Noisy pipes, water pressure dropping to zero

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Noisy pipes, water pressure dropping to zero

Author: crcurrie (MD)

I'm stumped by a new plumbing problem that has been worsening the past few days. The night we returned from several days out of town, our pipes started making a noise like a horn when the tap was turned on upstairs. The next morning, I noticed the water pressure dropped dramatically in the upstairs master bathroom when the sink faucet and shower were turned on simultaneously. And then today, when I did the same thing, the water stopped flowing entirely. I heard the same horn-like sounds in the pipes. When I turned off the sink faucet both mornings, then the shower came on full pressure.

During the rest of the day and on the main level, we hadn't noticed any trouble until this evening, when we heard the noise after my daughter turned on the upstairs hall bathroom shower. After that, none of the faucets anywhere had any water flow.

Any ideas what's causing this issue and is there anything I can do to rectify it short of calling the plumber (which I plan to do tomorrow morning but I'm worried about getting a shower in before a morning appointment)?

Chris

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Re: Noisy pipes, water pressure dropping to zero
Author: hj (AZ) If you have a pressure reducing valve, it is going bad. If not and you have a water softener, put it in bypass mode and see if that stops the sound.
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Thanks
Author: crcurrie (MD) Yes, we do have a pressure reducing valve, installed about 15 years ago. Probably can't fix that one myself, so I'll put the call in now. Thanks! -- Chris Edited 1 times.
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