I live on the 2nd floor of an 11 floor condo. Lately I have heard a loud gushing water sound under my kitchen sink when a neighbour runs their water. This occurs every time the neighbour turns on their tap. When I touch the hot and cold pipes under my sink, I can feel the water running through them. I do not feel any vibration in my kitchen faucet stem or handle. I do feel vibration along the wall beside the sink which is where the water stack is located (all the way up/down the wall). The building Superintendent and a Plumber could not recreate the issue when they visited the upstairs suite to investigate. Has anyone encountered this type of issue and, if so, any advice? Is it possible that this could be caused by the suite downstairs? Thanks!
1 Answer
Assuming you're just hearing it & not noticing any other effects from it. An other effect would be your sink trap's water or your toilet's water being sucked right out, which doesn't appear to be happening.
Then, I'm inclined to think the wall or pipe changed. What could have changed in the wall is that thermal &/or sound insulation may have shifted or completely fallen away. A pipe change would be the pipe shifting or settling down onto a structural member of the wall which could be just a millimeter of change. Now, having an avenue to transfer its normal operations.
Neither of these are catastrophic nor indicative of the pipe rotting away to a much thinner pipe. But, there may have also been work done elsewhere that brought the onset. It's more likely that it's just natural settlement issues from heavy trucks driving by, earthquakes, freeze-thaw, or normal pipe vibration.
Of course, it should be investigated fully & abated for your continued enjoyment. A building of that size should have access within the wall from the basement. I'm sure no-one will be happy about the journey, but 2nd floor is about as good as it gets.
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1Thank you for our comment!! We were able to confirm this morning that the noise is coming from the suite below me - the resident has recently changed their kitchen faucet and it looks like the new faucet is creating a water pressure issue. The building will be arranging for the plumber to come back to investigate further. If anyone has suggestions on a fix for this, kindly let me know.– VivianCommented Feb 24, 2016 at 17:41
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1I'm very glad to hear this wasn't being ignored, but it should've been fixed right then. Well not really, if it's actually shut-off valve created as I suspect. Most People & Plumbers haven't figured it out yet. There's a harmonic flow imbalance encountered sometimes that does exactly what you described. The only solution is to turn the valve shut-off down or off enough as to not adversely affect the faucet's flow & operation, literally tuning it by capping the flow. It works instantly & until someone opens the valve "too much" again.– IggyCommented Feb 24, 2016 at 21:27
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1Thanks very much Iggy, my Super said he wanted to leave it to the plumber to confirm whether the required fix - not sure if he tried to adjust the shutoff valves to see if it changed the noise volume - but he wanted to have the plumber look at this new faucet fixture, hopefully to ensure that there aren't any other issues, perhaps with the faucet/stem itself. Thanks VERY much for your response!– VivianCommented Feb 24, 2016 at 23:54
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1No problem. I'd say call or visit the neighbor & try it out, but you may not want them to know who you are after the plumber does his/her thing. Hopefully, the Plumber doesn't further restrict the faucet flow by doctoring the nice new faucet itself. There's no reason to ruin the faucet & filling a pot shouldn't take 10-minutes.– IggyCommented Feb 25, 2016 at 0:51