Members bholder Posted January 30, 2008 Members Share Posted January 30, 2008 Had an odd thing happen when I showered this morning - the shower head pipe began vibrating, humming / buzzing almost violently at times, and seemingly at the typical 60hz hum. Nothing else in the house that I can find was acting that way. It continued after I shut the water off, then I went around opening and closing various faucets to see if it was some odd pressure thing, no change. I went downstairs to the water heater, I know they can sometimes develop 60hz vibration if there's mineral deposits on the element (electric), but nothing detectable there (though it's a safe bet the element is well coated with mineral crud). There's nothing electrical or mechanical that I know of in contact with the pipe in question. I just got home from work some 11 hours later, and it's still at it, buzzing away. Again, nothing else in the house, including the water heater, seems to be affected. WTF? I guess I'm still assuming it's the heater, but shouldn't there be some sign of it at the heater itself? I guess I can shut the heater off and see what happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rowka Posted January 30, 2008 Members Share Posted January 30, 2008 Maybe it was frustrated 'cause it doesn't know the words... I'm just sayin' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Thrashterpiece Posted January 30, 2008 Members Share Posted January 30, 2008 Maybe it was frustrated 'cause it doesn't know the words...I'm just sayin' LMFAO!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members walkerci Posted January 30, 2008 Members Share Posted January 30, 2008 Could it be water hammer? And BTW, why are you using electric to heat water in New York?That has got to be the most expensive way to do it.No natural gas service in your area? If it's water hammer, you can solve that easily and cheaply with a T, a short length of pipe, and a cap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bholder Posted January 30, 2008 Author Members Share Posted January 30, 2008 Could it be water hammer?And BTW, why are you using electric to heat water in New York?That has got to be the most expensive way to do it.No natural gas service in your area?If it's water hammer, you can solve that easily and cheaply with a T, a short length of pipe, and a cap. A water hammer should go away when I open other faucets on that line, shouldn't it? And it wouldn't be continually vibrating at a fixed frequency for hours on end, would it? As for why - yeah, the house was built all electric, no gas service within 1/2 a mile or more. I should have converted to LP a long time ago, just haven't gotten to it. The weird thing is I've been here for 17+ years, first time anything like this has happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author Craig Vecchione Posted January 30, 2008 CMS Author Share Posted January 30, 2008 Water hammer is a noise that starts/occurs when a valve is shut off, not when water is running. If your bath/shower has a diverter in the tub spout, I'd suspect that it's not closing completely. When this happens, some water leaks out of the tub spout and it will make noise from a high-pitched whine to a low gutteral groan. If that's not it, let me know what the tub plumbingis set up like, make of faucet, what diverter is where, how old, etc. I'll look at this in the morning....it's bedtime for this cat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bholder Posted January 30, 2008 Author Members Share Posted January 30, 2008 Water hammer is a noise that starts/occurs when a valve is shut off, not when water is running. If your bath/shower has a diverter in the tub spout, I'd suspect that it's not closing completely. When this happens, some water leaks out of the tub spout and it will make noise from a high-pitched whine to a low gutteral groan. If that's not it, let me know what the tub plumbingis set up like, make of faucet, what diverter is where, how old, etc. I'll look at this in the morning....it's bedtime for this cat. I've dealt with water hammers before, never heard anything like this. It's a constant vibration, fixed frequency, whether the water if flowing in that, or any other, fixture. Ok, now it gets weird: I went down to the breaker box, shut off both halves of the water heater, as well as the pump. Back upstairs, still humming away. Back downstairs, shut off all power, find my way back up with a flashlight, still humming just the same. Open all the fixtures in the room, let pressure drain for at least 30 seconds, no difference, still humming. As far as I can tell, going on 12 hours non stop now, no changes. I even removed the showerhead fixture so that I just have the empty pipe coming out of the wall. Moving on to paranormal explanations, I suppose. Or perhaps I've found some bizarre new perpetual motion machine energy source. Uh-huh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bholder Posted January 30, 2008 Author Members Share Posted January 30, 2008 Oh, and yeah, it's the usual diverter in the tub spout setup - I've run it both ways since it started, and let it drain again. No difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fiery Furnace Posted January 30, 2008 Members Share Posted January 30, 2008 Ghost in the Pipe! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rowka Posted January 30, 2008 Members Share Posted January 30, 2008 Could be a bad valve that is leaking hot water into your cold water line. ?When you shut off pump and opened the offending valve there was no flow, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bholder Posted January 30, 2008 Author Members Share Posted January 30, 2008 Could be a bad valve that is leaking hot water into your cold water line. ?When you shut off pump and opened the offending valve there was no flow, right? Nope, still had flow because it runs off a pressure tank after the pump, which I didn't entirely drain down. Interesting theory, though, the shower valve is one of those 70s style "one big knob" things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bholder Posted January 30, 2008 Author Members Share Posted January 30, 2008 That wasn't it either. Shut down the water valves, drained off all pressure, still humming. Then I suddenly figured out what it is, and now I feel like a complete idiot - I shave in the shower, and I have one of those battery powered Gillette vibrating razors. I keep it in a wire rack that hangs from the shower pipe. I apparently accidentally turned it back on this morning after I was done using it, sympathetic vibration in the long stretch of unanchored pipe and the wall itself amplified the effect, must have had some resonant frequency thing going on. D'oh! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gspointer Posted January 30, 2008 Members Share Posted January 30, 2008 is it windy outside Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hunter6 Posted January 30, 2008 Members Share Posted January 30, 2008 That wasn't it either. Shut down the water valves, drained off all pressure, still humming. Then I suddenly figured out what it is, and now I feel like a complete idiot - I shave in the shower, and I have one of those battery powered Gillette vibrating razors. I keep it in a wire rack that hangs from the shower pipe. I apparently accidentally turned it back on this morning after I was done using it, sympathetic vibration in the long stretch of unanchored pipe and the wall itself amplified the effect, must have had some resonant frequency thing going on. D'oh! Hahahahaha. I love when stuff like that happens because it always make me feel like a total ass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bholder Posted January 30, 2008 Author Members Share Posted January 30, 2008 The amazing thing is that the noise was far louder, and the vibration of the pipe far stronger when I held it tight in my hand, than I ever would have imagined possible from the tiny little motor in the razor. But that was indeed it, it's all gone now. What threw me is that there was some (relatively normal) minor water hammering type noise going on just when I shut off the shower this morning, so I headed off down a trail of assumptions... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bholder Posted January 30, 2008 Author Members Share Posted January 30, 2008 Hahahahaha. I love when stuff like that happens because it always make me feel like a total ass. Especially after "going public" with it! I should have posted under ImADumbAssMozart! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bholder Posted January 30, 2008 Author Members Share Posted January 30, 2008 It's healthy to have a good hearty laugh at one's self once in a while, I think - tonight it was my turn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rowka Posted January 30, 2008 Members Share Posted January 30, 2008 Nice. Better a little red-in-the-face than red-in-the-wallet... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members walkerci Posted January 30, 2008 Members Share Posted January 30, 2008 Nice. Better a little red-in-the-face than red-in-the-wallet... Thats why we are here bro! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author Craig Vecchione Posted January 30, 2008 CMS Author Share Posted January 30, 2008 Dude, I'd love to have seen the plumber come out to shut off your razor!!!!! He might have even given you a break on the "$100 bucks just to drive out" charge...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members chunky-b Posted January 30, 2008 Members Share Posted January 30, 2008 I suggest "Humming Pipe" as a band name... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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