Ask Me Help Desk - My Pipes Sound Like the Queen Mary Approaching the Dock

What makes my pipes sound like a LOUD fog horn? It doesn't happen all the time, and it doesn't happen in the same pipes all of the time. Sometimes it is when we flush a toilet, sometimes when we turn off the bath water, and today it happened when I ran the "RINSE ONLY" cycle of my washing machine, although I had been using the regular cycles without it happening.

We've had a plumber in for this in the past, and all he did was tighten a valve in a basement bathroom.

We have a home water filter in the basement such that water to the whole house goes through it. When the fog horn sound occurred upon flushing a toilet, we changed the filter. Now the problem is worse it seems.

Our house is up for sale, so this is really troublesome. It truly is loud like a giant ship blowing its horn.

Appreciatively,:confused:

Let's reverse the washer first. Shut the water off under the tank and take the lid off. Remove the three screws on top of the ballcock,(sae image) and pull the stem,washer and float assembly up. Pry the washer out and turn it over. Seat it back firmly and see if that doesn't help.
Sometimes 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 there 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.
One more thing. This could also happen if the ballcock kicking on every time you shut off a faucet. To check this out remove the lid and open and shut the shower valve real fast while watching the float ball. If it bobs up and down you have located the source of the problem. It is a sort of water hammer and you don't recharge your air chambers by simply draining the system. It's more complicated then that. Let me explain. Back in the 60's we were required to to put air chambers on all bath lavatories and kitchen sinks. Over time water and condensate built up in them and they must be recharged. First turn off the house at the main house shut off valve. Then open hot and cold faucets at the farthest bathroom to prevent air lock.(This is important.) You will find under each fixture little brass or chrome valves. These are called angle stops. With a small pail held under the angle stop to catch the run off look under the handle of the stop and you will see a nut with the stem running through it. This is called the bonnet packing nut. Put your wrench on it and back it off counterclockwise. Now open the stop and remove the stem and washer assembly, The stop will began to drain. When it has quit draining reassemble the stop and move on to the next one. Do this on each one of your angle stops. There will be six of them in a two bath home. When you are done, close off the faucets you have opened, turn on the water to the house, and give yourself a pat on the back.
You have just recharged your air chambers and saved yourself a hefty service call bill. Hope this helps you out and thank you ratting my answer. TOM

Thank you, Tom.

My husband came home and I told him I found this site and showed him your answer. He thinks it is likely that it is happening when the faucets shut off and the valves close.
Our house is 7 years old, and we have had water lines break 1/2 - 1 mile away in our development about 3 or 4 times in those 7 years. There is always air after they fix it, but it was never this very loud fog horn sound.

We have 3 bathrooms/toilets. This started last year with a basement toilet and sometimes when I shut off my tub faucets upstairs in the master bath, but never when the toilet in the master is flushed.

Now as I said it has progressed to the downstairs toilet, but not every time it flushes, the tub, the upstairs hall bath toilet but not the tub and when the water shut off when I ran my washing machine rinse cycle, but not when it filled and shut on 3 loads I washed and rinsed prior.

We are going to replace the insides of all 3 toilets and try to do the adjustments you suggested.

This is the first time I have used a forum like this, so I'm not sure how to rate you, but I'll look for a tab or link to do so.

Thanks again. Jan:):D

Hello Jan,

Follow Tom's instructions, but there is no need to replace the fill valves at this time I would suggest to close and fully open each angle valve under the toilet tank if there is a loose washer at the angle valve will cause loud noise, and it will be a quick fix.

A bad seal or a washer inside the fill valve will cause a loud noise no need for the whole assembly (fill valve) to be replaced.

Look inside the toilet tanks and tell us which kind of fill valve do you have, see the images below and we will tell you how to replace them.

Note:
Toilet loud noise is caused by a loose washer at the angle valve or bad washer/Seal inside the fill valve, Good luck.

John

We have the kind in the image on the right with the chain and rubber flap. The water does stop about 1/2 - 3/4" below the top of the tube... looks just like the picture; however, the rubber flap at the bottom may be worn out. I'm wondering if I did bad by putting those big Chlorox tablets in there. There is a silver metal pipe coming straight down to the floor from the tank with a handle near the floor. I printed Tom's instructions. My husband works 6a6p on weekends so we will have to tackle this Monday. We're on central time so I'll check back tomorrow.
THANK YOU SO MUCH. I now think that the plumber we had here last year adjusted the valve on the downstairs toilet which worked for awhile. I'm still not sure I get the connection between turning off tub faucets and this noise. The kitchen sink water faucets don't cause any noise. The tub is way over on the other side of the house from the downstairs toilet and the upstairs one over it that makes the noise. Thanks again.

Hello again,

Try the angle valves first if that would not fix the problem then proceed with Tom's instructions, close the angle valve remove the screws on top of the Ballcock Pry the washer out and turn it over, before installing the washer back hold your hand on top of the Ballcock turn on the water for a second to flush out any dirt out of the fill valve, close the angle valve, install the washer and the cap, if you decide to change the fill valves I would suggest to replace them with Fluidmaster 400A the one on the left, Tom doesn't like this, good luck.

John

Good morning and the instructions remain the same. Just follow the instructions bin my laswt post and get back to me with the results. You can rate me me by clicking on the scales up on the right. Good luck, Tom

Hi Jan,

Excellent Photos Like Tom says instruction remains the same no change, Thanks.

John

I think this problem is with our basement toilet (not the one in the photos, although same insides). I flushed it, came upstairs and got the fog horn about every minute or so. I went back down and water was running under the flap which appeared closed. When I pushed on the flap the water stopped, and the fog horn stopped.

The water from that plumbing is pumped upstairs by some kind of pump because that bathroom was added after the house was built, and it was dug out of rock here in NW Arkansas so a pump was installed to get the drained water up. We have septic, not sewers.

SO, we are going to replace the flap, probably on that one and the one above it which drips sometimes after flushing.

I'm still not sure I understand why running my bath water would make the fog horn noise happen, but so be it. Hopefully it will stop, too, when all of these toilets are fixed.

Here is another thing I noticed. The handle was really loose. There is a plastic nut behind the handle that was totally loose. I tightened it, but am nervous about my husband using anything but his hand to further tighten it because I feel it would break. I appears to screw flush against the porcelain tank behind the handle. All 3 toilets have the same handle. The one downstairs was totally loose, the one in the photo was a bit loose, the one in our master was very tight.

What kind of replacement parts can we purchase that are reliable. This is our 12th house in 40 years, and we've never had anything like this before. We've replaced innards for toilets a half dozen times or so in the past, but never had a problem afterward.

Do you think the toilet bowl itslef is a problem, like misshapen or something?

Sorry to take up so much room and time. We're getting on all this first thing tomorrow morning when my husband is at home.

Thanks.

One other thing. I can't find any SCALES anywhere on this page. There are "rate this answer" buttons, but they are on my posts, not yours. I probably need to read the directions on using this site.

Hi Jan,

At the end of this project you will be the expert, keep up the good job.

1. Flapper not seated properly will give a hissing sound, not loud sound, but it needs to be replaced, a flapper valve is cheap and easy to replace, see the link below.

YouTube - Toilet Repair: Fill Valve & Flapper : Toilet Repair: Flapper

2. A loud sound is normally from a loose washer at stem of the angle valve, or the washer vibrating against the seat of the ballcock, as Tom have stated you need to follow his instructions in post #2.
3. If the above would not help you then you will need to replace the fill valve.
4. The loose plastic nut for the handle will come loose some time you need to tighten it, it is left handed nut it doesn’t need too much force if you use pliers is OK, see the Image below.

If you have any other question please don’t hesitate to come back, good luck.

John

I read the HELP and FAQ, posted a question on the FAQ forum about not seeing the SCALES and EDIT buttons and the fact that the RATE button was on my post and not the expert answerer's.

The reply was that most of the features I referenced are not activated until my registration is 48hrs old and I have 5 posts... we'll see if they appear tomorrow as I shall have met that criteria.

The administrator who replied told me to use the Post Quick Answer button which I am now doing .

When/If I can rate, I will give you experts highest possible. THANK YOU BOTH, afaroo and speedball1! I have every confidence in your solutions.

Looks like the flapper is the culprit in the basement toilet and responsible for the fog horn.
The howling in the upstairs one is probably the fill valve (the water when full is almost at the top edge of the tube - like 1/8 inch - not 1/2 inch). HOWEVER, we don't see the 2 screws. They appear to be rivets, so off to the plumbing store for a flapper and probably a whole new ballcock assembly.

My dad was an electrical contractor and maintained A/C and Refrigeration at a Navy hospital. I was very interested and he taught me a lot. He did some plumbing at home, too, but I never watched. I have learned so much. THANK YOU (seems so inadequate). Jan (and Jim - the quiet one)