Gremlins in the plumbing?

[Richard Newton]

So I'm in the mountains for the weekend staying in an old hotel where we are filming, place is really cool a lot of character, but it is expressing its character with some unpleasant sound issues. Problem I think is the plumbing isn't insulated from the frame of the building and the pipes upto the third floor are vibrating against the structure it sounds like a flying saucer is hovering over the roof, we are shooting in a large room on the second floor and the sound is carrying into there, to make matters worse I can't sleep cause the bathroom in my room is apparently one of the worst sources of this annoying vibration, only solution I've found so far is to flush the toilet every ten minutes but I can't do that all weekend while we're rolling, what do I do? It's also very cold up here 30*f ( I'm used to warm California weather) wondering if that is affecting the pipes too. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Audio Daddyo]

Are you talking about water pipes used for domestic water or heating pipes used for space heating. I am guessing the former since the flushing of the toilet has some effect on the noise. I don't think it is an insulation problem. Domestic water pipes are not usually insulated unless they are carrying heated water through an unheated space. I am thinking the problem is either the pipes are not secured to the framing properly using sound deadening mounts which is likely in an old structure and the pipes are probably passing through too tight of a hole in the framing and causing noises during expansion and contraction of the piping. I am also thinking that the water pressure in the pipes is causing the unsecured pipes to move around depending on when the occupants are calling for water. Is this well water or city water? How big is this hotel? Is it occupied with guests? Do you have any control over the water usage? Have you talked to hotel maintenance?

If the flushing of the toilet is helping then try opening up the ceramic lid on the reservoir of the toilet and reaching down and lifting the flapper and wedge something in there so that the toilet is constantly trying to fill the reservoir. The flushing of the toilet is possibly relieving pressure in the water line that is creating the noise problem. Possibly a simpler solution is to open the faucet in the sink of the bathroom and let it run and see if that helps the noise problem.

Andy

[ShubiSnax]

Andy has some good points, it sounds like a pressure issue. I'd try and find a hotel maintenance employee, surely someone who works there knows the reason behind the flying saucer noise and possibly how it can be minimized. Funny, usually a toilet or faucet running would be a bad thing for sound..

None of the producers, director or location manager caught this before shooting? Sounds like something that should've been taken care of already, NOT something that just came up. Another example of 45 minutes waiting on camera, then yell at sound for a 15 second delay. Picture first, sound if we still have time.

[Richard Newton]

Thanks guys for the feedback, I tried running the faucet, with a brief improvement but after a few seconds the saucer comes back, guess we're shooting an abduction movie LOL The hotel has been abandoned, purchased and is being re-purposed for another use in the near future, only people here are our crew, going to try property manager in a bit. Oddly I did get the sound a little quieter by turning the valve off under my toilet going to see if I can make the most of that too. For now I'm off to breakfast, Thanks again.

[Eric Toline]

See if you can find the shut off valve for the whole building. Should be in the basement or outside somewhere. Perhaps a local plumber could help.

Eric

[LarryF]

Does the hotel have a well and a pump? You may be hearing the pump running, though it shouldn't run constantly. Eric's shutoff valve is a great suggestion.

Larry F

[Richard Newton]

So I figured out later Saturday morning that the vibration was actually coming from the back of the toilet in my room, HAHA I thought I had ruled that out by shutting off the water valve under the toilet but it turned out the valve was not working properly ergo water was still over pressure in the "filler?", the solution was to slightly prop open the flapper inside the toilet and let it run all day, the sound of the water running was so far from set that it wasn't much of a problem I still occasionaly heard a very high frequency whine now and again(the water running through the pipes was a suspect) but it was too high pitch to worry about and should be easily EQ'd out in post if the mics picked it up at all(didn't hear it in my cans) and it was 1000x quieter than the vibation the toilet had been making. Thank God for smartphones, and the members of this forum being so active and helpful

[mikewest]

I'd record the noises as a wild track and sell them as sound fx later!!!!

mike

[John Blankenship]

It's actually just ghosts ... and they're screwin' with you.