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Topic
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I live in 9 house strata with underground carpark.
It has the usual rainwater pit in the garage with pumps which kick in when
rainwater reaches level of floats. All is well while pumping out after rains.
Trouble is for about a week afterwards there is loud clicking/tapping noise
in various pipes and no-one knows where it comes from. Pump
maintenance company have no idea nor frankly interested to help.
Noise is worse at night as echoes off fences etc across the road from the
outlets in kerb below my windows which are open at night.
Has anyone come across this and have a cure ?
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Replies
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If the rising main (i.e. the pump discharge line) is particularly long, then the noise could be a faulty non-return valve that’s “chattering” as the water within the main trickles back into the wet well / sump under gravity after the pump has cut-out.
Graham – why would you contact Sydney Water when they’re only responsible for publicly owned water and sewerage assets??
It’s your Owners Corporation who’s responsible for arranging an inspection of and any repairs to the pumping station by somebody who knows what they’re doing, as opposed to a maintenance company who may only know enough to clean out the wet well and to trip the float so as to check that the pump turns ON and OFF.
Locate a Hydraulic Consultant who’s experienced with domestic wastewater pumping stations by contacting the Association of Hydraulic Services Consultants, but remember that the noise is likely there all the time, and it’s just that you can only hear it at night.
By the way, the lack of rain for days may be irrelevant if the rising main is long and the wet well capacity small, because depending upon how the float is set, a faulty non-return valve could permit sufficient wastewater to repeatedly drain back and to periodically activate the pump (i.e. recirculation) until natural evaporation determines otherwise.