Loud cold water

[Eddie123]

Hi - I've just had a couple of extensions built and with that 2 new bathrooms and down stairs toilet fitted. At the same time we had a new boiler and plumbing due to the new boiler location.

Now when a cold tap, toilet flushed or boiler tank filled it makes a hell of a noise whith the water going through the pipes (much like the outside tap). Now I thought that the purpose of a water tank in the atic was to feed cold water to toilets, sinks, boilers etc...? It seems that all devices are now fed directly from the mains water.

Is this right? What's the point of having a water tank in the atic if everything comes off the mains??!!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers, Ed

 

[BoxBasher]

Sounds to me like you've had a lot of "plastic plumbing" done...

Every join in pushfit/plastic pipe is a restriction which causes turbulence & noise when water flows through it. The other possibilities are:
1) Stopcock is partially shut.
2) Isolation valve left partially shut.
3) Pipework not clipped/secured properly...

 

[corgiman]

also box the plumber who fitted the stuff in the extention may have opened the stopcock fully when it may have been turned down before, I have seen it before.

maybe worth fitting a pressure reducing valve

 

[JohnD]

new boiler fitted, so probably a combi, so quite likely cold taps are now also fed at mains pressure and loft tank not in use any more.

 

[Softus]

Is this right? What's the point of having a water tank in the atic if everything comes off the mains??!!

If you have a combi and mains-fed cold taps then the cisterns are redundant. Most installers can't be bothered to remove them, but you need to make sure that no water is left in them of your loft will be crawling with Legionella.

Sounds to me like you've had a lot of "plastic plumbing" done.

Every join in pushfit/plastic pipe is a restriction which causes turbulence & noise when water flows through it.

That's a funny old comment BB? Do you have something against plastic pipe? And push-fit fittings?

Bear in mind that, generally, there are fewer joins when using plastic pipe.

 

[BoxBasher]

That's a funny old comment BB? Do you have something against plastic pipe? And push-fit fittings?

Bear in mind that, generally, there are fewer joins when using plastic pipe.

Nothing against them per se, just their over exuberant use by the corner-cutting builder. They are extremely good when used in the correct application.

Just moved into a house that was plumbed mostly with straight connectors and elbows/tees with the occasional bit of plastic pipe in between. Every time I turned a tap on it sounded like a fighter jet taking off.

Replaced what I can get to (and more importantly see) with copper done other parts with plastic (hidden and hard to reach). I've also screwed the garden tap to the wall (and fitted a DCV & isolating valve inside). I've also fixed 3 dripping taps and filled the hole in the wall where the overflow for the cylinder was taken out.

The previous people had the stopcock screwed right down because "the pressure is too high and it makes noises". Everything is much quieter now, especially as it is clipped properly. Only thing that makes noise now is the toilet cistern (I've throttled the ball-o-fix until I can be bothered to sort it).

 

[Softus]

I find most builders to be excessively noisy, and they can blow off without any warning. And you mustn't use them within a metre of the boiler.

 

[andy.budgell]

I too find the comment about plastic joins strange.

I would have thought that plastic pipe would surpress any rushing noise due to the more absorbent sound properties of plastic.

Sound travels and reverberates much easier down copper pipes.

 

[Eddie123]

Thanks for all the replies. Very interesting.

I've got a different plumber coming over on Saturday to have a look to see if he can determine what the excessive noise is and what can be done to resolve it.

Ed

 

[BoxBasher]

I too find the comment about plastic joins strange.

I would have thought that plastic pipe would surpress any rushing noise due to the more absorbent sound properties of plastic.

Sound travels and reverberates much easier down copper pipes.

Plastic does mask noise transference to a certain degree, but when the noise is being caused by restricive fittings then it is the fittings themselves that emit the noise.