How do diagnois dripping sound


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Old 05-05-04, 10:40 AM
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How do diagnois dripping sound

We have a 70-year old home. Recently I've been hearing a loud dripping sound after using the upstairs shower. I'm hoping to get some advice for diagnosing the source.

First: hot and cold water run from the basement through an interior wall on the first floor, up to the 2nd-floor shower. The drip seems to be the loudest inside the 1st-floor wall. The dripping sound begins after a few minutes of use, and I'm pretty sure it's the hot water line. The dripping can continue for 15 minutes after the end of the shower, then stops.

Here's what I've done so far: I sealed the drain and ran the cold water until the water level reached about 2 inches. Waited 30 minutes. No drip after this.

Since the drip occurs only after a shower I thought it was the hot-water fixture. I replaced this. Still dripping.

If a joint were leaking, wouldn't it leak all of the time? Why would the drip stop?

Thanks for any help and suggestions.
 
  #2  
Old 05-05-04, 03:16 PM
brian22222
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Lightbulb the drain maybe?

I am certainly not a pro, but it seems to me like it is the drain. Possibly there is a perfectly vertical drain pipe that water is dripping off the edge inside it just right and hits the bottom where you hear the sound. Seems like it would have to be lined up just right, but not impossible.

I have been in a house where someone flushes upstairs and you can hear the water rushing down the drain pipe in the wall. That is what made me think it might be the drain.

The water dripping off the walls and down the drain could easily send a few drops down the drain for 15 minutes after a shower. To test if this is it all you got to do is dump a little water down the drain with someone on the other end listening.

hope that helps you figure it out.
 
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Old 05-05-04, 05:59 PM
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Run a garden hose up to the shower and let it run for several minutes.
This will comfirm drain either leak or no leak.

Otherwise, run the hot water with the drain sealed. Listen again for a drip sound.
 
 

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