plumbing
I've seen lots of posts that speak of a single toilet whining, but one day, a few weeks ago, all of our toilets on the middle and upper floor (3 toilets) started whining when the tank is refilling.
If I turn on the cold water faucet next to the toilet (or the shower) the whining immediately stops!
So I thought this may be a water pressure issue. .. but our pressure doesn't seem to be very high. Anyone have any ideas?
This sounds like your leach field is possibly blocked. That's the disaster scenario where you not only need the tank pumped, but the yard dug up and a new field placed.
Water from your laundry coming up in your tub is a sign that it's not draining to the septic system. This is either because there is a block in the system before the tank or because the tank is unable to accept any more water as it is plugged on the discharge / leach field side.
When I opened up the clean out pipe clear water came out (about ten gallons). I shoved the hose down about 25 feet and it was running full force but it seemed like all the water coming out of the hose was draining back out of the clean out pipe.
... and that's the sign that it's doing option #2: the tank is full and failing to drain.
The Pressure gauge reading cycles between the pump cut-in and cut-out pressures. Sounds like the gauge is dead and permanently stuck at 24psi.
Often, the cut-in and cut-out pressures will be listed on the pressure switch and commonly are 20psi cut-in and 40psi cut-out. So your water pressure on the gauge will cycle between 20 and 40psi during water usage.
The tank has a built-in bladder that is pre-charged to 30psi when your gauge reading is 0psi (pump breaker turned off, water tank drained). There should be a faucet somewhere on the pump manifold system that allows you to drain the pressure tank of water so you can check the bladder air pressure.
To repair the gauge, I would switch the power to the pump off, drain the tank and simultaneously, replace the gauge and check the bladder pressure and top it off if needed. Then power the pump back up.
If there is a lever on the side of the pressure switch (image below), it is a low pressure cutout to prevent the pump from operating if the well runs dry. Pull it up till the pump turns on and hold till the pump stays on (about 10-15psi). With no low pressure cutout, just power the pump on and it will automatically do the rest.
Once you have a working gauge, you can start to determine whether it is a pump pressure supply issue, or if you have something more serious like a restriction in the house supply line or a leak.
Do you have any sort of sedimentation filter in your water system? Sounds like it may have clogged and if a screen, needs flushed or replaced if it's one of those string filters.
Best Answer
Sounds like a pressure issue to me since multiple toilets and when you open the tap the noise stops. Unless plumbing work has just been done that could have debris plugging only the upstairs fill valves I would think your pressure has changed.