Hot/Cold water system--humming

[einhorn]

We have lived in this bungalow for about 40 years. Intermitantly when we draw off water from the rising main or hot water taps in kitchen or bathrooms we get a hum. Sometimes it comes without drawing off water.Sometimes it goes off as suddenly as it came. Other times it can be much louder and both kitchen taps vibrate. We have contacted the water authority when I said (I have no real knowledge )it might be something to do with water pressure and maybe a pressure reducing valve needs fitting. They have always reckoned that it is caused by air in the system.The thing is we know all about air in the system. Admittedly some years ago now we had massive problems over a number of years. When the kitchen tap (rising main) was turned on it spluttered and burped and vibrated and often only air came out. The only solution I found was to run the other rising mains in the garage and shed which seemed to bleed the air out okay after filling a few buckets with water.

So this problem is not as bad but just bloody annoying as its does your head in a bit if it carries on too long.

Anyone got any ideas on what it might be and how to fix it please. Thing is as its only intermitant it never does it to order when we have a plumber or water engineer visiting us.

Many thanks.

Regards, Frank.

 

[Alan Wright]

We have lived in this bungalow for about 40 years. Intermitantly when we draw off water from the rising main or hot water taps in kitchen or bathrooms we get a hum. Sometimes it comes without drawing off water.Sometimes it goes off as suddenly as it came. Other times it can be much louder and both kitchen taps vibrate. We have contacted the water authority when I said (I have no real knowledge )it might be something to do with water pressure and maybe a pressure reducing valve needs fitting. They have always reckoned that it is caused by air in the system.The thing is we know all about air in the system. Admittedly some years ago now we had massive problems over a number of years. When the kitchen tap (rising main) was turned on it spluttered and burped and vibrated and often only air came out. The only solution I found was to run the other rising mains in the garage and shed which seemed to bleed the air out okay after filling a few buckets with water.

So this problem is not as bad but just bloody annoying as its does your head in a bit if it carries on too long.

Anyone got any ideas on what it might be and how to fix it please. Thing is as its only intermitant it never does it to order when we have a plumber or water engineer visiting us.

Many thanks.

Regards, Frank.

Hi Frank,
I deal with customers who fit my pumps and then report noises which suddenly appear after a week, a month, a year, two years. Air is the most likely cause and by running taps full hot and full cold you can normally flush the air out. Take off the shower head when you do this for showers as the faster you can get the water to come out the better the chance it will bring air with it.
If its not air, because you appear to have mains clod and gravity hot, it could be cold mains water forcing its way from cold to hot through a mixer tap or shower. One of my customers who had vibrations suddenly appear and disappear had this problem. The cold water was sometimes but not always screaming through the non return valve on the hot and disappeared when the bath tap (a mixer tap) was used.Try turning on mixer taps and mixers showers if you have then and if the noise suddenly stops then you may have found the problem.
The same sort of thing can happen when water fills your cold water tank though a float valve or a toilet fills but you would know when you have just flushed a toilet or just had a barh so its not so random.