Bathroom pipes flushing... but where?

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independent

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Hello, we moved into a house where we hear the water pipes seemingly, flushing every so often. At first we worried thinking water was leaking but no water was found. It may be after we have flushed the toilet that the pipes seem to flush but it is about 6 am and no one has flushed the toilet. or run any water. I hear the pipes flushing. The water heater is the only culprit we can think of that may be flushing water, but to where? and why is it flushing? Can we hear the neighbors flushing their toilets? Or maybe there is another name for this sound that we hear through out the day and night. Could someone advise if this is normal? The water dept didn't know a thing about it.
Please an expert advise!
 

Jadziedzic

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Do you have a high-efficiency furnace and/or a central "flow-through" humidifier with a condensate removal pump mounted by the furnace? You could be hearing water flowing into/through the humidifier or condensate draining from the furnace.
 

Smooky

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The toilet flapper might be leaking and the toilet fill valve is turning on every few minute to refill the tank.
 

JMac

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Do you have well water or city water?
You talk about maybe hearing neighbors flush... is this a multi-occupancy building (ie townhome) or a single-family home? If single-family, then I doubt you are hearing anybody else's water.
A long shot, but if you have a hot water recirculation system that is automatic, that might be kicking on and off.
The easiest answer is a leak somewhere... try food coloring in your toilet tank(s) and let it sit for awhile; if you see color in your toilet bowl(s), then the flapper is leaking on that toilet.
 

Jadnashua

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Food coloring works, but just as easy is to just shut the water supply to the toilet off overnight and check the tank in the morning...if it is empty or the level has dropped, you've isolated the problem to the toilet. The fill valve in that case is just doing its job...keeping the tank full. If you've left the toilet sit for awhile, always double-check the tank if you've used food coloring. If it ran long enough, you may have flushed the entire tank and colored water out of both it and the bowl (IOW, make sure if the bowl is clear, the tank still is full of colored water!).
 
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