Help! Running Water

[Mark]

Hate doing this, but I need urgent advice.

For the last 45 minutes I've been hearing evidence of running water in my kitchen, and I don't know where it's coming from. I live in an upstairs maisonette.

There is no evidence of water where it shouldn't be inside my property. The main stop tap (under my kitchen sink) is off (to be on the safe side). I have checked as much of the pipework before this tap as I can get to (which admittedly isn't much as it disappears into a wall).

I'm not sure if downstairs is occupied. It is currently on the rental market. I've contacted the letting agents already but they didn't seem that interested. I popped open their letterbox and could hear the same sound. I also found an open window and same again.

The only evidence of water I could find is outside at the back of the property. It's decidedly sodden out there, but that often happens (not a good area for drainage). Because of the fact that it's particularly wet around a cover for an outside stop tap, I'll still consider it evidence. I can hear water moving at that tap.

Where do I go next? Serious question.

PS - If it does prove to be mine, I'm insured to get it fixed, but I can't find any evidence that it is. Before turning off the stop tap I tried my taps and water flow seemed normal.

[leowyatt]

so with the stop off you can still hear the water?

[Mark]

Yes. I've now checked all internal taps, overflows, the CH loop from my Combi boiler, and anything else I can get at without going into the loft (there's no tank up there).

I've posted here, OcUK, phoned my dad. All stumped to far. Managed to find the phone number for the owners downstairs so I've now contacted them.

Just went and checked and whatever it was has stopped so I've let the owners know that there's a bit less panic now.

[Jonny69]

Where's the stopcock into the building? There will be one at the water meter and probably another one inside the property before it heads off into the pipework. Are you sure the one under the sink is the one that supplies all the plumbing or just the mains water to the sink?

[Treefrog]

An unoccupied property with an open window? Running water that stops after 3/4 hour?
Squatters maybe?

The other possibility that occurs is that the water is off, their tank has sprung a leak and the water level has now fallen below the level of the leak.
Just a couple of possibilities that occurred to me.

[Mark]

These properties have two stopcocks - one outside (around the back), and one inside (under the kitchen sink). My internal stopcock is jammed (not sure how that can be fixed but that's not a problem for today). However, because I have a water softener I just shut the inlet to that off instead which does the same job.

I'm not sure what the plumbing downstairs is like now. I know what it used to be like and a leaking tank would have been a possibility there, but the new owners did a lot of work on the place and may have changed it (I had the same sort of tank before I had CH installed).

Unlikely to be squatters. I see/hear people in there occasionally but maybe the previous tenants have given notice but not moved yet, or maybe its the owners.

Edit - there's someone in there right now. Just heard them go in.

[Treefrog]

Fair enough

Have you let them know what you heard?

[Mark]

I went one better and let them in to check my property as well as their own. They're in the trade so should know what they're doing.

They think it's my pipework (the pipe goes through their property on the way up to mine), but they had the tools to turn my main (outside) stopcock off, which they did. Apparently no change. At least I know which stopcock is mine now.

Stumped all around.

[Mark]

Thanks to everyone for advice and/or encouragement.

Think the leak has been found. It's by my main water stopcock in the communal back garden, but not on 'my' side (i.e. turning the tap off doesn't stop it).

That part of the pipework serves another flat besides mine, so counts as part of the shared services. The people who run the site maintenance have agreed that would make it their problem (which means it's covered by the annual maintenance charge). They've called a plumber to at least confirm we're on the right track.

Fingers crossed. One misery down.

PS - After speaking to neighbours it turns out the water supply was briefly turned off at around the time it failed, so that would be the cause.

[Feek]

*phew*