I come seeking the collective domestic experience of the dopers regarding a problem that is creating a great deal of discontent in my household. For the past five or so days, every day sometime between 6 and 7 a.m., a loud periodic buzzing sound is coming from my house. Inevitably, the sound wakes Mrs. Minkman or me up and drives the cats nuts, who then feel the need to jump in the bed a walk on my head. A few facts about the house and the sound:
The house is probably 40 years old, but the mechanical systems are somewhat newer, but still at least 10-15 years old.
The noise happens around the same time every day. It is a loud buzzing that sound sort of like the alarm noise that some clothes dryers make at the end of their cycle. Or perhaps like what you would hear if you stuck a playing card into a fast spinning fan. The buzz lasts about 1 second, repeating about every 7-10 seconds. This continues for long enough to wake me up, get me out of bed to investigate, then to stop on its own before I can figure out what is causing it. (About 20 or so minutes total)
Hi, Opal!
For the wiseguys, no, it is not my alarm clock, or an alarm clock elsewhere in the house. Neither is it the alarm thing on the clothes dryer, although that’s what it sounds like.
The sound appears to be coming from the under-the-stairs closet where the water heater and furnace are.
The house has a gas water heater and furnace and central air conditioning. (The AC unit is outside the house) I just switched the thermostat from heat to cold about a week ago. Using the Scientific Method, I originally hypothesized that turning on the AC was the source of the noise, so last night I switched the AC completely off (i.e. turned the switch on the thermostat to ‘off’) before going to bed. The noise happened this morning anyway.
The water heater does have a lot of sediment built up in it that I unsuccessfully tried to flush a couple of months ago. Whenever the tank is refilling (e.g. after a shower) it makes a dull rumbling and popping noise, that sounds nothing like the buzzing. The sediment noise has been going on for months, and is only a minor annoyance. Moreover, I can’t think of anything in the water heater that would make such a sound.
Our gas furnace sometimes makes a noise kind of like that when it’s firing up (although not as loud as you describe). Have you turned your furnace completely off yet? Have you had it inspected recently? Shouldn’t be too expensive.
No, as a matter of fact, I didn’t turn off the furnace’s pilot light or shut off the gas cut-off valve to it. Should I have? We’re still in that inbetween stage where one day in might be 85 and need the AC, then the next weekend it’s back down to 45 at night. The furnace has not been recently inspected, but I was trying to get a handle of the source of the noise before calling for professional help. (I didn’t want to call a plumber for the water heater if the furnace/AC was the source of the problem.)
Well, I’m no HVAC expert, but I was just thinking that an experiment of turning the furnace thermostat all the way down for a day or two (adding sweaters and blankets as needed) might give you a clue as to whether the noise is coming from the furnace. If the furnace is off, and you hear the noise, then obviously it’s not the furnace. I don’t think you’d have to shut off the gas.
I’d also be tempted to try doing nothing, but setting my alarm for about 5:45 and going down to the basement to wait for the noise.
And if you haven’t had a furnace inspection in the last year or so, it would be a good idea anyway. Better safe than sorry.
Have you a time-switch which switches your furnace on and off?. Sometimes I have heard the switch contacts on these devices oscillating like a door-bell. This happens when the contacts are pitted or dirty and/or the contacts lose thier springiness and don’t open and close properly.
Do you have a water softener in your house? My parents have a water softener that charges itself every day at the same time(around two in the morning), it makes a buzzing sound like you described, so maybe its that?
Don’t laugh, this is gonna sound far fetched… the sound may be originating outside your home, the cause…a woodpecker or a flicker. In the spring, especially first thing in the morning the male birds will seek out anything that resonates for drumming its mating call. They’ll often use exposed ducting, metal telephone boxes or stove pipes. The sound can carry quite far and will sound incredibly loud especially inside a home.
If this turns out to be the cause, you owe me a virtual six pack of Rainier Beer, bottles please.
A good choice for the problem could be the exhaust fan on the funace or water heater. The exhaust fan on a furnace, is not the same fan that blows air throught the duct work. The water heater might also be on a timer and the exhaust fan failing in it could be waking you at the same time every morning.
To rule out the heating cooling system, turn off the curcuit breaker to the system one night. The next night turn of the water heater breaker. It’s not one of them if the noise still occurs. other culprates could be a subpump, water conditioner recharging, dehumidifier, water well pump, or refrigerator freezer.
It definately sounds like a motor going bad. Most likely a motor with a fan attached. Being the sound is in the morning, I will go with the exhaust fan for the furnace. The furnace is likely to kick in early in the day to heat. When cooling the exhaust fan wouldn’t kick in. Furnance exhaust fans used to have metal parts that failed due to the causitic gases they exhausted, now the fans have non corosive plastic componants in them to help them last. My mother’s exhaust fan was going bad last fall, and would vibrate about half an inch in it’s mounting. Buzzing sounds can be a motor trying to start, moving a couple turns, trying to start, and moving a couple turns. It’s going to eventualy burn out.
One last source of a buzzing sound can be a transformer going bad. Do you have a flouresent light in the basement that comes on about that time.
You live in a house not connected to neighbor right? It’s not their dryer going off in the morning next to you?
My house makes a hooting/buzzing sound whenever the wind blows from a certain direction. Could it be wind in the vents to your water heater, furnace, or plumbing?
It’s not blasting being done, is it? Blasting, even miles away, can set up a vibratory response in buildings. Might also account for the regular timing. Any construction going on nearby? An army range?
Thanks to everyone for your replies so far. In an effort to track this thing down, last night I turned off the pilot light and gas valve to the furnace. I also turned off electricity to the furnace/blower unit and put the switch on the thermostat in the ‘off’ position. Well, this morning at 6:20 am the noise was there in all its glory. I jumped out of bed and dashed to the mechanical closet to investigate. The furnace/AC blower thing was definately off. I am now 85% sure that the water heater is the source of the noise. (That’s where it sounds like it’s comming from.)
The water heater also runs on natural gas. I don’t think that there is an electical connection (for an exhaust fan, etc.) to the thing at all, but I could be wrong on that. I just can’t picture what in the water heater could be causing such a regularly timed noise. I haven’t heard in in the evenings when I home, or at any time during the day this past weekend. As far as I know, neither the furnace, AC or water heater work on a timer. (I can’t find one if there is, and I’ve never had to set the time on it.) We also do not have a water softener or subpump, again AFAIK. The woodpecker theory mentioned above is becomming more and more attractive.
Oh, did I mentioned that we just got back from our honeymoon before this started, and this is my first big test in the “manly provider/fix-it guy” department, so in the interest of marital harmony, I need to get this one figured out.
My plan tonight is to shut off the water heater and see it that kills the noise. I’ll let you all know the results. Thanks again, keep those ideas rolling.
Could it be the battery in your smoke alarm going bad? Mine makes sort of a funny chirp when the battery dies. Maybe yours buzzes.
Does your water heater have electronic ignition? Some waterheaters are pilotless and use electric contacts (sort of like a sparkplug) to ignite the gas to keep the water hot.
How about an electronic device outside? Is there a streetlight nearby. Sometimes, they fail and create an annoying sound. At that hour of the morning, it could be trying to turn off and something is preventing its proper operation. Maybe also a transformer from the electric utility. Could their equipment be failing and causing an annoying buzz? Call them up and have them check their equipment. It won’t cost you anything and they’ll come rather quickly.
Personally, I think it’s your wife. You’re newleweds. Perhaps she’s wanting you to wake up in the morning for…
Hot/cold water pipes attached to the wooden joists make noises to beat the band.
I have a copper water pipe in my basement which makes a noise like a cat being murdered when the water heater comes on. The pipe expands and “creaks” against the wooden beam it is attached to (the same principle as fingernails on a chalkboard. The noise lasts about ten or fifteen seconds and I had the damnedest time finding it.
Most of the other pipes in the basement have rubber pads between the pipe and joist but this one got missed somehow; now, about once a month, it makes the noise and I go downstairs with a dab of grease and grease the pipe where it touches the joist and hanger. I hope your problem turns out to be as innocuous as this.
OBTW< My mom gets a water softener noise in her townhouse, and she does’t have a water softener. Her neighbor does, though, and every bloody AM at around four the whole house makes a “tack tack tack” sound for about ten minutes. It’s loud and annoying. The vibrations are being transmitted through the common plumbing in all the units. Great, huh?
I went on my own hunt for an odd noise in my house. It sounded sorta like a muffled shriek, like a fan belt slipping as a wheel spun up rapidly. I finally tracked it to the one source I never suspected: the water softener. Check out your water softener. They are the tools of the devil.
MinkMan, you must be a really sweet man to let the cats walk on your head. Your wife is a lucky woman! Please let us know the outcome of your attempts to locate the noise.
