Water still running even though valve is closed

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StefanieG

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We had a slab leak repaired a few months back. It is leaking again. The leak is from a hot water line in the kitchen. We found our floor became hot again. The floor was reopened to verify the leak. We shut off the water at the hot water tank (valve) and allowed the lines to drain. Its been over 3 hours and there is still water coming out of one of the hot water faucets. The water leaking from the pipe is now cold, not hot. What would cause the water to still come out of the faucet and be leaking through the pipe after the valve is closed from the tank? Why would cool (not exactly cold) water be running through it?

We did install a recirculating pump but had that turned off and unplugged for several months. We also turned off the valves where the interior part if it is (under the bath sink). Yet water is still coming from the faucet.

We shut the water off at the main and put a pressure regulator on the outside faucet. It has dropped a little over the hour with no faucets open. I'm collecting the water that's slowly dripping from the pipe in the floor so I can measure how much is still coming out. I imagine there may be a bit. Its about 1 drip every 3 seconds.
 

Terry

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If you have any single handle faucets, then anytime you use that faucet it's going to mix over to the hot side, assuming the handle is somewhere in the middle temperature range.
Also, if you have a floor above, it takes a long time for that to drain down.
 

StefanieG

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Thank you, Terry. What you said makes sense since it takes a while for hot water to come through in the farthest part of the home. The water is draining out of the line. Since it was only a drop every 20 seconds, I opened the hot water faucet and air got in to let it further drain. The problem is they used T's in the slab. I removed more of the dirt so the rest of the pipe is exposed. Hopefully, once it stops draining, it can dry and then it can be repaired. How long is a good amount of time to wait after the repair (2nd) before we allow it to be filled in again.

My concern is they filled it in too soon the first time without waiting to see that it was completely repaired. They came out again on Thursday, drilled through the new floor and found it leaking right where they fixed it. They wanted to fill it in after a few hours and I asked them to wait. We tested it over the weekend, leaving the house without water running and took photos of the meter. It showed the meter continuing to run, which demonstrated we still have a leak. So when they came to fill in the hole today I told them my concern and low and behold it's leaking badly where they had soldered a different area last time. I don't mind having a hole in my floor (I have wood covering it up) long enough to ensure its fixed completely. Just how long we should wait is what I'm asking.

We lived in Bonney Lake, WA before moving to AR and didn't have plumbing in slabs. We had to tear out almost 700 sq ft of tile to replace the area that was damaged. We just got it replaced in May and to have it still leaking is troubling. Fortunately, this time we have spare tile. I'm wondering if we should have the plumbing replaced to put it in the ceiling and walls and how big of a job that it as well. Thank you again for sharing your expertise.
 

Terry

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Normally a copper joint below the slab is brazed and not soldered. Frankly though, the no lead solder has been darn good though. Way better than the 50/50 that I started with that was half lead.
If you have a visual on the joint and there is no leak, then it should be good. There may be a leak that hasn't been found yet though. Your floor was warm in that spot, so that's a pretty good clue. Once the repair is done and lines purged of air, you can turn off some shutoffs at things like toilets to make sure that isn't a slow leak that shows up at the meter.
 

StefanieG

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I have another issue. We have the valve closed at the hot water tank. Got to where there was minimal drip - 1 every 50 seconds. So we turned the main back on and water started spewing from the hot water line like crazy. I can't figure out how since the valve is turned off at the hot water tank. Any ideas on what to do? The water is still cool water coming through
 

John Gayewski

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Either a bad check valve or the valve itself is bad. I just skimmed this post, but that's my guess.
 
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