O/T Pressure tank question........

Starting this morning, several times during the day today either my wife or I heard a squealing noise in the house.

It seems to be coming from the corner of the house where the well pressure tank is located, but only lasts a few seconds, not long enough to get to that corner of the house, get a good listen, and try to diagnose.

Seems to me I heard approximately the same sound years ago in a farm house we now rent out, but other than being related to the pressure tank I can't recall what the problem actually was.

The two obvious possibilities are low air pressure in the tank, or simply a failing tank. Plumbing in the house still works like it should. The house, including the pressure tank, are coming up 12 years old this spring.

Due to a high water table, we don't have a basement under the house, just a 4' deep crawl space. Standard poured concrete walls, but they only go down 4' with a gravel floor. That's where the pressure tank is located, and I haven't crawled down there yet to check the air pressure guage on the tank, assuming it has one.

Only other possibility is a water softener in the laundry room on the main floor of the house, also in that corner.

Input anyone? Thanks in advance.

Hard to say Goose without more info. Could be water closet turing off and on from leaking flushvalve, central unit fan needs oil. Sounds like something automatic.

I'll second the toilet, (water closet) can vibrate very quickly and can get pipes vibrating with it.

Like I said, the several times we've heard it, it hasn't lasted long enough to get to that part of the house to hear enough to figure anything out.

It was below zero last night, and warmed up to almost thirty today, so I've even thought about something from the temperature change. The master bathroom is in that end of the house also, but the plumbing is all PEX plastic so I'm not sure noise could follow the water lines.

Since we heard it last, my wife and I have both used that bathroom, and my wife took a shower, so maybe it was something episodic that came and went. Doesn't seem like anything in particular triggers it.

In the morning, I'll call the people who put the well in and see if it sounds familiar to them.

Thanks for the responses. It's bedtime.

If it has a diaphram device(old timers disease) to add some air every time the pump shuts,take the ball out of the device and wipe it clean . Then reinstall the ball. Used to replace the darned things until I figures out that wiping the check ball fixed it. That would explain the noise and the frequency of it occuring.No need to add any air to the tank,the device will do it for you.

I just called the people who installed it 12 years ago to come and check it out. I'd be shooting in the dark, where they know all the little tricks.

After 12 years, it won't hurt to have it professionally checked out once anyway.

Besides normal usage, we have underground lawn sprinklers with ten circuits that cover about an acre, so there's been a lot of water gone through the system over the years.