High pitched squealing noise from pipes at night
Pipes can produce random high-pitched squeals and strange noises in the middle of the night even when no water is running. Because the sound happens unpredictably and stops for hours at a time, it is nearly impossible to track down the source or show a plumber what is happening.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Searching on Google for answersDid this help you?
- 2Having a plumber check nearby apartments, faucets, showers, and toiletsDid this help you?
- 3Testing toilet fill valves during refillingDid this help you?
- 4Got used to the noise over timeDid this help you?
- 5Strapping down the pipes to prevent them from rattling against studs and joistsDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“For the past 2 nights I've been awoken to this noise multiple times. No running water happens while we're asleep”source ↗
“Yeah middle of the night nothing on”source ↗
“So there’s a high pitched squeal that lasts anywhere from a second or so to over a minute coming from my walls. My landlord thinks it’s due to the pipes. But we can’t find the source.”source ↗
“The noise goes off randomly. Sometimes long hours without the noise and sometimes the noise won’t stop for hours.”source ↗
“We finally got a plumber today and of course the noise doesn’t go off.”source ↗
“Five hours later the high pitched squealing is back.”source ↗
“Pretty much every time water is turned on. This has been constant the 2 years we've been in the house.”source ↗
“Really more annoying than anything but kind of got used to it.”source ↗
“Hello everyone, when I woke up this morning I heard a loud clicking noise coming from our pipes.”source ↗
“It has been going on for at least half an hour.”source ↗
“Our neighbours in the second and third floor can hear it aswell, all insisting their small utility rooms.”source ↗
Where this came up
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