Gushing noise in kitchen pipes when neighbour runs faucet

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vivian

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Hello, I live on the 2nd floor of an 11 story condo. The building is about 12 years old and the hot/cold pipes under my kitchen sink are copper. Lately, whenever one of my neighbours runs their faucet, I hear a very loud gushing sound under my kitchen sink/ from the pipes; when I touch the hot/cold pipes it feels like water is running through them. At first, I was hearing a little thud after the neighbour turned off their tap, but I have not heard sound in the last few days. I also feel a vibration all up & down the wall beside the kitchen sink where the water stack is located. I cannot figure out if the source is from next door, i.e. the suite beside me or the suite directly above me; the Superintendent and a plumber went to both suites last week and were not able to recreate the issue, however I do hear a lot of other noise/banging around from upstairs in the same faucet area when the noise occurs. When I turn my faucet on full-tilt, I do hear a little bit of a whistling sound just at the base of the faucet handle. But the noise in the pipes occurs regardless of whether my tap is on or off.

Has anyone run into a similar issue? Could the source be from downstairs or is it most likely coming from upstairs?
 

Jadnashua

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To get the water to the top of the 11th story with any remaining pressure, it requires a pump in many buildings. On some taller structures, they tend to pump it up to a reservoir, then gravity helps to supply everyone below. Water pressure drops from gravity about 0.4#/foot, so say 10'/story, 110' means the pressure there would be over 40# lower than on the first floor.

If I had to guess, they were stingy on the pipe size, and the flow velocity at the required pressure is making the noises. Water hammers (the thud you hear) gets worse when the pressure is higher. In the USA, it's not supposed to exceed 80psi, and if it does, it needs regulation. Depending on how the pipe is run, and how it is supported, any noises can be telegraphed through the structure. This sort of thing is hard to be exact about without actually seeing and hearing the symptoms first hand, and it's easy to make the wrong diagnosis when you don't have all of the facts and details.
 

vivian

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Hi there, the building superintendent stopped by again today and this time he heard the noise at my kitchen faucet. He went to the suite directly below mine and confirmed that the noise is coming from their kitchen faucet - they had installed a new faucet recently which seems to be causing pressure issues. We were able to easily recreate the issue; the superintendent now wants to get the plumber to come in to check their stop valves and the faucet; hopefully this will be resolved soon.
 

Leon Dakine

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Hello, I came across this thread and I have the same exact problem that just started recently. My neighbor below got a new kitchen faucet and I now hear a loud gushing noise in my kitchen and bedroom through the wall every time they turn on their kitchen faucet. Were you able to find a solution to this problem? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
 
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