Geekzone: technology news, blogs, forums
Guest
Welcome Guest.
You haven't logged in yet. If you don't have an account you can register now.


timmmay

20580 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

#205572 18-Nov-2016 08:12
Send private message

From my bathroom I can hear this weird noise (soundcloud link, few seconds of audio) from my bathroom sometimes when the wind blows. It can happen every 5 seconds then not happen for 5 minutes, or it can happen every ten seconds for minutes. It's not regular. My wife doesn't notice it. Anyone care to guess what it is?

 

Here's what I know:

 

  • I hear the noise intermittently from my bathroom when the wind blows - there's no regularity to it
  • I can feel a short, sharp vibration (ie a bang) through my feet when I hear the noise
  • You can't hear the noise when you're sitting outside the bathroom in the wind
  • It's been happening for months but seems to be getting a bit louder
  • I've been under the bathroom and I can't see anything loose. I put a bit of padding between two pipes that were close together
  • It could be something hitting something else, or something becoming unbalanced
  • It's a hollow sounding "bong / bung" type nose
  • House is 100 years old (ish), with a new bathroom
  • (Update) I haven't observed any correlation with water use, either in the bathroom or the rest of the house

Any ideas what it could be?

 

**** See additional information from 2020 in this post.


Filter this topic showing only the reply marked as answer View this topic in a long page with up to 500 replies per page Create new topic
 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
ronw
1222 posts

Uber Geek


  #1673336 18-Nov-2016 08:23
Send private message

Is it related to using water? I get some weird sounds when I turn the tap off in bathroom





Nokia 7 Plus
Nexus 6P 32Gb
Nexus 6 Phone
Nexus 5 Phone
Nexus 7 2013 Tablet
Samsung TAB A 8"
Samsung TAB A 10"

 

& many Windows laptops, Desktops etc

 

 

 




timmmay

20580 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

  #1673340 18-Nov-2016 08:30
Send private message

I haven't observed any correlation with water use, either in the bathroom or the rest of the house. I can only hear it when it's quiet in the bathroom, with no taps running.


MikeB4
18435 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified
Trusted

  #1673352 18-Nov-2016 09:06
Send private message

Do you keep an outside hose tap turned on with a hose attached? 




Coil
6614 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user


  #1673356 18-Nov-2016 09:13
Send private message

You may find it will be pipes moving from something drawing water, Most likely your hot water cylinder. 
The momentum in the water is quite strong when it stops flowing instantly, With old plumbing it can jolt the pipe work down the line. Some instances you can get a tap vibrate or resonate really badly with hot water, Super loud farting like noise.

 

Edit: Added below.

 

IIRC you have a recent build right? Brick and tile? If so most of your plumbing will be in walls and probably is plastic so might not be plumbing. (If the above is true)

 

Do you have a central vac?

 

 


frankv
5680 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

  #1673366 18-Nov-2016 09:26
Send private message

It could be that the noise is generated elsewhere, and conducted along the pipes to where you hear it in the bathroom.

 

 


Bung
6485 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

  #1673368 18-Nov-2016 09:27
Send private message

Correlation is "when wind blows". Do you have a toilet in bathroom? Sometimes the wind blowing across vent pipe can cause the water in the trap to bounce around and sometimes empty. If you've noticed anything like that happening maybe that's where the noise is coming from.




timmmay

20580 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

  #1673397 18-Nov-2016 10:00
Send private message

MikeB4:

 

Do you keep an outside hose tap turned on with a hose attached? 

 

 

Not anywhere near there, and no not always.

 

TimA:

 

You may find it will be pipes moving from something drawing water, Most likely your hot water cylinder. 
The momentum in the water is quite strong when it stops flowing instantly, With old plumbing it can jolt the pipe work down the line. Some instances you can get a tap vibrate or resonate really badly with hot water, Super loud farting like noise.

 

Edit: Added below.

 

IIRC you have a recent build right? Brick and tile? If so most of your plumbing will be in walls and probably is plastic so might not be plumbing. (If the above is true)

 

Do you have a central vac?

 

 

Nothing is drawing water when this happens. For example this morning I was the only one up and hadn't used water for 5 minutes, no washing machine or dish washer was on. When taps are running strongly and get turned off I do hear a clunk, but it's quite different to this.

 

The house is very old, the bathroom is tile with plastic and copper pipes. Plumbing is ceiling, wall, and under floor.

 

frankv:

 

It could be that the noise is generated elsewhere, and conducted along the pipes to where you hear it in the bathroom.

 

 

Interesting idea, thanks.

 

Bung: Correlation is "when wind blows". Do you have a toilet in bathroom? Sometimes the wind blowing across vent pipe can cause the water in the trap to bounce around and sometimes empty. If you've noticed anything like that happening maybe that's where the noise is coming from.

 

Yes there's a toilet in the bathroom. The sound doesn't come from the toilet trap, it comes from under the floor somewhere, but that's something worth considering, wind into a pipe like that.


 
 
 

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.
Adamww
48 posts

Geek


  #1673415 18-Nov-2016 10:25
Send private message

Do you have a ducted extractor fan in there?  Some of those have one-way non-return flaps in them that can be pulled open by wind and bang closed. 


timmmay

20580 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

  #1673426 18-Nov-2016 10:39
Send private message

Adamww:

 

Do you have a ducted extractor fan in there?  Some of those have one-way non-return flaps in them that can be pulled open by wind and bang closed. 

 

 

Yes ducted extractor fan, no flap. Good thinking but the noise is definitely coming from the floor not the ceiling.


webwat
2036 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

  #1673482 18-Nov-2016 11:16
Send private message

It sounds like a piece of timber is kind of teetering on a loose nail or something, just enough to upset its balance when a bit of wind gets on it. I would say its a job to put on the backburner until after you're back to 100% over the sports injury, but any handyman should be able to crawl under and have a closer look. Give a kid $10 to crawl around. EDIT: and some knee pads and safety glasses!





Time to find a new industry!


timmmay

20580 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

  #1673508 18-Nov-2016 11:45
Send private message

Thanks all for your ideas. I'll find someone to crawl under and take a look, with your ideas as a guide :)


SepticSceptic
2190 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

  #1673518 18-Nov-2016 11:50
Send private message

Sappers.

 

 


timmmay

20580 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

  #1673521 18-Nov-2016 11:54
Send private message

SepticSceptic:

 

Sappers.

 

 

What does this mean?


gzt

gzt
17127 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

  #1673523 18-Nov-2016 11:57
Send private message

New vent installed?



Something loose up top with vibrations released below?

Good luck : ).

jamesrt
1612 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified
Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

  #1673537 18-Nov-2016 12:18
Send private message

timmmay:
SepticSceptic: Sappers.

 

What does this mean?

 

I'm assuming "joke".  A "sapper" is someone who (for example) digs under enemy foundations during wartime.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapper


 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
Filter this topic showing only the reply marked as answer View this topic in a long page with up to 500 replies per page Create new topic





News and reviews »

Air New Zealand Starts AI adoption with OpenAI
Posted 24-Jul-2025 16:00


eero Pro 7 Review
Posted 23-Jul-2025 12:07


BeeStation Plus Review
Posted 21-Jul-2025 14:21


eero Unveils New Wi-Fi 7 Products in New Zealand
Posted 21-Jul-2025 00:01


WiZ Introduces HDMI Sync Box and other Light Devices
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:32


RedShield Enhances DDoS and Bot Attack Protection
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:26


Seagate Ships 30TB Drives
Posted 17-Jul-2025 11:24


Oclean AirPump A10 Water Flosser Review
Posted 13-Jul-2025 11:05


Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7: Raising the Bar for Smartphones
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 Brings New Edge-To-Edge FlexWindow
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Epson Launches New AM-C550Z WorkForce Enterprise printer
Posted 9-Jul-2025 18:22


Samsung Releases Smart Monitor M9
Posted 9-Jul-2025 17:46


Nearly Half of Older Kiwis Still Write their Passwords on Paper
Posted 9-Jul-2025 08:42


D-Link 4G+ Cat6 Wi-Fi 6 DWR-933M Mobile Hotspot Review
Posted 1-Jul-2025 11:34


Oppo A5 Series Launches With New Levels of Durability
Posted 30-Jun-2025 10:15









Geekzone Live »

Try automatic live updates from Geekzone directly in your browser, without refreshing the page, with Geekzone Live now.



Are you subscribed to our RSS feed? You can download the latest headlines and summaries from our stories directly to your computer or smartphone by using a feed reader.