Bathtub Faucet Muffler Hack

Reducing Bath Fill Noise

BathtubHack

Not directly Server Sky related, but a fun bit of hackery.

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 spout with a washcloth, so that a "pipe" of washcloth hangs down into the water. Attach as shown below:

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.

Applying the Bathtub Faucet Muffler Hack

	The kit includes a cutdown strip of 3M #370 Safety Walk Tread Tape (front and back shown), and a Velcro cable tie. The strip has an adhesive backing which is waterproof and heat resistant.
	Clean the faucet metal. Pull off the paper backing of the strip, center on front of faucet (slightly higher than edge if spout is tilted), and wrap around. There may be a small gap, or some extra to cut away with scissors, depending on diameter
	Wind a cheap brown or dark yellow washcloth around the spout, with the seam just above the strip.
	Strap down with the velcro cable tie.
	Iron in the water will make rust stains, wash the washcloth every two weeks.

Ties are VELCRO Brand Model # 90924, 50 per pack for $5.47 from Home Depot. The strips were laboriously cut from a 4 inch (actually 3 15/16) wide strip of 3M material from a boating supply store; 6 inch strip (which wasn't at the store) would be much easier to cut, perhaps using a paper cutter.