Hearing dripping noises in our new house. How to find the leak?

[rockyfatcat]

I have made a half dozen payments on our new (to us) new home. This evening, all my things to do didn’t get done because family members heard water dripping.

Long story short. Yeah I can hear something. I don’t know if it’s inside a wall or condensation inside a duct. I can’t see any signs of water or water damage.

When I worked for the airlines we borrowed a ‘sniffer’ directional acoustic microphone with headsets and this would pinpoint pressure leaks even in high noise environments. I googled it and apparently they also do leak detection with infrared cameras and thermal imaging.

Any clues as to how to find someone to help make this problem go away?

 

[Cohutta68]

All of the above. Try thermal, microphone if you have access to one. Check everywhere for the water down low. Is it on a slab or basement? What kind of pipes? Can you not see signs of moisture anywhere? Of course check all under sink and counter pipes first.
Cut out sheetrock in targeted areas needed to find the moisture. It’s worth any amount of sheet rock repair to fix the leak. Could be pinhole copper issues.

 

[Jackjam]

Can you turn off your water or ac for a while and see if it stops?

 

[fattboyzz]

If there is no signs of water you may not have a leak.

It might be pipe creep. Pressure in the pipes build & release during use. Plunmbers secure pipes with straps ,clamps, ties ,etc.

I had a customer a decade or so ago insisting she had a leak. I said wheres the proof ? The water puddle ? The wet sheetrock ?

She insisted until I told her to turn the water on and when the pipe stops creeping the so called dripping sound stops after a short while.

 

[Ruger34]

It could be the condensation pipe for the ac is causing this noise, had it at our house when I did away with the pump that pumped it outside and hard piped it to the septic tanks, all summer you would hear it dripping while in a certain area of the house

 

[Hayata]

Water and termites - homeowners worst nightmares.

Good luck!

 

[rockyfatcat]

Can you turn off your water or ac for a while and see if it stops?

The house has a well pump. No idea how to turn off the supply

 

[Fish Fry]

Water and termites - homeowners worst nightmares.

Good luck!

And damn carpenter ants.. .

Sent from my BV4900Pro using Tapatalk

 

[rockyfatcat]

It could be the condensation pipe for the ac is causing this noise, had it at our house when I did away with the pump that pumped it outside and hard piped it to the septic tanks, all summer you would hear it dripping while in a certain area of the house

The noise seems to be in areas that could be either condensation or plumbing. A real dripping sound.

Like I said. I have used high tech equipment to locate tiny leaks in the past. As I don’t have access to said equipment. I thought I would access the ODT brain trust, even at the risk of all the stupid answers.

 

[joel2000]

The house has a well pump. No idea how to turn off the supply

Tough one. I’d just keep an eye on plumbing and your best guestimate on route lines would have been run. If it’s definitely water it will show up