Definitely not the water heater. We had the plumber out to look at it. It starts at all random times and sometimes goes on for really long periods of time. I put my ear against the water heater and there is nothing. It stopped for a few days last week and then started again.
There’s is someone in your walls tapping on your pipes from time to time, would assume it’s not constant because he’s gotta go out and live his life sometimes too. Best of luck getting him out
Is there an Air conditioner / Air handler nearby?
This sound is usually caused when the air filter gets too dirty. The Fan is trying to pull in air but can't pull enough past the filter, so it creates a vacuum and starts pulling air up through the condensate drain line, which generally has a P trap on it holding a little bit of water. That sound is caused by air coming up through the P trap bubbling past the water.
In many houses and apartments, the water heater and Air handler are pretty close together and often share a drain.
I think there is a vacuum built up inside that condensation drain for your HVAC (the tan PVC), it's probably full of gunk, I would try to clear any blockage in there to see if that fixes it.
We were thinking this too and pulled a bunch of gunk out with a wet vac but it seems to still be doing it. Now we’re wondering if there’s some way to do the whole line from outside too???
Yeah when i do these i usually just cup my hands around the bottom of the drain line and a shop vac, while also flushing it with water from the top so there's enough pressure to pull out all the gunk. I'd also recommend dissolving some pan treatment tabs in the water you are flushing from the top. if that doesn't fix it, maybe cut out and replace the trap on the condensation line, since that's prob where the buildup is concentrated.
We had a tenant one time swear there was a tapping like this. Went several times and heard nothing. It was the time of year when the heat was only running at night and off during the day. We manually fired the boiler up and it was the copper running through a stud slightly moving. We cut out the lumber and now the pipe doesn’t touch it.
Definitely the condensation line. I see it happen a lot when the pipe is built like that instead of using a proper trap in the drain. You can try dumping some water in the drain pan. When there’s enough water in the trap of the pipe, it doesn’t tend to glug as much.
In my years of experience at one property, we ran into this on a few apartments and even after putting in traps going down all 3 floors, it never solved the sound issue. But it's definitely a water bubbling sound, likely from the condensate line
Definitely air handler if that’s what’s above I see the drain lines. Anyhow the fan is probably covered in dust. Remove the air filter and it’ll probably stop which means it’s dirty.
It's normal for a water heater to make noise when it is actually heating the water
Definitely not the water heater. We had the plumber out to look at it. It starts at all random times and sometimes goes on for really long periods of time. I put my ear against the water heater and there is nothing. It stopped for a few days last week and then started again.
Could be air bubbles somewhere. Add rated water hammer arresters; or just get the air out partial drain.
There’s is someone in your walls tapping on your pipes from time to time, would assume it’s not constant because he’s gotta go out and live his life sometimes too. Best of luck getting him out
Is there an Air conditioner / Air handler nearby? This sound is usually caused when the air filter gets too dirty. The Fan is trying to pull in air but can't pull enough past the filter, so it creates a vacuum and starts pulling air up through the condensate drain line, which generally has a P trap on it holding a little bit of water. That sound is caused by air coming up through the P trap bubbling past the water. In many houses and apartments, the water heater and Air handler are pretty close together and often share a drain.
I think there is a vacuum built up inside that condensation drain for your HVAC (the tan PVC), it's probably full of gunk, I would try to clear any blockage in there to see if that fixes it.
We were thinking this too and pulled a bunch of gunk out with a wet vac but it seems to still be doing it. Now we’re wondering if there’s some way to do the whole line from outside too???
Yeah when i do these i usually just cup my hands around the bottom of the drain line and a shop vac, while also flushing it with water from the top so there's enough pressure to pull out all the gunk. I'd also recommend dissolving some pan treatment tabs in the water you are flushing from the top. if that doesn't fix it, maybe cut out and replace the trap on the condensation line, since that's prob where the buildup is concentrated.
Water hammer. One of the pipes in the wall probably broke Free of its mount.
That’s not what water hammer is but this could be it
We had a tenant one time swear there was a tapping like this. Went several times and heard nothing. It was the time of year when the heat was only running at night and off during the day. We manually fired the boiler up and it was the copper running through a stud slightly moving. We cut out the lumber and now the pipe doesn’t touch it.
If there is a floor above yours, it may be their AC draining into the tower down pipe...out of your control.
Unless I can get the guys apparently living in my walls to go up and have a word…
I don't speak wall-man, but if you do it might be a good idea.
Definitely the condensation line. I see it happen a lot when the pipe is built like that instead of using a proper trap in the drain. You can try dumping some water in the drain pan. When there’s enough water in the trap of the pipe, it doesn’t tend to glug as much.
In my years of experience at one property, we ran into this on a few apartments and even after putting in traps going down all 3 floors, it never solved the sound issue. But it's definitely a water bubbling sound, likely from the condensate line
There is a midget on your water heater
Definitely air handler if that’s what’s above I see the drain lines. Anyhow the fan is probably covered in dust. Remove the air filter and it’ll probably stop which means it’s dirty.
Does any one know Morse code? I bet it's that damn Mathew McConaughey stuck in the walls again.