The water pipes that serve the bathrooms in our house (which share a wall wherein lie the pipes) have recently started making this horrible, amazingly loud humming, moaning noise. If you put your hand on the wall you can feel the vibration; you can also feel it through your fundament when you’re sitting on the throne. Flushing or suddenly turning on the faucet makes it go away for a minute, but then it’s back.
Come to think of it, they did this a bit last summer, and the problem stopped when the weather cooled off in the fall, but it’s worse this time around.
What could be causing this? Is there something I can do to fix it myself, or do I have to take out a second mortgage and call a plumber? The house is about 25 years old and has a slab foundation if that makes any difference.
I can certainly sympathize with how much I’ve had to pay plumbers since owning our present home! But, while I’ve seen plumbing like you’ve described in movies, it’s never happened to me. Why not try a plumbers.com site, and see if something comes up with your question?? Hope you get an answer that saves you some money!
It only does it when the water is on,right?
If so I think you have air in the water lines.
If not I don’t have a clue.
How to get rid of it? I would assume you have to turn on all the faucets until the air is forced out.
Astro: It doesn’t sound like “water hammer” is what I have. The site you referred me to describes that phenomenon as sounding like someone is striking the pipes with a hammer; what I have is a continuous vibrating hum that rises and falls in pitch and volume.
justwannano No, it actually STOPS for a second when you turn on the water or flush the toilet. Once the water stops flowing, it gradually starts again.
Oh, and there’s new plumbing fun at chez Chef: the master bath shower appears to be completely clogged with what looks like pulverized bits of calcium or something…no water will come out at all. Sigh.
It turns out that plumbing is included in my home-shield warranty, so I’m calling in an expert to deal with it.
Yeah, or you could just turn on the water in every faucet you have inside & outside,& let it run for ten minutes, that usually is what they do anyway to clean the air out…if not, then they have a special gizmo they can put in.
The humm that you hear is most probably throttling noises. If you open a valve just slightly. The water going by can cause a vibration resonance within the pipes. The fact that this only happens when the water is off, would make me suspect that there is a leak somewhere. When you open a faucet or toilet, the water pressure in the line drops. Since the vibrations are a function of the differential pressure across the valve (or leak in this case) the noise stops until the pressure builds up again. Slab houses can be a bitch to isolate leaks in, since the construction often had the plumbing laid in the concrete. If you tear them up, you often find no pipes are left, just channels in the cement.
Oh, by the way, the white deposits are calcium carbonate. Many municipalities started adding lime to their water systems in order to reduce corrosion in the systems. The result, of course, is lime buildup in your house plumbing. I suggest a water softener.
Short-term is simply to clean out the shower head. Just unscrew it from the wall and soak in in a solution of vinegar and water (about 50-50) for a few hours. If it’s still clogged, try going at it with a toothbrush.
Should clean it right out.
I knew that copy of 1000 Household Hints by Miss Manners would come in handy!
I had the same problem when all the plastic pipes in my house were replaced with copper.
It was because various bits of debris from the work got pushed all the way to the kitchen sink and stuck in the aerator screen. Once there, it created a flow disruption that propigated back in the pipes until it hit a point that it resonated at. Taking off the aerator solved the problem, but then our water flow wasn’t even. I took it apart and cleaned it as best I could. Put it back on, and it worked like a charm.
So my advice is to clean all your aerators and shower heads in your bathrooms. While they’re off, run them for a few minutes to allow any debris that may have settled in the pipes to get flushed out. If this doesn’t help, then maybe professional help is needed.
Oh, by the way, the white deposits are calcium carbonate. Many municipalities started adding lime to their water systems in order to reduce corrosion in the systems. The result, of course, is lime buildup in your house plumbing. I suggest a water softener.(((((-Squid Vicious
Wrong. Calcium hydroxide is added to the incoming water at a surface water treatment plant to remove the green chunks. Since the Ca(OH)2 can rise the pH of water to 12.4 CO2 is added to bring down the pH. This is were the calcium carbonate is formed.