Dripping taps and shower heads

[Florine]

Morning, everyone. This is my first post here - I'm hoping I won't have to post too frequently in the future!

Anyway, we live in a Victorian house which has been converted into two flats - we have the first floor, and there's another flat downstairs. We share a mains water supply. For the past two or three months, I've noticed a tendancy for the kitchen mixer tap or the bathroom washbasin taps or the shower head for the electric shower or the shower attachment to the (mixer) bath taps to drip occasionally. It never seems to be more than one of them doing it at a time, and it frequently happens in response to the people downstairs flushing the loo, running the washing machine etc., or, more rarely, to us doing something similar.

As it seems very improbable that all the washers on all those taps/shower heads have simply failed simultaneously, I'm wondering what other explanation there might be, and would appreciate your thoughts. Thanks!

 

[Madrab]

Do you have high water pressure?

Possibly hydraulic shock, basically the force that causes water hammer. When another tap on the same main shuts quickly, it sends a shockwave down the pipework, that could then be manifesting itself as dripping at some of the taps/shower as the shockwave is water past certain seals/washers.

 

[jj4091]

Do you have high water pressure?

Possibly hydraulic shock, basically the force that causes water hammer. When another tap on the same main shuts quickly, it sends a shockwave down the pipework, that could then be manifesting itself as dripping at some of the taps/shower as the shockwave is water past certain seals/washers.

That's what I was thinking, but just that it shaking residual water out of shower head & tap spouts

 

[Florine]

Do you have high water pressure?

Possibly hydraulic shock, basically the force that causes water hammer. When another tap on the same main shuts quickly, it sends a shockwave down the pipework, that could then be manifesting itself as dripping at some of the taps/shower as the shockwave is water past certain seals/washers.

Thanks, both of you. I wouldn't have said we had particularly high water pressure, unless someone's done something to it that I don't know about. But your mention of water hammer is something we've been getting as well (most noticeably when the infeed to downstairs' washing machine shuts off quickly, I think): we used to get it about a decade ago, with "Neighbour -3", but I thought we'd got it fixed because Neighbours -2 and Neighbours -1 didn't have a problem with it, and it's only in the last year or so since the new neighbours moved in that it's started recurring.

 

[foxhole]

The taps use pressure against seals to prevent drips , if it momentarily drops due to use by neighbour then it will allow a few drips before the pressure is restored .

 

[Madrab]

The taps use pressure against seals to prevent drips

You don't mean water pressure do you? Never heard that one before ....

Wind down taps use mechanical pressure and press a seal onto a seat and ceramics use a twisting method where they turn and close off a waterway, never heard of the water pressure against the seals aiding in that, nor seen it TBH.