We just installed a new shower head and now it leaks and a hissing sound is coming from the pipe. I can hear the hissing from both bathrooms as they share a wall, but I can hear it most when I put my ear up to the shower head. Would a shower head leak make a sound?

Try removing the new shower head and turning on the water, Do you still hear the sound? Does the open shower arm still leak of drip when the valve's closed? Back to you, Tom

The sound is when the shower is off, I forgot to add that!

So we have removed the shower head, the sound is coming more loudly from where the shower "on and off" handle is. We turned off the water, replaced the ball, cam and packing, put everything back together and it's still making that noise. The area behind the shower does not appear to be wet and we can not see any leaks except for the small amount of water that is still dripping out of the shower head. It's a hissing noise, that sounds like water, or air is running through that part of the pipe.

We just found a leak in the water main outside. Is it possible to hear the leak in the inside pipes that are closest to the leak? We have a mystery hissing sound in our bathroom, and we just found a leak in the ground pipes next to the house.

Yes,but that would depend on how big the leak is.

Chuck

So your original complaint wasn't really about the shower head. But it makes me wonder why you focused on the shower head. Did it not hiss before you installed the new shower head? How old is the shower valve?
You speak of a ball, cam and packing. Is your shower valve a Delta. When you had the valve apart did you turn the water back on for a few seconds to flush out the suppliues?

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The sound is when the shower is off

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Now here's another piece of information that's a real puzzler. Are you saying the only time you hear the hiss is when the valve's turned off? If that's so it sure sounds like you have a hidden leak.
Shut everything down in the house and go outside to the water meter. Check the little pointer. It shouldn't creep or move at all. Get back to me with the results. Good luck, Tom

nolancjt, You started two threads for the same complaint so I merged threads. So you took my advice and went out to the meter and found another leak, Repair the meter leak and see if that doesn't stop the hiss. Then get back to me with information about your shower valve and I'll walk you through that repair, Good luck, Tom

Tom,

I spoke to a friend who is a plumber and he is familiar with houses in this area. He told me it sounds like I may have a pinhole leak in a copper pipe somewhere under the house and the sound is just radiating through the pipes there. He is going to come over tomorrow and look at it for me. Sounds like it's going to be an extensive major repair that I can not do myself. Thank you for taking the time to answer me when I didn't have much info, and it was obviously wrong info. I appreciate it.

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He told me it sounds like I may have a pinhole leak in a copper pipe somewhere under the house

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That's the reason I told you to shut the house down and go out to the meter and check the little pointer. That's what your plumber's going to do first thing. If you'll go back to my post #6 you'll see I addressed the possibility of a hidden leak. Let me know what he finds. Good luck. Tom