[ElizabethJane]

I have a humming noise is my house and have been trying to figure out where the noise is coming from. Have turned off power and water, but noise still here. I found out that if I am away from the house on vacation, or just over night, when I come home I don't hear the noise but after one or two days, it returns. Recently, something strange has happened. My daughter and her family - 4 people in all - arrived here for a visit last Monday. By Tuesday night, the noise was gone. They left on Friday, and by Saturday morning, the noise was back. We live in Florida and it was hot last week, so everyone was showering, maybe more than once a day. Could the use of 'more than usual' water (or hot water) have anything to do with the noise going away? On the other side, the noise seems to go away when we are out of the house for as little as overnight, which means that no water was used for a 24 hour period. I know there is a solution, but I need to figure out the problem first. Any plumbers out there? What would make a noise go away with either not using water or using a lot of it? Could pressure be building up in the hot water heater when we don't use enough of it? But of course that doesn't explain why the noise is gone when we come home from an overnight trip!

[parttime]

Elizabeth, how long did you leave the power and water off? Are you on well or city water? If city water, do you have a pressure regulator? Do you have an expansion tank?

[ElizabethJane]

The power was off for over an hour and about the same for the water. Our community has it's own water treatment plant. I don't know about a pressure regulator but we do have an expansion tank on the hot water heater.

[parttime]

Would there happen to be a high voltage transmission line near your home? Can you hear the humming on the outside of the house? If not, I would turn the water off, at the street if possible, and open a faucet to drain the line then close faucet. After several hours open the faucet to see if water pressure has built up, (before turning on the main water valve) this will show a faulty shut-off valve that can tend to make noise. Good luck

[ElizabethJane]

Thanks, I'll give it a try

[ElizabethJane]

Thanks, I'll give it a try.

[ElizabethJane]

When you mention a possible faulty shut off valve, do you mean the shut off valve from the main water line or the shut off valve on the hot water heater?

[ElizabethJane]

Do you mean a possible faulty main water line shut off valve or the shut off valve on the hot water heater?

[parttime]

Elizabeth, any valve could be making a noise, you need to check them all, I would close the one nearest the meter and drain line at a faucet, close the faucet and wait awhile, and then reopen and see it water runs, that would tell you that the closed valve is leaking through and could be making a noise. They can be repaired.

[ElizabethJane]

Today, I turned the water off at the street, opened the faucet until it ran dry, then closed it. I returned home about 5 hours later and turned on the faucet, but no water came out. Also, I did not hear the humming noise. Now that the water is turned on, I expect the noise will return and when it does, will this exercise help me to pinpoint what is causing the noise? At least I'm sure that it has something to do with the water.

[parttime]

Hi Elizabeth, your test proved the valve nearest the street is good, I'd move to the next one in line and do the same thing, usually a bad valve will let water through while it's off. With a little luck you could have cleared debris in the valve and the noise won't return. Good luck

[ElizabethJane]

It's funny that you mentioned debris in the valve because when I turned the kitchen faucet back on, the water came out very slowly - no pressure. My husband took the filter off the faucet and cleaned it, then the pressure was back. We find this happens a lot in our shower - we have a filter in the shower head and although it is to be changed every 6 months, we can go only about 3 months before it gets clogged and needs to be cleaned out. Could this be part of the problem? Thanks for all your help.

[parttime]

Elizabeth, debris in plumbing can cause problems including noise, find out if you have a pressure regulator, should be near where the plumbing enters the house.