House Shaking!!!

[SkunkedAgain]

Saturday night around midnight we woke up to a loud hum and noise. After checking things out we went back to sleep. I tried to rationalize that it was something outside. Tonight around 11:15pm it happened again and we were awake. It was a loud hum and the entire house shook. I can't describe it any better. I ran to the basement but it ended before I hit the bottom of the stairs.

To me it seemed like a plumbing issue. Our water heater is about 1.5 years old. The furnace is from the early 90's but neither it nor the A/C were turned on. It wasn't an electrical hum. I should get someone in to diagnose and fix the problem, bug I don't know what type of professional to call.

What could it be?

[cribbageboy]

I think you're looking at what they call "water hammer". Every house has a lot of pressure coming in from the water lines. When you aren't using any water, and all valves are closed (faucets, dishwasher, fridge) the water has no place to go, but backwards. Some newer homes come pre-installed with devices that mitigate this issue, but if I'm correct, yours doesn't. Look into installing a hammer arrester. Shouldn't break the bank, and will give you piece of mind and a good night's sleep.

[CAMAN]

Do you have a water softener? Something could be stuck/broken in it and making noises each time it regenerates.

[SkunkedAgain]

No water softener. I know what water hammering is and this wasn't it at least in the normal sense - it sounded and felt like a freight train racing by our house. Whatever this was happened all on it's own, without anyone using an appliance.

[BoxMN]

Pet cemetery nearby?....

Looking forward to hearing what you find out, that is weird!

[SkunkedAgain]

Since it's easy to do, I'll bleed the pipes tonight

[Ufatz]

I believe you may be receiving visits from a Poltergeist.

Truly weird stuff. Be sure to let us know when you find the answer.

[Powerstroke]

I also agree that this might be some sort of water hammer effect. Lots of heavy water use this time of year so I could be related to a heavy draw in the area, maybe related to an irrigation system or maybe a business is doing some kind of work on a fire system, some sort of large draw that pulls fast than settles back in sending some of the vibrations down the line.

[Archerysniper]

Even a fire a few blocks away or a hydrant being opened, when the fire department hooks up to a hydrant they can almost suck a water main dry. I have seen what you described in different faucets before something in them gets loose or the diverter get stuck and they will make a noise like you have described even the fill valve on a toilet can cause it. If your toilet has a flapper that is slowly leaking it can call to fill it when nobody has use it in a long time making a freak noise in the house

[Powerstroke]

ooooh, Sniper hit on something there. SOmetimes a really slow, sputtering water leak such as a bad toilet valve or other valve in an appliance could do this.

[Greybeard53]

If you hear it again, run to the nearest sink and turn on a faucet. If the noise stops, at least you'll know you're dealing with a plumbing/pressure issue.

Last year I had a similar thing happen, and finally found out my vent on the roof was plugged.

[JohnMickish]

Are you on city water/sewer or do you have a well/septic?

[Steve Foss]

I agree it's likely a water supply/plumbing noise. Water hammering is just the term used to describe a whole array of sounds caused by what these guys have already detailed. I've heard some strange sounds, including hums, from the plumbing, particularly when we're on city water lines instead of our own well.

If you're on a city or a rural water supply system, I bet if you called the water department and described the noises to them, they'd be able to either confirm it is plumbing or rule it out. If it's happened to you, no doubt it's happened to quite a few other customers over the years.

[SkunkedAgain]

Yup, we're on city water. I bled the pipes yesterday, stayed up well past midnight, and heard nothing. I loosely put a vice grip on the incoming water pipe (just past the meter) to see if it falls off when the sound returns.

I plan to call the city and also talk to my neighbors. Thanks for all of the thoughts so far.

[WallEYES]

Skunked

Just a thought if you are on city water...Do you have a hose attached to your exterior faucet/sillcock with a spray type gun attachment? If you do do you leave the exterior faucet on? If this is the case you should have vacuum breakers on your exterior faucet to protect against cross connection/contamination according to our plumbing code. These devises are not designed for constant pressure and will hum and make noise. When I water shrubs or wash the truck I sometimes forget to shut off the sillcock and every once a while I get the humming/hammer sounds.

[JohnMickish]

I'm at a loss. I was thinking if you where on a well then maybe it could be the pressure tank. Have any of your neighbors experienced this? Maybe you have little green men at night picking up the stray cats and dogs??

[SkunkedAgain]

So far a poltergeist seems to be the best explanation, but I'm not quite sure that I can believe it that! Yet...

I called the city's public works department this afternoon. They had no idea what it could be and said that there haven't been any other reports. The work being done around my neighborhood is all gas company work, and of course not being done at midnight.

We do have two outside spigots and my wife is always watering her hydrangeas. We don't leave them on but the spigots are original 1950s and I could easily see one of them leaking if she didn't twist it off hard enough. I'll have to investigate this a little more.

[Tom7227]

Dude, you need to get some Holy Water into the house and be ready to sprinkle it around and pray for God's forgiveness.

At least that's what Sister Geradline would have said.

[Archerysniper]

Skunked how old are the parts inside your toilet I would suspect them first, you can get dye tabs and put them in the tank and they will tell you if it's leaking.

[jeffreyd]

I had to put a vacuum breaker on my incoming line. When my house was built in the mid 90s they connected the irrigation system directly to the line, no back flow device nothing. We would get a similar noise, thinking the house was coming down when the sprinklers shut off in the middle of the night. Sounded like the roof was coming loose. You will find every loose banging pipe in every wall everytime it happens. Nothing worse than being woken up from a sleep to a noise you have no idea what it was. Good luck,

[Archerysniper]

jeffreyd, that is a classic example of water hammer. It is normally caused by a fast acting valve like the solenoid valves in a clothes washer,dishwasher,ice machine,toilet and irrigation. They shut off so fast the water comes to a sudden stop against the valve causing the pipes to bounce around if there not properly supported or fastened.

[Tom7227]

Dye tabs??? 3 drops of food coloring works pretty well.

[dewey1]

DO YOU HAVE A LIFT STATION IN THE BASEMENT? THATS WHAT MINE DOES EVERY TIME IT RUNS. HAMMERS WHEN IT SHUTS OFF AND HITS THE CHECK VALVE.

[SkunkedAgain]

Nope, no lift station. I do have a basement toilet that has a slow leak from the tank to the bowl. I've had the gut replacement kits for both toilets for over a year. I guess that it's time to install them to see if it works.

On a side note, nothing happened on Monday night. I'm out of town now but apparently it happened again last night around 2:30am. It shook the vice grips off of the water pipe that runs from the meter to the house main distribution pipe.

[Surface Tension]

I think you answered your own question.

Change out the ballcock and flapper in the toilet.

Either by water temp rising(expanding) in your home or maybe a slight increase in water pressure pushing water past a valve that isn't 100% is more then likely what your hearing and feeling.