On Nov 23, 2:04*pm, "
wrote:
I have some sort of strange problem. I know little about plumbing, so
I have no idea what to do and I'd prefer to avoid calling a plumber. I
will if I have to, but I'd like to try to troubleshoot it myself.

Beginning sometime this summer, once in a while the pipes in my house
would vibrate for a bit. This was usually when I had the water running
outside and would then start some laundry or something like that. The
vibrating was usually short-lived and it didn't happen very often. For
some reason, the problem has gotten rapidly worse this past week. Now
the pipes start vibrating like mad anytime something is using water.
Flush the toilet, turn on the shower, start some laundry...it's awful!
The pipes are *seriously* vibrating. It sounds like someone is trying
to tunnel into my house using a jack hammer.

Here's what I know about the house. It was built in 2001, so the
plumbing is relatively new. It has a pressure arrestor of some sort
that was set before we moved in. It has an ominous warning note not to
mess with it, so I haven't.

Where should I begin looking?

Thanks!

I just went through this a few weeks ago. Vibrating and thumping
started slowly (an every now and then thing) to happening almost every
time we used any water.

I bought a $12 pressure gauge at a hardware store, screwed it onto the
utility sink and found that the pressure in my house was over 75 PSI.
Normal house pressure should be ~ 45 - 55 PSI. I also measured an
exterior spigot, which is before the pressure reducer and it also read
75 PSI.

It was pretty simple to deduce that my pressure regulator was shot.
$65 and a sweated fitting later and I was all set. Depending on where
your PR is located, you might not even need to sweat anything. The PR
have threaded unions, and you might be able to unscrew the old one and
screw the new one back on.

Mine is right up against a joist and can't be spun, requiring at least
one cut pipe.