Why is my shower water bubbling and making a pulsing sound?
Air trapped in the plumbing system or pressure changes triggered by running other fixtures like the toilet can cause water to sputter and bubble. This pulsing sound and erratic flow typically happens when the mixing handle is set between hot and cold, indicating a disruption in the water pressure or line aeration.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1plug the drain and observe the water once it is still
- 2buy a gas leak detector
- 3ignore it
- 4Run it until it fails completely if it is still functional and not leaking.
- 5Replace the cartridge or balancing spool.
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Any idea what’s causing this or have I just not noticed this before, the droplets look like little pearls, I am also exhausted today and not sure if my brain is playing tricks on me”source ↗
“Almost every time we turn on the shower and put the handle right in the middle between hot and cold, a pulsing sound can be heard and the water comes out like there is air in the system.”source ↗
“When the handle is turned further towards hot and you flush the toilet or run water from the faucet, the noise returns.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 2Air coming out of hot water lines only
- 6Why is my steam shower outlet constantly leaking water?
- 2Why does my shower make a humming noise?
- 2Why is there standing water in my shower drain?
- 4Why is my tankless water heater making a squeaking noise?
- 3Why does it take so long for hot water to reach distant bathrooms?