Today, we’re going to go into Part 2 of how to diagnose your noisy plumbing system. Like I said last week – when we are in your home, noise is often the only indicator we have of what’s happening. A good ear can tell you quite a few things. Read through this and you’ll be a service plumber in no time!
Hissing Toilets: Have you ever gone to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, while it’s dead quiet, and heard a slight hissing in the bathroom? After ignoring it for a few months, your received you water bill only to find it 3x higher than usual? This is a common case for our customers. In most cases, a hissing toilet means a faulty fill valve – a quick and easy replacement. That hissing is the sound of water ever so slightly running in the tank. Every day you ignore it, your water bill goes up – so take care of it sooner rather than later!
Water Pipes going “Thud”: That thud you hear when you turn off the shower, the toilet stops filling, or maybe while you’re doing the laundry is the sound of water pipes banging against walls, joists, or each other. This is what we call “Water Hammer”. I’ve written about this in the past – check all of your exposed piping and make sure it is properly secured. If it is, there are ways to dampen the blow of the water hammer in your water system, but unfortunately you may need professional help!
Drip, Drip, Drip: There are the drips you can see and those you can’t! If you’re hearing a drip after using a shower, bath, or toilet you may want to do some exploration. This is often an obvious sign of a leak. A second kind of drip that won’t cause damage (except to your wallet) is inside your toilet. Similar to the first issue in a hissing toilet, you may hear a drip. Usually a straightforward fix, this dripping sound in your toilet often means you have a faulty flapper (the part in the toilet that opens and closes when you flush). A quick trip to the hardware store and you should be good to go with a replacement!
If you are hearing any of these noises and can’t figure out what to do, it’s time to have someone in to take a look. These things can turn into a bigger issue in no time, so its best to take care of them before they get to that stage!