more likely to have problems with leaking water into the bowl than the old siphon-based toilets that were traditionally always used in Ireland and Britain.

The old toilets didn't have a valve at the bottom of the cistern. They worked by forcing the water through a siphon when you pulled the handle. When the water ran out, the siphon stopped working and there was absolutely no way to cause them to leak.

Newer toilets with button flush have a valve at the bottom of the cistern. These can leak water into the bowl if there's a problem with the valve and it can result in a slow trickle of water through the toilet.

Billy Bunting

If the tank/s is constantly filling then you have a leak somewhere on your domestic hot or cold, if the tank/s isnt filling and you still hear water flowing then that wold indicate a leak on the mains, the mains normally feeds the tank/s and the cold kitchen tap, if you can turn off where the water main enters the house (under sink?) and still hear water flowing, then its more likely outside the property.

dubber

Hmmn fairly sure the tank isn't constantly filling and the jacks is ok, need to get back during daylight to see can i still hear the flowing noise

The mains is tee'd off, I think one run goes into concrete under a back bedroom and garden and feeds the kitchen tap, the other run goes through the house and feeds the cold tank. I think I'd notice the run in the house leaking, so if the other one is leaking, hopefully it's in the garden ...

Outkast_IRE

Only way i can think of checking is turning the stopcock fully off and putting a pressure test on the pipe in the attic maybe, obviously you would need someone with the correct gear to do this for ya but if its bothering you this badly it may be worth it.

dubber

OK, so think I might have a leak on the mains. Can anyone recommend a good leak finding plumber?

Outkast_IRE

dubber wrote: »

OK, so think I might have a leak on the mains. Can anyone recommend a good leak finding plumber?

Where are you located , that will help people recomend

Marcanthony

it could be a leak on your heating system also. i have seen this on numberous occasions.
is your heating system filled by an expansion tank in the attic? if it is. is that tank constantly filling.

is your system filled by the mains water? is that valve on and constantly filling the system?

have you got gb piping in your home and had you at some stage had a boiler out your back garden?

if the main tank is not constantly filling. your domestic side (hot and cold is ok).unless its fead by the mains directly.

it also could be a leak on the mains supply under your floor. i have seen in excess of 30 of these recently. they are only been identified by chance. (like yourself) and in my opinion are leaks still from when we got the big freeze. they are not visual but can be creating a lot of damage.

water seeping unnoticed into hidden recesses does more damage to a house than any other single factor.

dubber

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

Where are you located , that will help people recomend

Dublin 1/3 area.

Marcanthony

it could be a possibility that your neighbours supply is tapped into your supply. However each property should have its own individual supply regardless.To find out if this is the case turn offthe mains water and ask the neighbours have they got cold water at the sink.

In the case of appartments. They may be all getting their supply from the same sourse. However would have individual supplies feeding each unit.

I have seen before a property that was built in the side garden of another house. Where someone just put a tee on the mains and supplied the new property.Highly unlikly in your case. But worth a try to mitigate the situation.
however the most common problem I come across in relation to your issue is a PRV (pressure reducing valve) fitted on the heating system been topped up by the mains. Id check this out first.HAVE YOU HAD A NEW BOILER FITTED RECENTLY.THIS NEW BOILER MAY NEED TO WORK ON PRESSURE OF 1.5 BAR. WHERE AS YOUR OLD BOILER WAS BEEN GRAVITY FILLED AND THE FITTER FITTED A PRV.SO THE BOILER WOULD WORK AND HE WOULD NOT BE CALLED BACK TO KEEP TOPPING UP YOUR SYSTEM .

I would recommend that a pressure test be done on all heating systems prior to a change over. This will provide you with piece of mind after installation.Easily done blank one pipe (flow or return) and pressure test from the other pipe.

dubber

Marcanthony wrote: »

it could be a possibility that your neighbours supply is tapped into your supply. However each property should have its own individual supply regardless.To find out if this is the case turn offthe mains water and ask the neighbours have they got cold water at the sink.

In the case of appartments. They may be all getting their supply from the same sourse. However would have individual supplies feeding each unit.

I have seen before a property that was built in the side garden of another house. Where someone just put a tee on the mains and supplied the new property.Highly unlikly in your case. But worth a try to mitigate the situation.
however the most common problem I come across in relation to your issue is a PRV (pressure reducing valve) fitted on the heating system been topped up by the mains. Id check this out first.HAVE YOU HAD A NEW BOILER FITTED RECENTLY.THIS NEW BOILER MAY NEED TO WORK ON PRESSURE OF 1.5 BAR. WHERE AS YOUR OLD BOILER WAS BEEN GRAVITY FILLED AND THE FITTER FITTED A PRV.SO THE BOILER WOULD WORK AND HE WOULD NOT BE CALLED BACK TO KEEP TOPPING UP YOUR SYSTEM .

I would recommend that a pressure test be done on all heating systems prior to a change over. This will provide you with piece of mind after installation.Easily done blank one pipe (flow or return) and pressure test from the other pipe.

The stopcock on the street turns off about four houses!

Have had a new boiler fitted alright and there is an issue with pressure in the system. It usually needs topping up and air gets into the first rad. I've a gut feeling it's a separate issue though.

Marcanthony

dubber wrote: »

The stopcock on the street turns off about four houses!

Have had a new boiler fitted alright and there is an issue with pressure in the system. It usually needs topping up and air gets into the first rad. I've a gut feeling it's a separate issue though.

If your topping up the heating system yourself then it is a seperate issue. However each premises should have its own supply and this could be your problem.Whos property is the stop cock on.All properties will be metered in the near future, they will need to provide individual supplies for that.

Are you sure that that stop cock does not supply a header system (or a pump or some kind of resorvior) and then provides individual supplies to each premises. I would imagine if the core of the pipe is 3/4 inch or less suppling 4 properties the pressure must be terrible and if they are city properties the pressure must be nearly zero at times.

dubber

Fairly sure now that the pipe making the most noise is an old supply that wasn't sealed off properly - just "squashed" with pliers - so hopefully that can just be terminated properly and problem solved.