Next door use water

Discussion in 'Plumbers' Talk' started by afifa, Dec 14, 2013.

  1. afifa

    afifa New Member

    Hi. I was wondering if anyone can help. Everytime my next door uses their shower or sink I can hear a noisey water flowing, hissing noise in the party wall.. There pipes are taken on the party wall side which are connected to the boiler.

    Does anyone know why this happens and if there is a fix as this noise never happened before.

    Thanks
     
  2. tom.plum

    tom.plum Screwfix Select

    water causes a noise as it moves through the pipe this can be amplified by a restiction of the movement, a kink in the pipe, a stoptap or isolation valve not fully open, maybe they've been working on the plumbing and not open the tap enough, Its quite common for people to only open the taps a bit at first, then make sure its watertight before opening it fully, and sometimes forget to do the latter,
     
  3. As well as the above possibilities, what's your water pressure like Afifa? Is it quite high? This can cause a 'hissing'-type sound too, especially if it's supplying certain types of fancy tap with ceramic discs.

    I thought I'd be trendy a while back and fitted a 'waterfall' type single-lever tap on my worktop-mounted basin. What a racket - like a roaring thunder. Urrggh. I tweaked the isolating valves way down, which helped. Finally fitted a PRV set at 3 bar which helped further. But still noisy. The only thing that fixed it was the carpy thing breaking and being replaced by an or'nary monoblok tap with ceramic valves. Quiet as t'moose.

    The fact you describe it as 'hissing' rather than trickling/tinkling suggests it's the mains supply, and not water being discharged. How approachable are your neighbours? Almost certainly they'll be hearing the sound too.
     
  4. afifa

    afifa New Member

    Thank you for your replies both of you.

    Our water pressure is normal and not high. I am 100% the noise is only when my next door uses there bathroom shower and bathroom sink.

    We have asked them twice and they said they will call a plumber but still haven't done so and it's been over a month now.

    Could it be that they have high water pressure or air in there pipes? We could not hear this noise before and they are not undergoing any plumbing work.
     
  5. I'm assuming it's mains-supplied water that's causing the noise, in which case I'm also assuming your neighb has a combi boiler?

    It would be unlikely for loft-tank-supplied water to cause 'hissing' as it's at too low a pressure.

    So, if it is a combi, it won't be due to trapped air - mains pressure water drives out any air in the pipes.

    Just how bad is this noise? Have you invited your neighb round to listen whilst someone in their house turns on their shower?

    Unless they are really decent folk, don't be surprised if they see it as 'your' problem, and might be reluctant to spend money on what they don't perceive as being a problem at all. And, trying to be balanced about this, they wouldn't be toooo wrong to think that.

    If you really believe it's a real problem that you find hard to cope with, you may need to suggest to your neighb that you will pay for a plumber to come out and diagnose the cause. And pay for any remedy :(
     
    afifa likes this.
  6. tom.plum

    tom.plum Screwfix Select

    I know what I'd say, " rearrange these two words into a well know phrase or saying ' off **** ' ( wide choice).:D
     
  7. afifa

    afifa New Member

    Hi devil advocate

    They have a combi boiler. We did tell the neighbour that we would pay for the cost to fix this noise. We get on ok with the neighbour.

    We know a plumber who is a family friend that came round and my mum took him round. He said that when they had the combi boiler put in, the old pipes from the water tank boiler was attached to the new ones and apparently there is a key which has now been trapped behind a fitted cupboard that is causing it. That key needs to be pulled out or something. The plumber could've done it there and then but needed a joiner to detach the fitted cupboard. So we are hoping the neighbour gets a joiner soon.
     
  8. tom.plum

    tom.plum Screwfix Select

    eh? key behind cupboard ???? :confused:
     
  9. DIYDave.

    DIYDave. Screwfix Select

    Surely you must mean a valve of some sort - either a gate valve or a lever valve ??

    A key behind a cupboard ?

    Maybe a red herring possibly ?

    You don't want one of those behind your cupboard mate - it's gonna stink big time !!
     
  10. afifa

    afifa New Member

    Ok so clearly it's not called a key then.

    It's in connection to the old water tank boiler the neighbour had. Apparently that particular thing is kind of trapped or something and this not only makes the roaring water flowing noise but also makes less water reach the bathroom shower/tap.

    If this thing gets sorted then the roaring water flowing moxie will stop and the neighbours will get a good flow of water when they use the shower.

    I just hope the neighbour is prepared to call a joiner to remove the fitted cupboard so this can be sorted.

    Also the noise is extremely loud at their house and they think it is normal when it clearly is not.
     
  11. afifa

    afifa New Member

    I think it's a lever valve as I've just googled the image for that which is behind the cupboard.
     
  12. tom.plum

    tom.plum Screwfix Select

    I can't imagine a installer leaving a lever valve on the hot water, there's absolutly no reason, and one of the tests on commissioning the new boiler, is to measure the flow of the hot water, and indeed to test the gas consumption the boiler needs to be on max demand, and with a lever valve not fully open, these tests would fail,
    summuts up here :eek:
     
  13. afifa

    afifa New Member

    To be honest the guy who did the new combi boiler for next door didn't do a great job in the first place. He thought attaching old pipes to new pipe is ok rather than taking a new line and using new pipes altogether.

    I don't think the lever valve is in use but somehow it's that which is causing this noise. I may be wrong so we will see what happens.
     
  14. Hi Afifa.

    Thanks for the update.

    That sounds promising - from what you say there clearly is an issue of some sort. Like the others above, I can't say I fully understand how this causes such as noise, but it's useful to have had a plumber able to pin-point the source.

    In theory, then, nothing needs 'fixing' as such - it's just a case of gaining access to the 'item'? Time to offer to split the cost of the joiner? (This may seem unfair on you - and to some extent it is - but if it helps to get it sorted, then...)
     
    afifa likes this.
  15. afifa

    afifa New Member

    Hi devil's advocate.

    We have offered to pay the plumbing cost but not to remove the fitted cupboard by the joiner. Neighbour has said yes to getting a joiner but we will wait and see because if it wasn't for my mum taking the plumber to the neighbour then we would still be waiting for one now!

    Hopefully once that thing has been taken out which I believe is not in use as it is something to do with them old water tank boilers then the noise will go.

    Thanks for replying and all the rest of you. Appreciate it and it's nice to kind of share my issue as the noise is not pleasant at all. Thankfully it's only when they use the bathroom and not there 24 hours as it would drive me insane :eek::mad:
     
  16. Good luck, and keep us posted - it's an interesting one!
     
  17. tom.plum

    tom.plum Screwfix Select

    I can't help thinking you're barking up the wrong tree here afifa, any old tank/cylinder would have to be cut out of the system or, if the tank was/is unaccessaable , the plumber may have valved it off ( not good practice) but its sometimes done, if thats the case, that valve cannot be opened it will have to remain shut and will have no bearing on the water flow,
    and the other thing is, how does the other plumber ( the family friend) know about the valve if its hidden behind a cupboard,
    I love a good mystery me, wish i could come and have a look o_O
     
  18. afifa

    afifa New Member

    Hi Tom

    I have no idea how he knows. Maybe it's me the way I am explaining it. Will let you know what happens.
     
  19. tom.plum

    tom.plum Screwfix Select

    Ah ah, by george I think i've got it. its a lot of ifs, but it makes perfect sense,

    the old system was gravity, but instead of a cold feed from the tank, the shower was fed from a cold mains feed, and because on mixing with the hot, the cold mains fed was pushing the hot back to the tank, the shower installer tweeked the cold down using a isolation valve which he shut down to almost nothing,
    the plumber fitting the boiler had no need to check the operation of the shower,( although he might have noticed the abcense of the tank cold feed) because its not on his 'things to check' list,
    and this pipe with the isolation valve is buried behind the cupboards,

    now that makes sense, :cool:
     
  20. Mr Plum, if that turns out to be the case. I will tak' t'road to Wigan Pier, turn sharp right, walk a mile or so and turn up at yer pub, and lay myself prostrate before you. At t'bar.

    And buy you a pint.

    Maaaan, I sooo need that 'lurv' smiley...
     

Share This Page

  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
    Dismiss Notice