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Noisy Plumbing
Whenever the washing machine begins to
fill on the warm/cold setting, there is a loud whistling noise that comes
from the pipes near the machine. (Since they're both in the same room, I
can't tell if the noise comes from the machine, or the water pressure
regulator valve)
However, when the machine is filling on just the warm or cold setting
there is no noise. I have no idea what the problem is. I checked the house
water pressure, and it's at 60 lbs. I also adjusted the pressure regulator
value up and down, so I know it works. I do notice that when filling on
the warm/cold setting, the water seems to be coming out at a faster rate.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Jerome W.
It
sounds like you are getting noise from turbulence in the piping, and it
occurs under certain flow conditions... not too fast, not too slow. We
had this in the house I grew up in, whenever somebody used the shower in
the basement the pipes would whistle and howl.
If there are any sort of valves anywhere in the lines that feed the
washer, try just closing them slightly. This may change the flow
characteristics and either increase or decrease the turbulence. It's my
understanding that MORE turbulence often is less noisy, or at least it
won't be a high-pitched whistling. The ideal flow condition is called
laminar flow (your arteries have laminar flow, most of the time) and it
is silent and takes minimal effort. But in household plumbing such flow
would be terribly slow, so our plumbing mostly has turbulent flow. It's
just that certain velocities of water running through certain orifices
or passageways may create loud sounds. Changing that speed (either
faster or slower) usually changes the sound, from my experience.
Bruce W. Maki, Editor.
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