My wife's driving me nuts to call a plumber. For some reason frequently when we turn on a faucet or flush a toilet a pipe in my basement makes a moaning/vibrating noise for a second or two. I can see nothing's leaking or otherwise damaged or loose and assumed it had something to do with the temperature in the pipe versus outside or what's coming from the hot water heater. Anyone ever hear anything like this before? Just started about a month ago.

Poltergeist.

Check to make sure your vents are clear.

-spence

thanks for the advice so far. So if an exorcism doesn't work, which vents am I checking? HVAC, or the pipes out of the roof. And if it's the ones out the roof how do I check them? Maybe I do need professional help (there's an open invitation for a response) I can say this noise appears no matter which faucet or bathroom is used.

Not a plumber, but spent many a night in the basement soldering pipes "I should be up in about half an hour honey"...

Sounds like you may have a bad valve, sometimes the screw holding the washer rots off and the washer chatters. Do you have a check valve in the line, that could be chattering as well. Look for a restriction of some sort, valve not all the way openeed etc. Hope that helps.

You can check the roof vents with a flashlight if they are accessible.

Try searching google for "moaning pipes"

-spence

may be air in the pipes . although thats usually a banging sound but could moan .

banging and moaning doesnt sound like a job for a plumber .

Originally posted by chris L
banging and moaning doesnt sound like a job for a plumber .

If that ain't an opening for a smart-a$$ response I don't know what is....:D

Sounds a pipe hanger(s) loose, causing the pipe to slide when the water is first turned on.
That will be 75 dollars please. :smash:

:D

racoons.:eek:

Not that any of you were sitting on the edge of your seats waiting to hear what the resolution was, and I think maybe Fishpart's time in his basement may have paid off. I was standing next to an outside faucet with a hose on it I usually forget and leave on. Was standing next to it and heard that noise, so I turned the faucet off. No noise. Turned it on again yesterday, noise is back. There's a checkvalve by the insidecutoff for it. Of course now that that noise is solved the wife's complaining about something else.

Actually I was wondering what your outcome would be as I was of all things taking a shower last night directly above my noisy hot water heater (near as I can tell it has a special check valve in the inlet to keep the heat from escaping)........