There's a loud humming noise - a bit higher frequency than mains hum -
coming from the water main pipe (the one with the stop tap) and
reverberating through the house.

It started in the early hours all on its own. No water was running at the
time.

I haven't touched the plumbing, honestly! No work has been done on it in
more than a year so there's no obvious cause.

All the taps - kitchen, bath and basin - are vibrating in harmony. If I run
water - either hot or cold - it doesn't stop. I hoped it might.

The stop tap is dodgy - I can't turn it right off, as discovered when trying
to fitting an outside tap (improvisation saved the day then). But turning
it _down_ doesn't seem to quiet it any. I hoped that might work too.

I'm unlikely to get any sleep tonight. Any moonlighting plumbers care to
advise?

TIA

--
Gill
concerned

Replying to my own post. I know. What else am I gonna do with all the
noise going on? Even the cats are anxious.

In ,
SmileyFace wrote:
There's a loud humming noise

It's getting louder. I've followed the pipes all around the house; it's
worst in the concealed part between the landing floor and the kitchen
ceiling.

The mains pipe travels through the hall, up under the stairs, up the landing
wall into the loft and then down into the bathroom and loo. They descend
into the kitchen so I guess they come down from the bathroom.

It's a continuous unvarying tone; I've flushed the loo [no, the ball valve
is fine], run taps [they all work ok, no drips/leaks anywhere], even turned
the washer and dishwasher on and off and nothing seems to make any
difference.

I'll try to get some rest, but it sounds horribly like someone's using a
power sander in the next room.

Nobody here but me and the cats though.

--
Gill
more concerned

sounds like water hammer http://www.plastomatic.com/water-hammer.html

I've instaled two new Radiators & i'm getting it in my heating system, when
it shuts off. If i ajust the valve on my water tank slightly it stops.

"SmileyFace" wrote in message
...
Replying to my own post. I know. What else am I gonna do with all the
noise going on? Even the cats are anxious.

In ,
SmileyFace wrote:
There's a loud humming noise

It's getting louder. I've followed the pipes all around the house; it's
worst in the concealed part between the landing floor and the kitchen
ceiling.

The mains pipe travels through the hall, up under the stairs, up the
landing
wall into the loft and then down into the bathroom and loo. They descend
into the kitchen so I guess they come down from the bathroom.

It's a continuous unvarying tone; I've flushed the loo [no, the ball valve
is fine], run taps [they all work ok, no drips/leaks anywhere], even
turned
the washer and dishwasher on and off and nothing seems to make any
difference.

I'll try to get some rest, but it sounds horribly like someone's using a
power sander in the next room.

Nobody here but me and the cats though.

--
Gill
more concerned

It's getting louder. I've followed the pipes all around the house; it's
worst in the concealed part between the landing floor and the kitchen
ceiling.

Pull the main power isolator on your consumer unit. Does the noise stop? If
so, you've got some malfunctioning electrical equipment or wiring somewhere.

Christian.

"SmileyFace" wrote in message
...
There's a loud humming noise - a bit higher frequency than mains hum -
coming from the water main pipe (the one with the stop tap) and
reverberating through the house.

It started in the early hours all on its own. No water was running at the
time.

I haven't touched the plumbing, honestly! No work has been done on it in
more than a year so there's no obvious cause.

All the taps - kitchen, bath and basin - are vibrating in harmony. If I
run
water - either hot or cold - it doesn't stop. I hoped it might.

The stop tap is dodgy - I can't turn it right off, as discovered when
trying
to fitting an outside tap (improvisation saved the day then). But turning
it _down_ doesn't seem to quiet it any. I hoped that might work too.

I'm unlikely to get any sleep tonight. Any moonlighting plumbers care to
advise?

TIA

--
Gill
concerned



sounds like you need to 'shock' it out of the system by turning on all of
the taps full blast including any appliances for a few minutes and the one
by one turning them off. the sudden change in flow through the pipes is
usually enough to stop the vicious circle of water hammer. failing that id
speak to your neighbour and get them to do the same thing.

Steve

Cheers,

This morning it's intermittent. Turning on the taps shuts it up for a
while. Sometimes the pitch varies, but it hasn't managed a tune yet.

In ,
SmileyFace wrote:
There's a loud humming noise. It's getting louder.
In ,
mmurph30 wrote:
sounds like water hammer http://www.plastomatic.com/water-hammer.html

It does, I suppose. Why did it suddenly start in the middle of the night
when nobody was using water?

My plumbing is just regular, old-fashioned house plumbing; no pumps
anywhere.

Now what do I do?

I've instaled two new Radiators & i'm getting it in my heating
system, when it shuts off. If i ajust the valve on my water tank
slightly it stops.

Glad you can do something about yours! But please don't get me started on
heating. There's a job I have to do on it but I got distracted when I was
told about it and now I've forgotten. The person who told me isn't coming
back. I daresay I'll be posting about it before too long.

Cheers

--
Gill
tired

Hi Christian,

In . net,
Christian McArdle wrote:
It's getting louder. I've followed the pipes all around the house;
it's worst in the concealed part between the landing floor and the
kitchen ceiling.

Pull the main power isolator on your consumer unit. Does the noise
stop? If so, you've got some malfunctioning electrical equipment or
wiring somewhere.

It's definitely hydraulic, not electrical. Somewhat better today in that
it's intermittent, but I've no idea why it happened. For once, it wasn't
anything I did.

Cheers,

--
Gill
calmer after a few hours sleep

Hi Steve,

In ,
r.p.mcmurphy wrote:
"SmileyFace" wrote in message
...
There's a loud humming noise coming from the water main pipe

sounds like you need to 'shock' it out of the system by turning on
all of the taps full blast including any appliances for a few minutes
and the one by one turning them off. the sudden change in flow
through the pipes is usually enough to stop the vicious circle of
water hammer.

OK, cool. That sounds like a fix I can live with. Off to do it now.

failing that id speak to your neighbour and get them
to do the same thing.

At first I thought it was them hoovering! But they don't get up till 5 am.
I'll do that if necessary; I live in a semi so it's likely our water
supplies are linked.

Cheers,

--
Gill
all quiet for now

It's definitely hydraulic, not electrical. Somewhat better today in that
it's intermittent, but I've no idea why it happened. For once, it wasn't
anything I did.

I wasn't suggesting that the noise was coming from the electrical equipment,
just that it is the source.

It is quite common for some piece of electrical equipment to come in contact
with the water pipe and resonate it. You are likely to get either 50Hz,
100Hz or harmonics thereof. It can be intermittent as the equipment touches
or otherwise as things move or expand with temperature etc.

Christian.

"SmileyFace" wrote in message
...
Hi Steve,

In ,
r.p.mcmurphy wrote:
"SmileyFace" wrote in message
...
There's a loud humming noise coming from the water main pipe

sounds like you need to 'shock' it out of the system by turning on
all of the taps full blast including any appliances for a few minutes
and the one by one turning them off. the sudden change in flow
through the pipes is usually enough to stop the vicious circle of
water hammer.

OK, cool. That sounds like a fix I can live with. Off to do it now.

failing that id speak to your neighbour and get them
to do the same thing.

At first I thought it was them hoovering! But they don't get up till 5
am.
I'll do that if necessary; I live in a semi so it's likely our water
supplies are linked.

Cheers,

--
Gill
all quiet for now



np. the problem is unlikely to go away until the source of the initial jolt
that starts the hammering is found and fixed. i have the same prob in my
house...when i use the hot water the cold water tank in the lofts' ballvalve
which is circa 15 years old closes suddenly and causes the jolt that start
the water hammer. it last about 10 mins and dies away naturally unless i
run the cold water tap and flush the loo to stop it first. its not bad
enough to fix just yet, but when i next do some plumbing work i will fit a
new one to solve the prob. it sounds like its your neighbour that has the
water hammer problem, might be worth having a chat if it becomes more of a
nuisance.

Steve

Hi Christian,

In . net,
Christian McArdle wrote:
It's definitely hydraulic, not electrical.

I wasn't suggesting that the noise was coming from the electrical
equipment, just that it is the source.

Ah, OK. Bit hasty there.

It is quite common for some piece of electrical equipment to come in
contact with the water pipe and resonate it. You are likely to get
either 50Hz, 100Hz or harmonics thereof. It can be intermittent as
the equipment touches or otherwise as things move or expand with
temperature etc.

Bugger, I'll have to shut my computers down to find out.

OK, turning off the water at the stop-tap didn't shut it up. I removed the
pipe boxing from around it hoping there'd be something obvious but there
wasn't. I ran all the taps till the flow stopped [near as dammit, the
stop-tap's duff]. Still making a din, which didn't alter when I turned it
back on. If I could figure out why it suddenly started I'd be happier.
Ain't life like that?

So now, time to shutdown the computers.
Will report back.

--
Gill
got a headache now

Back again,

In . net,
Christian McArdle wrote:
Pull the main power isolator on your consumer unit. Does the noise
stop?

No, that didn't do anything either. Except set off the burglar alarm; that
was fun.

BTW the incoming main is on the opposite side to the neighbours', on the
outside edge of the pair of houses. They're out anyway, but I doubt it has
anything to do with them. You can't hear it much on 'their' side of the
house, where there's no water pipes.

Any more ideas? Please? I can't afford to call anyone out, even if they're
working atm, which is unlikely. I'm thinking I might have to start ripping
up the landing carpet and floorboards. I don't fancy doing that much.

Cheers,

--
Gill
stuck for ideas, considering earplugs

On Thu, 30 Dec 2004 04:29:13 GMT, SmileyFace wrote:

There's a loud humming noise - a bit higher frequency than mains hum -
coming from the water main pipe (the one with the stop tap) and
reverberating through the house.

It started in the early hours all on its own. No water was running at the
time.

I haven't touched the plumbing, honestly! No work has been done on it in
more than a year so there's no obvious cause.

All the taps - kitchen, bath and basin - are vibrating in harmony. If I run
water - either hot or cold - it doesn't stop. I hoped it might.

The stop tap is dodgy - I can't turn it right off, as discovered when trying
to fitting an outside tap (improvisation saved the day then). But turning
it _down_ doesn't seem to quiet it any. I hoped that might work too.

I'm unlikely to get any sleep tonight. Any moonlighting plumbers care to
advise?

TIA

Could be a leak before the stop tap. I had a leak in the underground main
about 6m before the pipe enters the house, and you could hear a noise from
some of the pipes inside. Have you got an outside stop tap you can turn off
to try? Should be one at the property boundary.

Hi,

In ,
John Armstrong wrote:
On Thu, 30 Dec 2004 04:29:13 GMT, SmileyFace wrote:
There's a loud humming noise coming from the water main pipe
Could be a leak before the stop tap.

I wondered about that. I've been outside and listened carefully but there's
no sound of water at all. Just that infernal hum on the inside.

Have you got an outside stop tap
you can turn off to try? Should be one at the property boundary.

You'd have thought so, wouldn't you? Our LA decided we were too poor for
pavements round here and laid hot-melt instead a few years ago. Every
access point got buried in the stuff. The NTL cable guys had to dig to find
their outlet. I suspect the external tap went the same way.

Could it be that the stop-tap itself, in that it won't shut off properly, is
the cause of the din? Right now it's turned off, all the taps are turned on
(and I remembered to turn off the heating) but water is still trickling from
the kitchen tap. The hum is intermittent and reduced, but still there.

I'm thoroughly fed up with this now. I'll turn the TV on loud. ;/

Cheers

--
Gill
happy new year, by the way

"SmileyFace" wrote in message
...
There's a loud humming noise - a bit higher frequency than mains hum -
coming from the water main pipe (the one with the stop tap) and
reverberating through the house.

I get a noise like that too, but only when water is running.

My noise varies in tone with the rate of flow of water and is lowest when
the washing machine is on maximum flow, dropping to a low growel. I
believe my noise is caused by the turbine type flowmeter installed in the
water co stop cock hole in the street. The water meter is about 20 m of
underground run from the stop cock in the kitchen.

Though your noise is unrelated to your water flow I wonder if could be due
to the noise of your neigbours water meter conducted along your pipe from
some combined water meter block feeding all the houses.

It's all a bit unlikley, but then your noise must be coming from somewhere.
Can't say I've ever heard comment on water flow noises generated by water
meters. Can they really do this?

Roger

"Roger" wrote in message
...

"SmileyFace" wrote in message
...
There's a loud humming noise - a bit higher frequency than mains hum -
coming from the water main pipe (the one with the stop tap) and
reverberating through the house.

Sounds like water hammer to me, have you checked the ballcock valve in the
water tank in the attic?

Just because you haven't changed anything in your installation the water
board may have increased / decreased the pressure of the incomming water to
your property which can cause watter hammet o come and go without any reason
(that you are aware of anyway) and can be a bitch to catch..

What is youe incomming water pressure anyway?

A way arround the problem (if it is very high pressure) is to install a
pressure reducing valve on the incomming water mains and set it to something
lower that tne incomming water pressure (mine is set to 3 Bar and the
incomming water pressure changes from 2.5 Bar to more that 7 Bar)

By setting the pressure to something fixed you it gets much easier to find
the offending valve and get it fixed...


I get a noise like that too, but only when water is running.

Again sounds like either an airlock somewhere or water hammer..


My noise varies in tone with the rate of flow of water and is lowest when
the washing machine is on maximum flow, dropping to a low growel. I
believe my noise is caused by the turbine type flowmeter installed in the
water co stop cock hole in the street. The water meter is about 20 m of
underground run from the stop cock in the kitchen.

If the noise is created by the meter then it's probably a airlock in the
meter that causes cavitation (microscopic areas where the water boils due to
very low pressure, very bad for the impeller...) but then the noise will be
very much related to use, ie. more use, faster spinning impeller - more
cavitation...


Though your noise is unrelated to your water flow I wonder if could be due
to the noise of your neigbours water meter conducted along your pipe from
some combined water meter block feeding all the houses.

Have you tried to close the stopcock in front if the meter, that will tell
you if the problem is yours or comming from somwhere else, close the stop
cock and open a couple of taps in your house (tie up the ballcock in the
water tank in the attic if you have one). Is it still noisy, then it would
have to come from outside your dwelling and pretty mich out of your control
anymore.


It's all a bit unlikley, but then your noise must be coming from
somewhere.
Can't say I've ever heard comment on water flow noises generated by water
meters. Can they really do this?

In theory yes but they would have to 'spin faster' than the water they
meassure to create the microscopic areas with very low pressure and
subsequent boilg / explosion of the water, and since the impeller is driven
by the water the impeller would be spinning slower that the water if you
know whet I mean...




---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.825 / Virus Database: 563 - Release Date: 30/12/2004

In ,
Roger wrote:
"SmileyFace" wrote in message
...
[loud humming noise coming from the water main pipe]
[reverberating through the house]

Though your noise is unrelated to your water flow I wonder if could
be due to the noise of your neigbours water meter conducted along
your pipe from some combined water meter block feeding all the houses.

Weird that it *just* started to happen on Wednesday morning, all the same.
And it hasn't stopped yet. I tried running all the taps/appliances at once
but it didn't help. Then I took the boxing from around the stop tap to see
if there was anything obvious there. No, there wasn't.

I've even turned the water off at the stop tap and run all the taps to drain
everything out. Twice. And it hummed the whole time. Though I admit the
stop tap doesn't quite "stop" but reduces flow to a trickle. Naturally it
continued to hum when I put the water back on.

It's intermittent now, and the pitch varies for no apparent reason. It's
driving me nuts. When it's loudest, I can hear it in every room. And right
around the clock, too.

I seem to have pinpointed where it's worst; in a most awkward place near/at
the top of the stairs, where I can't see the pipe without wrecking
something.

Could it be as simple as a pipe stand-off that has fractured over time? Of
course, I'd still have to *find* it.

It's all a bit unlikley, but then your noise must be coming from
somewhere. Can't say I've ever heard comment on water flow noises
generated by water meters. Can they really do this?

Well, I don't have one (and apparently I should), and I don't *think* the
other semi does. But on the *other* side of my house is a small housing
association estate built in 2000. Would properties built so recently be
*required* to have meters?

Bugger, this is annoying.

Cheers,

--
Gill

In ,
Morten wrote:
"Roger" wrote in message
...
"SmileyFace" wrote in message
...
[loud humming noise coming from the water main]

Sounds like water hammer to me, have you checked the ballcock valve
in the water tank in the attic?

No, I admit I've been putting it off. Long story. I'll go up there today
gulp.

Just because you haven't changed anything in your installation the
water board may have increased / decreased the pressure of the
incomming water to your property which can cause watter hammet o come
and go without any reason (that you are aware of anyway) and can be a
bitch to catch..

Amen brother. Why they'd do that in between C*****mas and new year beats
the hell out of me. *But* I saw one of their vans outside yesterday
evening, wasn't fast enough to get out and question the driver though.

What is youe incomming water pressure anyway?

I don't know, but it isn't brilliant and I can't say I've noticed a change.

[install a pressure reducing valve]

That's one for after the holidays. My handyman won't be around any more and
I have to step into his overalls, as it were. And first I expect I'd
have to find the external stopcock, and a lot of courage. I used to love
DIY but I hate doing it alone; two heads are much better than one when
something turns mean. If I can avoid it, I will.

Have you tried to close the stopcock in front if the meter, that will
tell you if the problem is yours or comming from somwhere else, close
the stop cock and open a couple of taps in your house (tie up the
ballcock in the water tank in the attic if you have one). Is it still
noisy, then it would have to come from outside your dwelling and
pretty mich out of your control anymore.

I can't find the external stopcock; it was probably buried like the NTL
cable point when our LA decided to tarmac what was once pavement.

D'you think calling the water board [after the holiday] might help? What I
*don't* want is a huge bill from anyone. If it comes to that, I'll buy
earplugs.

Cheers,

--
Gill
starting to hum in sympathy

"SmileyFace" wrote in
:

I've even turned the water off at the stop tap and run all the taps to
drain everything out. Twice. And it hummed the whole time. Though I
admit the stop tap doesn't quite "stop" but reduces flow to a trickle.
Naturally it continued to hum when I put the water back on.

Could it be your neighbours' stop tap that is making the noise? When we had
a similar problem recently it ended up being their problem. But this was
extremely hard to believe from the noise (and vibration) in our own
pipework. We did turn everything off and the noise continued. Went round
and found that they were suffering much worse than we were.

--
Rod

www.annalaurie.co.uk

In ,
Rod Hewitt wrote:
"SmileyFace" wrote in
:

[turned the water off and it hummed the whole time]

Could it be your neighbours' stop tap that is making the noise? When
we had a similar problem recently it ended up being their problem.
But this was extremely hard to believe from the noise (and vibration)
in our own pipework. We did turn everything off and the noise
continued. Went round and found that they were suffering much worse
than we were.

Thanks, Rod. I'll finish my cup of tea and pop round. I'd rather it was
someone else's problem.

They'll "get a man out" if it is.

Cheers,

--
Gill

On Sat, 01 Jan 2005 13:17:35 GMT, SmileyFace wrote:

D'you think calling the water board [after the holiday] might help? What I
*don't* want is a huge bill from anyone. If it comes to that, I'll buy
earplugs.

The outside stop tap is the water co's responsibility, so they should sort
that. When I had my leak last year, they fixed it free of charge (although
it did take them a few weeks), even though the pipe that was leaking was my
responsibility - its in their interest to fix it if you aren't on a metered
supply. Check the water co's website, they may have a similar service.

In ,
Rod Hewitt wrote:
"SmileyFace" wrote in
:
I've even turned the water off at the stop tap and run all the taps
to drain everything out. Twice. And it hummed the whole time.

Could it be your neighbours' stop tap that is making the noise? When
we had a similar problem recently it ended up being their problem.

Just back from the neighbour's; she's had the same noise but blamed it on
having left a shower running [?] the other day. She now knows it isn't just
her problem. But she has to wait for a relative to show up before anything
[what?] can be done.

I can't get an answer from the house on the other side. Buggers never
answer the door, particularly when they've parked across my drive. Grrr.

But this was extremely hard to believe from the noise (and vibration)
in our own pipework. We did turn everything off and the noise
continued. Went round and found that they were suffering much worse
than we were.

How was it resolved in the end? There's only me and an elderly lady to sort
it out, and we're both broke.

At least I'm relatively capable once I know what to do.

Cheers,


--
Gill

In ,
John Armstrong wrote:
On Sat, 01 Jan 2005 13:17:35 GMT, SmileyFace wrote:

What I *don't* want is a huge bill

The outside stop tap is the water co's responsibility, so they should
sort that. When I had my leak last year, they fixed it free of charge
(although it did take them a few weeks), even though the pipe that
was leaking was my responsibility - its in their interest to fix it
if you aren't on a metered supply. Check the water co's website, they
may have a similar service.

Excellent intelligence. I shall go google.
They have a site of sorts, not particularly helpful. Given the time of day
and year, I've emailed them. I'll get on the phone in the morning.

Thanks.


--
Gill

"SmileyFace" wrote in
:

How was it resolved in the end? There's only me and an elderly lady
to sort it out, and we're both broke.

Someone came and looked and, umm, did something. A few months later it
recurred and another person came and did something again... Just hoping
that it really is solved, but maybe it isn't! I suspect the stop tap at the
bottom of the hole in their garden needed a new washer, jumper or something
like that.

Something that improved it a bit was turning their internal stop tap down a
bit (and off at night). Relations with them not good so it is unlikely that
we will ever find out what was done.

--
Rod

www.annalaurie.co.uk

Update: still humming almost a week later, but the water board finally had
an operative free.

In . net,
Christian McArdle wrote:
It is quite common for some piece of electrical equipment to come in
contact with the water pipe and resonate it. You are likely to get
either 50Hz, 100Hz or harmonics thereof. It can be intermittent as
the equipment touches or otherwise as things move or expand with
temperature etc.

Apparently it has affected quite a wide area; an estate built a few years
ago with all-plastic plumbing is also vibrating.

The water board sent a guy out. He scratched his head and called in a guy
from the electricity board. They scratched their heads in stereo. It seems
my house is the worst affected. They didn't stay here long.

They've had a close look at lamp-posts in the area, and were last seen
eyeing a nearby substation with suspicion. Daresay they've gone home for
the night now.

*shrugs*

Gill

On Wed, 5 Jan 2005 16:29:02 -0000, "SmileyFace"
wrote:

Update: still humming almost a week later, but the water board finally had
an operative free.

In . net,
Christian McArdle wrote:
It is quite common for some piece of electrical equipment to come in
contact with the water pipe and resonate it. You are likely to get
either 50Hz, 100Hz or harmonics thereof. It can be intermittent as
the equipment touches or otherwise as things move or expand with
temperature etc.

Apparently it has affected quite a wide area; an estate built a few years
ago with all-plastic plumbing is also vibrating.

The water board sent a guy out. He scratched his head and called in a guy
from the electricity board. They scratched their heads in stereo. It seems
my house is the worst affected. They didn't stay here long.

They've had a close look at lamp-posts in the area, and were last seen
eyeing a nearby substation with suspicion. Daresay they've gone home for
the night now.

*shrugs*

Gill


Hi,

Might be worth a call to a leak detecting company to see if they have
any initial ideas. Or make a listening stick out of a 2"ish square
length of wood with a small sheet of ply screwed to the end, and try
it on the pipes/building in different places or even outdoors where
the incoming main is.

Also try closing the stop cock while a tap is running on full, then
any debris in it has a better chance of being shifted as the flow is
being restricted.

cheers,
Pete.

Situation report. Original post 31/12/05 at 04:29

In ,
SmileyFace wrote:
[loud humming noise coming from the water main]

12 days on and the noise is still getting worse. The water board are
playing telephone tag with the environmental health department. It seems
the fundamental issue is they don't know what's causing it so they're hoping
it will go away.

The pitch and volume now vary quite a bit, being loudest and most variable
from midnight to 04:00. It can be quite scary when it 'revs up' a few
gears - sounds like a 2-stroke only indoors. Not restful or sleep-inducing.

It hums like a motor running, but the variable pitch is puzzling. Is there
any flow-dependent pumping equipment in use for domestic water supplies?
Could a pump in the main supply route be running its bearings and
transmitting them through our pipes? Or am I just going nuts?

Does anyone have any better understanding of domestic water distribution to
point us in the right direction? This is way beyond a joke.

TIA

Gill
ear defenders muffle everything *else*

"SmileyFace" wrote in message
...
Situation report. Original post 31/12/05 at 04:29

In ,
SmileyFace wrote:
[loud humming noise coming from the water main]

12 days on and the noise is still getting worse. The water board are
playing telephone tag with the environmental health department. It seems
the fundamental issue is they don't know what's causing it so they're
hoping
it will go away.

Something like this usually happens when something happens, like they did
work on a main pipe, upper or lowered the pressure, etc. They could try
raising or lowering the pressure to see it that stops it. Also they should
contact the gas and electricity people to see of they have done something in
the area. Has one of the estates, or blocks of flats had something done to
them?

Usually one of these problems can be solved by simple detective work. I
recall an estate that had its gas cooker burners come on and off. Very
dangerous as unignited gas comes on. A little telephoning the local
factories showed that one factory has a blast furnace install that morning.
On inspection the installers never fitted non-return valves on the air and
gas lines, forcing air into the gas main. It was promptly turned off.

The pitch and volume now vary quite a bit, being loudest and most variable
from midnight to 04:00. It can be quite scary when it 'revs up' a few
gears - sounds like a 2-stroke only indoors. Not restful or
sleep-inducing.

It hums like a motor running, but the variable pitch is puzzling. Is
there
any flow-dependent pumping equipment in use for domestic water supplies?
Could a pump in the main supply route be running its bearings and
transmitting them through our pipes? Or am I just going nuts?

Does anyone have any better understanding
of domestic water distribution to
point us in the right direction? This is way beyond a joke.

IMM wrote:

Something like this usually happens when something happens, [...]

That's my entry for IMM-quote-of-the-year-to-date.

--
Andy

On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 19:12:54 GMT, "SmileyFace"
wrote:

12 days on and the noise is still getting worse. The water board are
playing telephone tag with the environmental health department. It seems
the fundamental issue is they don't know what's causing it so they're hoping
it will go away.

....

Does anyone have any better understanding of domestic water distribution to
point us in the right direction? This is way beyond a joke.

Sounds like a case for the local newspaper.
--
On-line canal route planner: http://www.canalplan.org.uk

(Waterways World site of the month, April 2001)

In ,
Nick Atty wrote:
On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 19:12:54 GMT, "SmileyFace"
wrote:
[12 days on]
[way beyond a joke]

Sounds like a case for the local newspaper.

It's what I plan in the next few days. Just want to make sure there's
someone else to appear in the photo so I can duck out.

Of course, they could pull their fingers out. But first they'd have to find
them.

Cheers,

Gill

In ,
SmileyFace wrote:
In ,
SmileyFace wrote:
[loud humming noise coming from the water main]
[12 days on and getting worse]

Resolution at last. Finally the water board sent a crew out at night; they
shut off the supply to our houses and the noise immediately stopped. From
this they deduced an underground leak and its approximate position.

Tonight they dug a hole in the road, and I don't much care what they did
next. The noise stopped.

How little it takes to delight a fool.

Gill

"SmileyFace" wrote in message
...
In ,
SmileyFace wrote:
In ,
SmileyFace wrote:
[loud humming noise coming from the water main]
[12 days on and getting worse]

Resolution at last. Finally the water board sent a crew out at night;
they
shut off the supply to our houses and the noise immediately stopped. From
this they deduced an underground leak and its approximate position.

Tonight they dug a hole in the road, and I don't much care what they did
next. The noise stopped.

How little it takes to delight a fool.

What about the noise in the housing estate? Where did that come from?

In ,
IMM wrote:
"SmileyFace" wrote in message
...
In ,
SmileyFace wrote:
In ,
SmileyFace wrote:
[loud humming noise coming from the water main]
[12 days on and getting worse]
[underground leak]

What about the noise in the housing estate? Where did that come from?

Same place, I assume. It wasn't _my_ main; it was in the middle of the road
and served quite an area.

Someone suggested the noise could have been caused by air in pipes and/or
pressure variations; but he's a musician.

I'll know the noise again, for certain. Anyone asks about humming pipes,
ping me.

Gill

"SmileyFace" wrote in message
...
In ,
IMM wrote:
"SmileyFace" wrote in message
...
In ,
SmileyFace wrote:
In ,
SmileyFace wrote:
[loud humming noise coming from the water main]
[12 days on and getting worse]
[underground leak]

What about the noise in the housing estate? Where did that come from?

Same place, I assume. It wasn't _my_ main; it was in the middle of the
road
and served quite an area.

Someone suggested the noise could have been caused by air in pipes and/or
pressure variations; but he's a musician.

I'll know the noise again, for certain. Anyone asks about humming pipes,
ping me.

It must a been a hell of a fracture to cause that amount of noise in so many
houses.

On Thu, 13 Jan 2005 23:32:32 -0000, IMM wrote:

"SmileyFace" wrote in message
...
In ,
IMM wrote:
"SmileyFace" wrote in message
...
In ,
SmileyFace wrote:
In ,
SmileyFace wrote:
[loud humming noise coming from the water main]
[12 days on and getting worse]
[underground leak]

What about the noise in the housing estate? Where did that come from?

Same place, I assume. It wasn't _my_ main; it was in the middle of the
road
and served quite an area.

Someone suggested the noise could have been caused by air in pipes and/or
pressure variations; but he's a musician.

I'll know the noise again, for certain. Anyone asks about humming pipes,
ping me.

It must a been a hell of a fracture to cause that amount of noise in so many
houses.

Next question is where was all the water going.....