Mysterious Sound

[onlinebiker]

I'm doing a renovation in my house - rebuilding the bathroom - all of the plumbing, and a good share of the wiring on the west end of the house. I'm working here alone - and usually have the radio turned on to NPR. Sometimes - I get sick of yelling at the radio - so I shut it off.

My hearing isn't very good - from years of riding motorcycles without a helmet, from gunfire, from radio static (I was a radioman in the service) - so I don't hear the bugs fart.

I keep hearing a ticktickticktick noise. It sounded vaguely metallic. About like somebody tapping a coin on a desk. I could hear it best next to the south wall - where there was no electric - except for a vent fan. The only water is the toilet drain and the drainage vents.

It was very rhythmic - between 110 and 115 bpm. Not loud - the radio covered it mostly.

Days go by - and I keep hearing it. The SO said she's never heard it.

Tickticktickticktick......

Grrrrrr...

I decide to get serious. I turn off all the electric in the house.

Tickticktickticktick......

I go drain all the pressure out of the water pipes.

Tickticktickticktick......

WTF?

Thing is - every once in a while it stops - and stays stopped for a while - making it all the more fun to try and find.

I go outside - and when I get close to where I hear it best inside - I hear it.

Tickticktickticktick......



Then I look up and see it......

.....


Guess what it was?

---

The vent fan has a set of gravity louvers on the outside of the house that prevent air (or bugs) from coming in the house. When the fan is turned on - they open up. I have the door open on the other side of the house - and the wind is causing an positive pressure in the house - which is escaping in part through the louvers. The reason they are so rhythmic is the louvers act as pendulums with a very short movement.

---

[Anomalocaris]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_un...ned_sounds

[no one]

The ghost of renovations past?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Definitely aliens.

[possibletarian]

A watch stuck in your ear ?

[arewethereyet]

Hmmm...so, not empty beer bottles rattling on your HVAC vents? I thought that was the cause of mysterious household noises.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Getting a flashback to my Punctual Cricket incident.

Boru

[Fireball]

Getting a flashback to my Punctual Cricket incident.

Boru

It's the Intermittent Cricket that causes the real trouble. Just when you start to nod off, the little shit starts chirruping again.   A susurrus is fine, but when it's ONE horny cricket...