Reducing Bath Fill Noise

Like David D. Friedman, I take long baths and read. I need quiet time before bed in order to sleep, and a long hot bath with a non-threatening book works well for this (calculus is the best soporific!). Yes, it costs water and energy, but I live in Oregon, with more water and energy than most places.

But the noise of the occasional hot water refill interferes with my wife's sleep, who goes to bed before I do (reread "quiet time" sentence above).

A trick that reduces the noise:

Wrap the end of the faucet in a washcloth, so that a "pipe" of washcloth hangs down into the water. Secure with rubber bands.

The washcloth slows fill rate a bit, but it also eliminates most of the noise. It does this five ways:

• 1) The washcloth slows down the falling water, which longer hammers the tubwater surface.
• 2) The point of impact is muffled.
• 3) The cavitation and noise of the falling water goes away.
• 4) The resonance of the faucet spout itself is dampened.
• 5) This will reduce water hammer in older houses with poorly-secured pipes.

This also allows turning off the faucet handles with toes without risk of feet veering into a scalding hot stream.

Yes, this uses up washcloths (you want to change them or they will mildew). But if yesterday's scrub washcloth becomes today's sound reduction washcloth, then tomorrow's hang-out-to-dry before laundering washcloth, you've merely added one "wet day" on the way to the laundry hamper. I usually dry them for two days so they are bone dry before they go in the hamper, and have a repurposed towel rack under a cabinet for the purpose.

Optimization might include some kind of outdoor sunshine drying fixture for the summer, and an indoor humidifier drying fixture for the winter, but I've got other things to do!

A note about David Friedman's refill valve problem

If not for the mildew problem, a tap off the main faucet to a valve at the head end of the tub feeding a meter of garden soaker hose might be even quieter, and solve the "controls in the wrong place" problem. I bet DDF could figure out a way to keep the hose clean, and pay a plumber $500 to add the extra piping and valves. The extra pipe should run in the cavity between the wall and tub, with heat-reflecting foil on the wall, so the cooling pipe heats the tub anyway. For extra bonus points, put an inline heater on this pipe, and for safety add a foot of electrically-insulating plastic pipe between the heated pipe and the electrically-grounded new valve. Since the new valve will get used a lot, hunt for a design that doesn't need washers changed every 6 months.

Alternate to this alternative, a foot pedal valve at the faucet end? They make such valves for surgeon sinks and emergency showers.