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coheninphilly · Feb 3, 2007, 12:06 PM

Hi, you all,

I live on the eighth (top) floor of an apartment building, and have been hearing a vibrating sound coming intermittently from my bathroom ever since I moved in. Here's what I have figured out:

-- The noise isn't electrical. I flipped all the breakers in the apartment and it didn't go away.

-- The noise starts as a low hum, then gets louder and more pulsatile, and then all of sudden goes away. At its worst, it sounds almost like a refrigerator compressor.

-- It seems to be worse now that it's cold outside AND at night.

-- I've tried turning on water taps, running the shower, etc. to see if anything makes it better or worse. There's no obvious correlation. A few times it's gotten a lot louder after I've flushed the toilet.

-- Finally: the noise went away completely over the Christmas holidays, when a lot of the people on my floor were out of town.

Does anyone on this board have any thoughts? I've had the management come and take a look, and they say that they don't hear the noise when they come by the apartment. So even if you think there's a way to _make_ this noise happen, I'd be grateful!

Thank you.

speedball1 · Feb 3, 2007, 02:34 PM

The problem is caused by the ballcock trying to fill while water is seeping out of the tank. The sound you hear is the washer vibrating against the seat of the ballcock. First check the linkage between the flapper and the flush lever. It should have 1/4" of play when your tank is filled. The water level should be 1/2" below the white overflow tube after the tank's filled. Next feel the flat side of your flapper. Does it have wavey edges? Do your hands come away black? Replace it if it does. And last check the seat itself. Any nicks or rough spots? If so click on back. There are replacement seats that glue right over the old one and are easy to replace. One of the above should take care of your howling. This happened in a new house some years ago. Only at night and in the early morning. They thought the house was haunted and were about to move out. I caught it in the powder room toilet. It would vibrate and the pipes in the wall would pick it up and carry it all over the house. Hope this helps, Tom

coheninphilly · Feb 3, 2007, 03:02 PM

Thanks for the reply, speedball 1,

I don't _think_ the vibration is coming directly from the toilet. Could you walk me through what you're thinking?

Thanks!

speedball1 · Feb 3, 2007, 03:19 PM

Have you checked the toilet? Vibration's like smells, you almost have to be thyere. I can poiunt you to the most likely spots but I can't pinpoint it for you. You say, " I don't _think_ the vibration is coming directly from the toilet."
That sounds like a assumption to me and you don't "assume" anything in plumbing. You start at the most likely spot and work backwards. Have you lifted the lid and checked? Regards, Tom

MaryTSmith · Feb 17, 2011, 07:47 PM

I'm having a similar problem and it is definitely not the toilet or the ballcock. The vibrations feel strongest at the outer wall where I can feel them shake me. I've run water - sink and tub, flushed etc. I have no ceiling fan in the bath, live in northern Florida. House built in '86 on a slab. Left this morning, no problem, came home to a vibrating bathroom. It's not going away. No gas in the house so don't think something is about to explode. Very strange.