On the second floor of my colonial-style home, I have a soaking tub with a “cascade” instead of a regular spout. Occasionally, water will leak - like a fast trickle - out of each side of the cascade (cold and hot, I assume). Other times, nothing! The faucet handles are off as far as they go. And, isn’t this odd? Why is the leak all or nothing?
Likewise, one upstairs toilet tank drips on occasion.
I WAG it is due to slight changes in water pressure along the length of the system. Because I’m on well water, I WAG the system is more sensitive to such changes.
IANAP, but I do plumbing a lot. Do you know how much your pressure changes? I would assume that most well’s pump to a elevated tank, and that the change in the height of the water would account for the pressure change. Maybe your pressure regulator is not adjusted correctly or is going bad, as they do from time to time, or maybe if you are the only one on that given system, a pressure regulator was never installed. It would seem unlikely that many of your valves are going bad at the same time, but it could happen with age (or a design/manufacturing flaw). If it is your tank you could look at the water level and see if it corresponds to your leakage, which would tell you if your WAG is right or not. If it is, adjusting, replacing, or installing a pressure regulator would fix you up.
I am the only user on the system. The elevated tank to which you refer is steel - so I can’t see the actual level. I don’t believe there’s a pressure regualating valve downstream. There is a control valve just upstream of the tank sensing when pressure in the tank is low enough to tell the pump to kick in.
If it’s a pressure problem, why isn’t “off” off at the tap?
And, wouldn’t I be seeing leaks at all the taps? This leaky tap is at the furthest point, but there is a stand-up shower next to it - equally far, but it would also have to overcome the vertical height to reach the shower head. Maybe the pressure is just a little shy, and incapable of going a few extra feet (plus pipe resistance). Still… there are closer taps. Maybe the leaky tap just happens to have the slightest gap through which water can leak under pressure?