Advice Needed! Water Pressure/ Taps

[Melissa Faith]

Hello - wondering if anyone might have any ideas as to the cause of the following.

Water is coming through our taps when the taps are turned off - the only way to stop the water is to turn the stop tap off from the main. The water leak is accompanied by a loud rattle/ droning noise and hammer in the pipes. We've noticed it coincides with an event such as works being carried out by the water board or fire engines filling up out of the hydrants nearby.
There also seems to be a lot of air in our pipes which emerges when the taps are turned on shortly after one of these episodes - I can also hear it coming out of the toilet fill pipes.

So far It's occurred 3 times over the past month & already I've had to throw away carpets and repaint the ceiling due to the damage.

We are the last house on the main line & the only taps affected are in the bathroom which is the furtherst tap from the main. I've contacted our water board who are looking into it but appear to be confused - I've been told to wait 7 days for the tech team to get in touch. My initial thoughts are that perhaps the water is reaching our house at too high pressure, or there is air in the pipes forcing the water out?? As you may have guessed I don't have much plumbing knowledge - any advice as to the cause would be greatly appreciated so that I can steer the waterboard in the right direction or source my own plumber if needed.

I've also been told there is a major leak in the area which they've been looking for for 18months now - If this has any impact?!

 

[peter0504030201]

hello
for everybody to help you further can we have a picture of the tap or taps with the problem an what type of system you have ( combi , gravity system , unvented ) - this could be a possible fault with your taps, ceramic valves faulty

 

[Melissa Faith]

Hello we have a conventional system (don't know if it's vented or not)- we have a hot water tank in the airing cupboard, control when we want hot water/ heating by turning it on in advance etc and we have a cold water header tank in the loft. Also have a thermostat to control the temperature of the radiators, with one or two in each room.

The taps have been in about 3 years with no issues until now, at the moment as a soloution to prevent further damage I've left the shower toggle pulled up so any water flows into the bath rather than down the back onto the floor.

I've attached a photo of the taps as requested, thanks.

 

[Allgoode]

Hi there,

I've had a look at pics & forgive me if i am stupid and/or need to go to spec-savers but is your bath sealed to the wall as i cannot see any sealant around it or taps.

It may be clear type sealant if applied but normally you can see slight difference in colour & edge/size of sealant bead.

If not sealed to wall that would be a good idea to cure leakage from handset that is coiled around bath taps.

Re tanks in loft, you should have x2 in there if conventional system. Large one (50 gallons average) & smaller F&E for rads (5 gallon approx).

If you dont have large one then you may have an unvented cylinder but if you can post a couple of pics then you can be advised on here.

Hope this helps,

Andy

 

[sammathias]

All the taps make this noise or just the cold taps?

 

[Allgoode]

Hi again,

Forgot to ask what kind of taps you have trough house, 1/4 turn ceramic disc or older type screw down variant.

Also on the inlet pipe just past the stopcock you may have a pressure reducing valve which will help keep you pressure in house within sensible limit, eg 3 bar.

The noise/banging through the pipes are probably caused but turbulent flow when fire brigade engines/water board have the mains outlet fully/partially open.

It can give a harmonic resonance which will travel through the water to nearby properties, etc as water conducts sound waves very efficiently.

Other option which is usually fitted to combi's is a shock arrestor, eg - shock absorber that will dampen out these pulsations/resonance.

A larger variation of this is an expansion vessel which is used on small under/over sink water heater. This has greater potential shock absorbing capabilities than the small shock arrestor previously mentioned.

If you could post more pics of undersink stopcock, hot water cylinder etc then you should be able to get more relevant advice.

Thanks again,

Andy

 

[Melissa Faith]

Hello, we have two- I can't get up in the loft at the moment for a photo.

Just the bath taps are making this noise but it's almost like a water hammer and all the pipes are rattling through the house. Only the cold water tap is passing water though.

The other bathroom tap for the sink is the same design but a smaller diameter feed pipe as far as I am aware and we aren't having any issues with that one.

With regards to sealant we've been planning to do it just never got round to it but I will be sealing it following recent events.

Thanks,
Mel

 

[sammathias]

Will just be one of the 1/4 turn tap cartridges. Yours dont look standard.

Try turn your bath taps on full. Does noise stop? If not turn a basin tap on one at a time until noise stops...whilst leaving the bath taps on. Same with kitchen taps one at a time until you find which tap is the offender.