For reference, this is about a newly purchased (and built) house in
Fort Worth, TX...

I woke up the other day to an annoying (though somewhat quiet) sound
of drumming originating from my master bathroom.

The master bathroom has two sinks and emitting from one of the sinks
was drumming sound. After a while it would go away and then later it
would come back again... very odd.

I checked underneath the sink and didn't notice anything odd. The
pipe itself didn't seem to be making any noise.

When I stopped up the drain, the noise stopped. Very odd!

I finally tracked it down to the heater of all things. Whenever the
heater would turn on, I'd start to hear the drumming noise again. I
popped out the drain stopper and took a look down the drain.

What I could see was water displacement since it was rippling a bit
down the drain.

Apparently, whenever the heater turns on, it's pushing air up through
the sink somehow! When I put my hand over the drain, I could feel air
pressure from the drain matching the pulsing of the drumming sound.

Anyhow, does anyone here have any suggestions on how I might go to
alleviate this problem? Is this a heater problem or a plumbing
problem? It only just started about a month after I moved in (and I
had used the heater a few times without hearing this sound). Maybe
this is normal and my water just isn't draining right?

No other sinks in the house make the sound except for this one.

How are the heater and sink connected so that air would come out of
the sink?

I was thinking that it might have been a sympathetic vibration, but I
think it's air being pushed through the water in the drain.

Any suggestions are appreciated!

- Samiel

Samiel wrote:

For reference, this is about a newly purchased (and built) house in
Fort Worth, TX...

I woke up the other day to an annoying (though somewhat quiet) sound
of drumming originating from my master bathroom.

The master bathroom has two sinks and emitting from one of the sinks
was drumming sound. After a while it would go away and then later it
would come back again... very odd.

I checked underneath the sink and didn't notice anything odd. The
pipe itself didn't seem to be making any noise.

When I stopped up the drain, the noise stopped. Very odd!

I finally tracked it down to the heater of all things. Whenever the
heater would turn on, I'd start to hear the drumming noise again. I
popped out the drain stopper and took a look down the drain.

What I could see was water displacement since it was rippling a bit
down the drain.

Apparently, whenever the heater turns on, it's pushing air up through
the sink somehow! When I put my hand over the drain, I could feel air
pressure from the drain matching the pulsing of the drumming sound.

Anyhow, does anyone here have any suggestions on how I might go to
alleviate this problem? Is this a heater problem or a plumbing
problem? It only just started about a month after I moved in (and I
had used the heater a few times without hearing this sound). Maybe
this is normal and my water just isn't draining right?

No other sinks in the house make the sound except for this one.

How are the heater and sink connected so that air would come out of
the sink?

I was thinking that it might have been a sympathetic vibration, but I
think it's air being pushed through the water in the drain.

Any suggestions are appreciated!

- Samiel

Heater means some kind of space heater?? Central furnace??
Not a water heater, I presume.

If the heater is a gas-fired, hi-efficiency type, maybe the
installer connected the condensate drain to the sanitary sewer
used by that sink. And the combustion blower (more speculation)
is providing the draft pressure you feel at the sink.

It all sounds like a poor/improper installation. Time to go
back to the builder? No satisfaction, see what the FW inspector
has to say.

Jim

On Mon, 10 Jan 2005 17:42:24 -0500, Speedy Jim wrote:

Heater means some kind of space heater?? Central furnace??
Not a water heater, I presume.

If the heater is a gas-fired, hi-efficiency type, maybe the
installer connected the condensate drain to the sanitary sewer
used by that sink. And the combustion blower (more speculation)
is providing the draft pressure you feel at the sink.

It all sounds like a poor/improper installation. Time to go
back to the builder? No satisfaction, see what the FW inspector
has to say.

Jim

I have no gas anywhere in the house, so it's an electric heater...
probably some sort of heat pump I'd guess.

I haven't heard it in a little while, so I'd say it's intermittent.
Hopefully I can reproduce the sound. Contacting the builder may be
the way to go.

- Samiel

Samiel wrote:
For reference, this is about a newly purchased (and built) house in
Fort Worth, TX...
I woke up the other day to an annoying (though somewhat quiet) sound
of drumming originating from my master bathroom.
The master bathroom has two sinks and emitting from one of the sinks
was drumming sound. After a while it would go away and then later it
would come back again... very odd.
I checked underneath the sink and didn't notice anything odd. The
pipe itself didn't seem to be making any noise.
When I stopped up the drain, the noise stopped. Very odd!
I finally tracked it down to the heater of all things. Whenever the
heater would turn on, I'd start to hear the drumming noise again. I
popped out the drain stopper and took a look down the drain.
What I could see was water displacement since it was rippling a bit
down the drain.
Apparently, whenever the heater turns on, it's pushing air up through
the sink somehow! When I put my hand over the drain, I could feel air
pressure from the drain matching the pulsing of the drumming sound.
Anyhow, does anyone here have any suggestions on how I might go to
alleviate this problem? Is this a heater problem or a plumbing
problem? It only just started about a month after I moved in (and I
had used the heater a few times without hearing this sound). Maybe
this is normal and my water just isn't draining right?
No other sinks in the house make the sound except for this one.
How are the heater and sink connected so that air would come out of
the sink?
I was thinking that it might have been a sympathetic vibration, but I
think it's air being pushed through the water in the drain.
Any suggestions are appreciated!

I seriously doubt there is any sort of air hookup from the furnace output to
your vent stack. Seems a lot more likely that one of your water pipes, or the
drain stack / vent stack for that sink is now contacting something in your HVAC
system. You sure there is no "vibration" felt in either of the water lines
or the drain pipe? I'd think tracing the vibration back would be your only
option.

On Mon, 10 Jan 2005 14:48:27 -0700, Andy Hill
I seriously doubt there is any sort of air hookup from the furnace output to
your vent stack. Seems a lot more likely that one of your water pipes, or the
drain stack / vent stack for that sink is now contacting something in your HVAC
system. You sure there is no "vibration" felt in either of the water lines
or the drain pipe? I'd think tracing the vibration back would be your only
option.
I didn't feel a vibration beneath where the drain pipe is and I could
definitely feel air coming from the drain.

Is any type of air vent connected to the plumbing?

- Samiel

"Samiel" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 10 Jan 2005 14:48:27 -0700, Andy Hill
I seriously doubt there is any sort of air hookup from the furnace output
to
your vent stack. Seems a lot more likely that one of your water pipes,
or the
drain stack / vent stack for that sink is now contacting something in your
HVAC
system. You sure there is no "vibration" felt in either of the water
lines
or the drain pipe? I'd think tracing the vibration back would be your
only
option.
I didn't feel a vibration beneath where the drain pipe is and I could
definitely feel air coming from the drain.

Is any type of air vent connected to the plumbing?

- Samiel

if it's got an exterior vent, and the house is particularly airtight, could
there be some sort of harmonic air pressure fluctuations going on? that
would force the water in the traps up and down.

On Tue, 11 Jan 2005 08:44:49 -0700, "Charles Spitzer"
wrote:

if it's got an exterior vent, and the house is particularly airtight, could
there be some sort of harmonic air pressure fluctuations going on? that
would force the water in the traps up and down.

I'm not sure that it could be something that odd. It just seems like
air is coming out of the drain continuously as the heater runs. Could
the heater and a drain use a common vent?

- Samiel

Samiel wrote:
On Tue, 11 Jan 2005 08:44:49 -0700, "Charles Spitzer"
wrote:

if it's got an exterior vent, and the house is particularly airtight, could
there be some sort of harmonic air pressure fluctuations going on? that
would force the water in the traps up and down.

I'm not sure that it could be something that odd. It just seems like
air is coming out of the drain continuously as the heater runs. Could
the heater and a drain use a common vent?

Electric heat (which you say you have in another post) doesn't have any vents.

Damn, you gotta a weird one here, that's for sure.

I still need to get this looked at (hard since I have hardly any
vacation days to have someone come in).

I noticed today that there is actually some kind of copper tubing
coming out of the wall beneath the sink and is connected to the drain
pipe. The other sink does not have this tube connected to the drain
pipe. Maybe this is the culprit? Maybe there's some sort of air
venting connected to the sink?

- Samiel

On Mon, 10 Jan 2005 21:10:26 GMT, Samiel wrote:

For reference, this is about a newly purchased (and built) house in
Fort Worth, TX...

I woke up the other day to an annoying (though somewhat quiet) sound
of drumming originating from my master bathroom.

The master bathroom has two sinks and emitting from one of the sinks
was drumming sound. After a while it would go away and then later it
would come back again... very odd.

I checked underneath the sink and didn't notice anything odd. The
pipe itself didn't seem to be making any noise.

When I stopped up the drain, the noise stopped. Very odd!

I finally tracked it down to the heater of all things. Whenever the
heater would turn on, I'd start to hear the drumming noise again. I
popped out the drain stopper and took a look down the drain.

What I could see was water displacement since it was rippling a bit
down the drain.

Apparently, whenever the heater turns on, it's pushing air up through
the sink somehow! When I put my hand over the drain, I could feel air
pressure from the drain matching the pulsing of the drumming sound.

Anyhow, does anyone here have any suggestions on how I might go to
alleviate this problem? Is this a heater problem or a plumbing
problem? It only just started about a month after I moved in (and I
had used the heater a few times without hearing this sound). Maybe
this is normal and my water just isn't draining right?

No other sinks in the house make the sound except for this one.

How are the heater and sink connected so that air would come out of
the sink?

I was thinking that it might have been a sympathetic vibration, but I
think it's air being pushed through the water in the drain.

Any suggestions are appreciated!

- Samiel

"Samiel" wrote in message
...
I still need to get this looked at (hard since I have hardly any
vacation days to have someone come in).

I noticed today that there is actually some kind of copper tubing
coming out of the wall beneath the sink and is connected to the drain
pipe. The other sink does not have this tube connected to the drain
pipe. Maybe this is the culprit? Maybe there's some sort of air
venting connected to the sink?

do you have an r/o system? there needs to be a drain for the waste water.

- Samiel

On Mon, 10 Jan 2005 21:10:26 GMT, Samiel wrote:

For reference, this is about a newly purchased (and built) house in
Fort Worth, TX...

I woke up the other day to an annoying (though somewhat quiet) sound
of drumming originating from my master bathroom.

The master bathroom has two sinks and emitting from one of the sinks
was drumming sound. After a while it would go away and then later it
would come back again... very odd.

I checked underneath the sink and didn't notice anything odd. The
pipe itself didn't seem to be making any noise.

When I stopped up the drain, the noise stopped. Very odd!

I finally tracked it down to the heater of all things. Whenever the
heater would turn on, I'd start to hear the drumming noise again. I
popped out the drain stopper and took a look down the drain.

What I could see was water displacement since it was rippling a bit
down the drain.

Apparently, whenever the heater turns on, it's pushing air up through
the sink somehow! When I put my hand over the drain, I could feel air
pressure from the drain matching the pulsing of the drumming sound.

Anyhow, does anyone here have any suggestions on how I might go to
alleviate this problem? Is this a heater problem or a plumbing
problem? It only just started about a month after I moved in (and I
had used the heater a few times without hearing this sound). Maybe
this is normal and my water just isn't draining right?

No other sinks in the house make the sound except for this one.

How are the heater and sink connected so that air would come out of
the sink?

I was thinking that it might have been a sympathetic vibration, but I
think it's air being pushed through the water in the drain.

Any suggestions are appreciated!

- Samiel

On Tue, 25 Jan 2005 08:37:49 -0700, "Charles Spitzer"
wrote:


"Samiel" wrote in message
.. .
I still need to get this looked at (hard since I have hardly any
vacation days to have someone come in).

I noticed today that there is actually some kind of copper tubing
coming out of the wall beneath the sink and is connected to the drain
pipe. The other sink does not have this tube connected to the drain
pipe. Maybe this is the culprit? Maybe there's some sort of air
venting connected to the sink?

do you have an r/o system? there needs to be a drain for the waste water.

My ignorance shines... what's an r/o system?

- Samiel

"Samiel" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 25 Jan 2005 08:37:49 -0700, "Charles Spitzer"
wrote:


"Samiel" wrote in message
. ..
I still need to get this looked at (hard since I have hardly any
vacation days to have someone come in).

I noticed today that there is actually some kind of copper tubing
coming out of the wall beneath the sink and is connected to the drain
pipe. The other sink does not have this tube connected to the drain
pipe. Maybe this is the culprit? Maybe there's some sort of air
venting connected to the sink?

do you have an r/o system? there needs to be a drain for the waste water.

My ignorance shines... what's an r/o system?

- Samiel

reverse osmosis. you'd have a clean drinking water tap at a sink somewhere,
or perhaps plumbed into the icemaker line.

On Tue, 25 Jan 2005 09:20:15 -0700, "Charles Spitzer"
wrote:

reverse osmosis. you'd have a clean drinking water tap at a sink somewhere,
or perhaps plumbed into the icemaker line.

I don't think I have a R/O system anywhere. This is connected to the
master bath's sink, so I'm pretty sure it's nothing for drinking
water. Perhaps it's some sort of draining system for the A/C
unit/heater?

- Samiel