We have a old-style hot water system in our house. Water is pumped into a tank located in a small room on the second floor and heated there. The time and temperature control is on the ground floor.

When any of the hot water taps in the house is turned on or when the machine starts to pump water (twice a day), there is sound coming from somewhere which sounds like that of water drips. The sounds only last for less than half a minute, and there is no such sound when cold water taps are turned on.

The sound is not very loud yet it can be heard on all floors of the house, so I suspect that it must come from inside the wall, possibly from some pipes. But it is very hard to pin down exactly where it is from. I checked the whole house and there is no sign of leakage (given that the sound has been there for nearly two years, since I moved in).

Any suggestion about possible sources of the sound would be greatly helpful and appreciated. Thanks!

Expansion of the pipes rubbing against wall studs. Clue is "hot water ". Not much you can do except possibly pinpointing the noise, opening the wall and moving the pipe a bit.

Thank you ma0641, some other people also suggested this.

Is it better to leave it there until more serious problems appear or try to fix it anyway? I don't know whether this will cause some damage to the pipes in the long run.

Thanks!

Thank you ma0641, some other people also suggested this.

Is it better to leave it there until more serious problems appear or try to fix it anyway? I don't know whether this will cause some damage to the pipes in the long run.

Thanks!

Annoying for sure but not a worry about wearing through the pipe.

Thanks again ma0641!