Outside wall noise

[usmaak]

Attached is an image of the pipe running from the second floor shower to the basement. This is an outside wall. Because I wasn't around for the construction of this house, I had the builder take pictures for me. I was lucky to get this one so that I could see how it was built.

After I take a shower, the wall starts making a thunking noise every 20 seconds or so. It goes on for a couple of hours and then slows down. This only happens in the winter and completely disappears when it gets warm out. So it must have something to do with the temperature difference between the inside and the outside. Even if it's been many hours since the shower was used, it will still occasionally make a noise.

At first I thought that it was the pipe, but I have my doubts. I've gotten up on a ladder in the basement to shake the pipe and see if I can wedge something behind it to make it stop. No matter what I do, the noise is consistent. This is only something that has been happening for the last couple of years. The house is eight years old.

The left side of the picture shows the pipe going into some kind of black thing and I have no idea what it is. That seems to be the area from which the noise originates. What the picture doesn't show is that the wall has blown in insulation.

I am just wondering what the black thing is and what the sound could be.

 

[bud16415]

From your other thread you have those strange soil conditions and I would assume the black box is some sort of device that prevents your drain pipes from pulling apart or crushing as the soil they are in is in movement. Some kind of slip joint if you will.

Just guesses again as no one knows what those parts are or if the heating and cooling of the pipes could cause expansion contraction and make these noises.

 

[usmaak]

From your other thread you have those strange soil conditions and I would assume the black box is some sort of device that prevents your drain pipes from pulling apart or crushing as the soil they are in is in movement. Some kind of slip joint if you will.

Just guesses again as no one knows what those parts are or if the heating and cooling of the pipes could cause expansion contraction and make these noises.

Thanks. I hope there is a way to fix it because the non-stop thunking noises are maddening.

 

[Guzzle]

After I take a shower, the wall starts making a thunking noise every 20 seconds or so. It goes on for a couple of hours and then slows down. This only happens in the winter and completely disappears when it gets warm out.

In winter the house shrinks & the pipe expands & in summer the house is expanded so the difference is too small to make noise?

As an experiment you could put heat tape on the pipe. The heat takes the place of the warm shower water & once the pipe expands & stays expanded the noise should stop.

Or rent one of these fiber optic scopes and look along the pipe for it rubbing on a pipe support.