High pitched whine in ceiling

[user 7525]

Getting my parent's house ready to sell - it was built in 1960 and the family has lived there since it was built. The house is on a private well with an air-lift system. Pressure is provided by an accumulator tank, pipes are in the attic.

A couple of days ago, we started hearing a high-pitched whine coming from the ceiling of one of the baths. It sounded like an electronic alarm. Mom said she had not heard it in the 54 years of living here. I just could not figure out what was causing it until I realized that turning on the faucet caused it to come and go - regardless if I turned on the hot or cold.

At first we thought it was just starting on its own, but then I realized that flushing a toilet in another bath and even running water in the kitchen and it would start. The noise can go on for an hour unless you work the faucets a bit.

Any thoughts?

 

[phishfood]

My first thought is that it is caused by expansion and contraction of a long run of pipe as it shrinks and expands due to the temperature change of the water in the pipe. But that shouldn't have started all of the sudden. Unless perhaps some strapping came loose allowing the pipe to rub against some framing.

 

[journeyman]

does this happen on the hot side or cold side when water is on? or does it not matter

 

[user 7525]

does this happen on the hot side or cold side when water is on? or does it not matter

It is kind of hard to tell. This bath is in the back of the house and if you run water elsewhere and it starts, you really can't here it until you go to the back of the house. My guess is that it may be only cold water, but when it is whining and you open/close either hot or cold faucets in that bath the sound will stop momentarily and eventually you can get it to stop by doing that repeatedly.

One thing to note, this bath is serviced by its own hot water heater. The bath is also at the "end of the line" regarding the incoming waterline to the house.

Also, it started the day after we had a power outage. The odd thing about that, our air-lift well has an accumulator tank, but as soon as the power went off, we lost water pressure. There should have been many gallons of water in the accumulator tank. Just makes me wonder if the pump system was affected by the outage.

 

[user 7525]

Note from OP

We thought maybe the accumulator tank got some air or something in it when the power failed, so drained it and re-pressurized. Still got the whine. One time when it started whining, I went in there and worked the lav faucets on and off and while it would affect the noise, it would not necessarily stop it. Out of curiosity I flushed the toilet. The noise stopped.

So, took the lid off the tank and found that if I slightly pushed down on the fill valve it would start squealing. How in the world did that noise from the toilet tank sound like it was coming from the ceiling? Tomorrow will go get a new fill valve and hopefully solve this problem.

Thanks for the suggestions, and I will report back...

 

[havasu]

Fill valves in toilets have often been the source for the strange noises heard in homes today. It seems that you just may have solved your predicament.

 

[rtk]

Though this case has been solved, for others: If you are looking for the cause of a constant high-pitched noise in a ceiling (which might stop temporarily if you run some water), it might be some malfunction in your fire sprinkler pipes. Our noise sounded like it was coming from a bathroom fan. Shutting off the breaker and removing the fan did not eliminate the noise, and an inspector from a fire sprinkler company said incorrectly that it wasn't from the system since there wasn't a sprinkler in the bathroom; nevertheless, it disappeared after he did a "flow test." Open up the drain valve in the system, letting some water flow out the pipe that exits through an outside wall. Beware your alarm might temporarily sound. You can even turn off the main water valve to the house and empty the whole thing before re-filling. Perhaps some calcium was causing turbulence. The sprinkler water typically is separate from water going to the pressure regulator and water softener. https://homefiresprinkler.org/flow-testing-your-fire-sprinkler-system/