Last night I was awoken a couple of times by a loud noise coming from
what sounded like under my bedroom. The noise was mechanical sounding
(kind of a humming or buzzing) that began abruptly lasted about 2-3
seconds, and then stopped. When it stopped, I heard the drain in the
bathtub gurgle a little. This happened 2 or three times in the night
.... and I think I just heard it again (although I'm in a different room
now). Here's some additional information: (1) I've lived in the house
since August, through various weather conditions, and haven't heard the
noise before; (2) it was raining a lot (but not as much as it has
before) last night; (3) the house has a crawl-space and possibly
(though I've never seen it) a sump pump; (4) we ran the dishwasher
before bed, but the sound also occurred much later at night/early this
morning and the dishwasher seems to be empty and through it's cycle;
(5) my wife heard the sound too (so I wasn't just "hearing things").

Any ideas of what it could be??? Do I just need to get under the house
and investigate? What could cause the humming/buzzing plus the water
gurgling?

Thanks for any suggestions!
~d.

"panther2603" wrote in message
oups.com...
Last night I was awoken a couple of times by a loud noise coming from
what sounded like under my bedroom. The noise was mechanical sounding
(kind of a humming or buzzing) that began abruptly lasted about 2-3
seconds, and then stopped. When it stopped, I heard the drain in the
bathtub gurgle a little. This happened 2 or three times in the night
... and I think I just heard it again (although I'm in a different room
now). Here's some additional information: (1) I've lived in the house
since August, through various weather conditions, and haven't heard the
noise before; (2) it was raining a lot (but not as much as it has
before) last night; (3) the house has a crawl-space and possibly
(though I've never seen it) a sump pump; (4) we ran the dishwasher
before bed, but the sound also occurred much later at night/early this
morning and the dishwasher seems to be empty and through it's cycle;
(5) my wife heard the sound too (so I wasn't just "hearing things").

Any ideas of what it could be??? Do I just need to get under the house
and investigate? What could cause the humming/buzzing plus the water
gurgling?

Thanks for any suggestions!
~d.


My guess is that you have a sump pump. How could you live in a house that
long and not know if you had a sump pump? Are you young, first time
homeowners?

On 17 Jan 2006 09:09:30 -0800, "panther2603"
wrote:

Last night I was awoken a couple of times by a loud noise coming from
what sounded like under my bedroom. The noise was mechanical sounding
(kind of a humming or buzzing) that began abruptly lasted about 2-3
seconds, and then stopped. When it stopped, I heard the drain in the
bathtub gurgle a little. This happened 2 or three times in the night
... and I think I just heard it again (although I'm in a different room
now). Here's some additional information: (1) I've lived in the house
since August, through various weather conditions, and haven't heard the
noise before; (2) it was raining a lot (but not as much as it has
before) last night; (3) the house has a crawl-space and possibly
(though I've never seen it) a sump pump; (4) we ran the dishwasher
before bed, but the sound also occurred much later at night/early this
morning and the dishwasher seems to be empty and through it's cycle;
(5) my wife heard the sound too (so I wasn't just "hearing things").

Any ideas of what it could be??? Do I just need to get under the house
and investigate? What could cause the humming/buzzing plus the water
gurgling?

Thanks for any suggestions!
~d.

In my house, that would be the water treatment system
backflushing.

It's only been 5 months.... I guess I've just never gone under to look
-- it's a realm with which I'm simply not familiar. So yes; I am a
first-time homeowner. Do you think that's a normal thing for a sump
pump to do (the noise, I mean)?

"Goedjn" wrote in message
news
On 17 Jan 2006 09:09:30 -0800, "panther2603"
wrote:

Last night I was awoken a couple of times by a loud noise coming from
what sounded like under my bedroom. The noise was mechanical sounding
(kind of a humming or buzzing) that began abruptly lasted about 2-3
seconds, and then stopped. When it stopped, I heard the drain in the
bathtub gurgle a little. This happened 2 or three times in the night
... and I think I just heard it again (although I'm in a different room
now). Here's some additional information: (1) I've lived in the house
since August, through various weather conditions, and haven't heard the
noise before; (2) it was raining a lot (but not as much as it has
before) last night; (3) the house has a crawl-space and possibly
(though I've never seen it) a sump pump; (4) we ran the dishwasher
before bed, but the sound also occurred much later at night/early this
morning and the dishwasher seems to be empty and through it's cycle;
(5) my wife heard the sound too (so I wasn't just "hearing things").

Any ideas of what it could be??? Do I just need to get under the house
and investigate? What could cause the humming/buzzing plus the water
gurgling?

Thanks for any suggestions!
~d.

In my house, that would be the water treatment system
backflushing.


Water treatment system?

"panther2603" wrote in message
ups.com...
It's only been 5 months.... I guess I've just never gone under to look
-- it's a realm with which I'm simply not familiar. So yes; I am a
first-time homeowner. Do you think that's a normal thing for a sump
pump to do (the noise, I mean)?


The gurgling in the toilet doesn't sound right, but the rest of the
characteristics sound accurate.

I'm pretty sure I don't have a water treatment system. As for the
gurgling, it sounded like it came from the tub (not the toilet).

How about an ejector pump that has a bad check valve....

"Hank" wrote in message
oups.com...
How about an ejector pump that has a bad check valve....


What's that? For pumping out sewage?

Yup had one in a few houses back, trilevel and was used to send sewage
out to street sewer connection!

Pretty sure I don't have one of those, either ... had some plumbing
issues a little while back (roots in the pipe out to the street) and it
never came up.

I'll have to pay closer attention to things over the next couple of
days. Given that I haven't heard it since I opened up the dishwasher
today, I'm beginning to wonder if there isn't something wrong there and
it just *sounded* like it was coming from under the house. Of course,
the rain let up, too; so it could still have been the sump pump. We'll
see....

Doug Kanter wrote:

In my house, that would be the water treatment system
backflushing.


Water treatment system?

Think water softener.

"HeyBub" wrote in message
...
Doug Kanter wrote:

In my house, that would be the water treatment system
backflushing.


Water treatment system?

Think water softener.


Oh...OK. I was thinking some other thing. Never mind. :-)

On Tue, 17 Jan 2006 18:21:23 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:


"panther2603" wrote in message
oups.com...
It's only been 5 months.... I guess I've just never gone under to look
-- it's a realm with which I'm simply not familiar. So yes; I am a
first-time homeowner. Do you think that's a normal thing for a sump
pump to do (the noise, I mean)?


The gurgling in the toilet doesn't sound right, but the rest of the
characteristics sound accurate.


I agree it's a sump pump. Most homeowners spend their first few days
in a house learning what the house contains and looking for problems.
I suggest you (the OP) do that.

The sump pump may be piped into the sewer, in which case could cause
the toilet to gurgle, particularly if the vent in clogged or too
small. Many areas do not allow hooking a sump pump to the sewer, but
some do, or it could illegally be connected that way.

If it's NOT hooked to the sewer, there has to be a discharge pipe
somewhere on the outside of the house. Look for it......

wrote in message
...
On Tue, 17 Jan 2006 18:21:23 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:


"panther2603" wrote in message
roups.com...
It's only been 5 months.... I guess I've just never gone under to look
-- it's a realm with which I'm simply not familiar. So yes; I am a
first-time homeowner. Do you think that's a normal thing for a sump
pump to do (the noise, I mean)?


The gurgling in the toilet doesn't sound right, but the rest of the
characteristics sound accurate.


I agree it's a sump pump. Most homeowners spend their first few days
in a house learning what the house contains and looking for problems.
I suggest you (the OP) do that.

Agreed. Turn off the TV & stereo. Listen to your house. One day, you'll be
making bouncy bouncy with the wife and there'll be a weird noise and that'll
ruin the whole moment unless you can say "Relax - that was the whatever".