Ok, every so often (every other day at the moment) but mainly during the colder months (I think) we hear a noise during the night that is loud enough to wake from sleep, and is now affecting me (light sleeper) as well as my 2 year old son.

It seems like a vibration, not dissimilar from a washing machine starting a spin cycle. However, it does not appear to be coming from my house.
We are semi-detached, but ive tried pressing my ear to pretty much every section of adjoining neighbour wall and the source of the noise gets no louder.
At its worse the noise repeats roughly every minute and lasts for 15 to 20 seconds. Its also capable of shaking our bedroom door if ajar.

Our heating and hot water system is deactivated at night.

It woke me at approx 2:30am this morning, and my son at 4:45am. It finally subsided at 6:15am roughly. Ive had no more than 6 hours sleep total in the last 72hrs and I need to quash this noise.

Short of entering our loft to check, the only thing I can think of is some kind of top up to a water tank?, maybe pipes vibrating somewhere?
Failing that, despite not being able to source the sound through the wall, perhaps the neighbour is on economy 7 heating?

The trouble is, we are not on talking terms with next door and the very last thing I want to do is knock on their door, I imagine if they are the source there is very little they would or possibly could do any way. They somehow manage to sleep through a god awful big ben clock chime from their hallway every 15 minutes which also wakes me up on occasion..that and their yapping dog.
Having said that I did hear them stir at around 4:30am making me think this vibrating noise also woke them.

Does anyone have any idea what could possibly be causing this or what I should check?. Any serious suggestions welcome as its now becoming unbearable.

My latest theory is a secret underground railway network..

Couldn’t be next doors heating/water? Might have air in the system or similar.

I’d be tempted to try ear plugs or similar.

I have the opposite problem – I can’t get to sleep if it is completely silent, and use a fan to provide some background noise. Not a solution but could be a temporary workaround to stop you being disturbed.

experiment by shutting your house down one night.

Disconnect everything with a pump or a fan or a servo. Shut off the water main.

Water hammer ? Does the noise stop if you turn on taps/flush the toilet ?

Surely more productive to shut down next door 🙂

If it is a water level float valve fluttering it might not do so if there was a restriction to the flow in the feed. You may find your shut off valve in the street.

its so hard to describe, but it just seems like an electrical sound..like a whirring. its certainly not a knocking.

back to the ear plugs for now. just find them uncomfortable unfortunately.

The air circulating fans for next door’s weed factory kicking in ? 😉

You don’t live near to a landfill site do you?

Stoner – Member
experiment by shutting your house down one night.
Disconnect everything with a pump or a fan or a servo. Shut off the water main.
POSTED 48 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

More oddness. Will continue driving up the M5.

More oddness

I forgot, you dont get mains water that far north do you?

My elderly mum is suffering exactly the same problem; she has been through hell trying to trace the noise and is taking tranquillisers and using earplugs. The suggestion to check your attic tank valve is a good one because a tiny trickle of water through a worn valve can set up a fluttering vibration, which goes right through the house. As Murphy’s Law would have it, nobody else can hear the noise (I’ve been down and spent four nights there and couldn’t hear it even when she could) and Environmental Health are getting fed up with her. She swears it started when new gas mains were laid in the village and there are some theories that it comes from gas mains.

There’s quite a lot on the web about “The Hum”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum and it’s worth reading Wki on Very Low Frequency noise: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrasound this will give you an understanding of how VLF noise can travel and the multiple possible sources.

I believe this could turn out to be one of the biggest environmental scandals of the decade; so far no government or body has been convinced enough of the problem to spend time and money researching it. My own belief is that there are certain nodes in the country where VLF sound waves (from whatever source not yet indentified) overlap harmonically and either cancel each other out or exaggerate each other and only a limited number of people are able to pick them up or have brains willing to hear them.

In my Mum’s case there is a big 3663 food packing plant about a mile to her west; they have massive chillers with powerful compressors so I believe that either the compressors or the cooling fans are setting up VLF vibrations, which she is able to pick up at night when there’s no other noise and the wind is in the right direction.

Your perception that the noise is worse during the colder months could be traced to many different things: colder denser air, wind speed and direction, closed windows and less environmental noise distraction, more gas flowing in underground pipes, colder water in pipes and so on.

De-strat pump on hot water cylinder? Or Heating pump circulating hot water during night? (if heating should be off, you could have faulty thermostat/controller)??

Get up the lIft and have a look???

Edit: do you have boosted cOld water? (pumped)?

Our neighbours had a slow leak somewhere in their water system, and when the estate water pressure dropped they had an auxiliary water pump that would kick in – noisily. The sound wasn’t directional, it’s only because my house also had a similar pump that I knew what the source was. Fortunately I’m on good terms with them so had a chat, all sorted now.

This is my long-winded way of saying do what Stoner is suggesting, then at least you’ve narrowed it down to your house or theirs.

Anywhere near an airport?

we had this – sounded like a washing machine on spin cycle. After a bit of investigation turned out to be the flue inside the chimney rattling in the wind. Especially audible in the winter for no good reason!

I forgot, you dont get mains water that far north do you?

he might not, there is a big private network in Walsden IIRC 😉

Our old tv aerial had a loose vane on it. When the wind was in the right direction it used to emit a high pitched rattle that came down all the chimneys.

I’d shut the power and water off to your whole house one night after the noise has started to see if it stops – it could be a fridge etc that’s doing it – our built in fridge in the kitchen has an electric fan in it, for example.

Our neighbours washing machine creates a really REALLY loud vibration noise in our house, but only at certain locations and you can’t hear it if you put your ear to the wall. I think it’s pretty much only in locations where the walls and ceilings create interference patterns. Which happens to be right where my couch is in the living room. So when watching TV I get a similar vibration burring away but if I move 6ft to the side it goes away.

Smuzzy – Member
You don’t live near to a landfill site do you?

Yes – approx 3 miles from one

globalti
There’s quite a lot on the web about “The Hum”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum and it’s worth reading Wki on Very Low Frequency noise: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrasound this will give you an understanding of how VLF noise can travel and the multiple possible sources.
I believe this could turn out to be one of the biggest environmental scandals of the decade; so far no government or body has been convinced enough of the problem to spend time and money researching it.

Genuinely, thank you for posting this, once ive exhuasted all other possibilities ill certainly dig deeper into your theory. Im certainly sensitive to a lot of noises, which frustrates me when the Mrs says she can hear it, but still falls asleep

organic355
De-strat pump on hot water cylinder? Or Heating pump circulating hot water during night? (if heating should be off, you could have faulty thermostat/controller)??
Get up the lIft and have a look???
Edit: do you have boosted cOld water? (pumped)?

I need to check the heating pumps but am a complete numpty when it comes to home heating systems.. Our cold isnt boosted though.

Can anyone explain why this happens at night though? – hang on… I just heard it now..

woody2000 Anywhere near an airport?

approx 8 miles southwest of heathrow

Drapoon
we had this – sounded like a washing machine on spin cycle. After a bit of investigation turned out to be the flue inside the chimney rattling in the wind. Especially audible in the winter for no good reason!

Drapoon, I may have to kiss you if this turns out to be the culprit as this crossed my mind only last night. We dont currently have a fire set into the fireplace, but I believe the chimney is still active (we havent lived here long), therefore, I presume im right in thinking a flue could still be up there..and rattling in the harsher winds?..
Was your sound really hard to source though? I can hear it right now and it could honestly be coming from anyhwere, any direction (although ‘up’ is my guess).

With the heavy winds and the positioning of surrounding houses, we are certainly geting some strange noises down the side of the house and across the roof. I wondered if it could be the wind blowing across the chimney, like when you blow across a glass bottle?.. Im just not convinced that you wouldnt be able to source it audibly if it were something so simple.

weird, my quoting is fine but posts up all over the place.. you get the idea..

8miles from Heathrow?

Don’t they adjust flight height/patterns depending on the time of day and wind direction/etc?

I remembered when I lived in WHampstead at certain times at night in bed you’d noticeably hear planes flying lower on a regular basis and thats nowhere near Heathrow!

Plus- is there any underground/tube near you?

Have you spoken to your neighbour? If he/she works shifts they may set their washing machine for night time when he/she is up.

Or, finally. It could be the same ‘problem’ that I occasionally have..and I’m a Ghost sceptic.

Our fridge is able to do something similar and manages to throw the noise somehow so it appears to be coming from elsewhere.

Just a thought.

Hora, ive lived around the Heathrow flightpath my whole life (we’re actually more like 12 miles south now thinking about it)and this is currently the farthest ive ever lived – im fairly confident that I can recognise the sound of a plane over this hum/whir.

As for underground/tubes/ no, we are more out in the green than you’d imagine for that.
Not going to speak to neighbours just yet until im convinced its not coming from our house, as mentioned above, we dont get on.
Im a total sceptic when it comes to bumps in the night & all that, but i did see some strange things when I was very young in a certain room of our family house, which freaked my parents out no end as someone had committed suicide in that room before we moved in..

Ive just stuck my head up our narrow chimney, and although partially blocked by a rusty flap, it does sound rather boomy up there. Cant quite pick up on the vibration yet though.
masculine washing machine on spin cycle, on a wooden floor, in a small room, is best description I can think of.

Our fridge is able to do something similar and manages to throw the noise somehow so it appears to be coming from elsewhere.

Ours moans and groans at night and its only a year old!

Chimney sounds like a good place to start I guess.

On the ghost-front. I don’t mind ours!

What’s the relevance of the landfill proximity, then?

Short of entering our loft to check

I would do that if I were you.

Is the noise there during the day or just at might?

Man up and speak to the neighbour, just ask them if they can hear it too.

If you think it’s something rattling in the wind why would it do it for 15-20 seconds every minute? If it was the wind it would me random times, sounds mechanical to me.

I’d starting by talking to the neighbours.

But as above I’d shut everything down in your house for a night so at least you know it’s not coming from your house.

The roof mounted TV aerial on our house when I was a kid made no end of noise in the wind.. just another place to check if you have one.

We have a noisy aerial that rattles if the wind is in the right direction and the roof ventilation strip behind the guttering on my office buzzes if the wind is in the right direction and strong enough.

Definetly poltergeist activity,we had similar in a old house happened for several weeks then disappeared,would wake me and my wife from our sleep.

is the central heating burner actually going off?
I once had a CH boiler that didnt shut the gas off but turned off the pump. it eventually boiled the water in the system. The steam coming up the vent pipe vibrated and gurgled in a regular pattern.

Saniflo pump

power shower

Water hammer in central heating

Fridge AC dehumidifier?

If it helps we had a funny noise that only happened during the winter months and only a few times a night. After a while I tracked it down to the heating system which was a new condensing one that had a fan speed control as part of controlling the output power of the boiler. Just in winter, at night, the Temp. was so low the heating would kick in but only a little so the fan speed would hit just the right point to make the whole of the tube in the chimney resonate loudly. It only happened for a minute though as the speed increased and then would stop. A quick fiddle with some of the funnier settings in the boiler and no more noise 🙂

I would go with stoner’s suggestion and try switching off your heating one night. At least you are then completely eliminating one possible source of noise

Sounds like a very good idea for a B movie. Could be cult viewing.

Do you live next door to Jordan?

In windy weather we get a vibration noise that comes from the plastic guttering. The wind must channel down the guettering dependant on direction and it makes a flutter/ vibration noise.

Have you ever heard that random noise double glazed windows make? It’s dead loud and quite odd sounding

. http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080311131717AADHuL5

Our boiler comes on during the night when it is really cold (even if the heating is set to ‘off’) to circulate water round the heating loop.. sometimes does it twice over night.
It is part of its frost protection system.

did the OP ever get this sussed?

Oops forgot about this post>

Yep Slim Jim. That is exactly how I would describe the noise!

A chimney sweep willl investigate for a mere £20/30 which is a bargain when You are living with a, quote “masculine washing machine on spin cycle, on a wooden floor, in a small room” in your house at night!

Definetly poltergeist activity,we had similar in a old house happened for several weeks then disappeared,would wake me and my wife from our sleep.

Maybe he’s doing his washing?

OP- have you considered that a poltergeist might be using your washing machine?