When I turn on the water on after the faucets haven't been used in a few hours, there is no water pressure and no water. If I leave the tap open, in a few moments there begins a small trickle which, over the course of five minutes or so, begins to get a little stronger. Then the stream begins to sputter and blow as if there is air in the line, sometimes explosively (especially with the hot water), but most often, just small pops. Then the stream gets a little stronger, and over fifteen or twenty minutes becomes an almost normal strength and volume. But then, if I turn it off, leave it off for a few minutes then turn the water back on, this starts all over again. If I flush a toilet there is no water at all from the faucets until the toilet tank refills; or if the water is running at that time, the stream weakens to nothing till the toilet tank refills. During all of this, I can hear a noise under the house and in the water heater that sounds like sheet metal bending and popping. I checked the water meter with the all the taps are closed and no toilets running and the numbers do no change; I was told that this means there is no active leak between the meter and the house. I called the water company when this first started to happen and they said things were alright on their side of the meter. What do you think this could be? I've had the experience of changing out water heaters and changing burnt out heater elements, as well as installing new pipes in other circumstances in the past, so if I can figure out this problem I can fix it myself. Know that I'm a sixty year old female on a limited income (so I need to try to figure this out without having to call in a professional if possible) and just not able to crawl up under the house at this time in my life to check things out. I live in a relatively new (2007) double-wide mobile home with a crawl space that gets smaller at the end that has the water heater and where the water line comes in so it would be difficult crawl under, even if I were able at this point. Any ideas as to what could be going on?

You have a restriction in your system somewhere, probably close to the meter. It is only a guess because a problem such as yours requires an on-site evaluation.

Do you have an inline sediment filter on the main line ?
Or a pressure reducing valve that may be clogged?

Check to see if they installed a Pressure reducing valve in the pit with the water meter. I have seen a lot of newer installations that put them in the pit instead of inside the house or under a mobile home. If there is one, you can shut the water off at the meter and take the union apart at the PRV and double check to see if the pressure is almost nonexistent at that point.

my vote is for a pressure reducing valve problem..

Make that two votes.