Whistling the Tub Spout Tunes

As owners of a cabin in Northern Minnesota, it seems unusual mysteries crop up periodically. Soon after we moved into our cabin in 2005, we discovered our showers like to sing to us. It’s a flutelike, warbling, high-pitched sound coming from the tub spout that's loud enough to be heard throughout the cabin. After a while we learned to block out the annoying concert. However, guests politely wondered why they needed to be serenaded to a cacophony of tuneless less than one hit wonders that will never be written up in Billboard Magazine. Unfortunately, the guest shower is louder than ours so they probably had a reason to complain.

Last summer Brian and I used the guest shower quite a bit during the hot days of July, as we had moved to the downstairs cooler guest bedroom. Each day as I took my morning shower while listening to the deafening squeal, I grumbled  that this mystery could be solved. By now, the sound was no longer “cute.” Over the course of six years,  I had changed the shower heads, removed the low flow  washer, had a plumber check it out, soaked the shower heads in a variety of potent liquids, and googled every imaginable word and phrase that would give me the answer to this unwanted intrusion. Not understanding “plumber speak”, I was soon looking at tub spout and shower head diagrams wishing I had a brain for plumbing. Finally, in exasperation I called a plumber ( who happens to be female and was gifted with more plumbing brain cells than I’ll ever have) recommended to me by a local painter.

I threw out the word “diverter”....the word that kept popping up on plumbing chat boards. Our new plumber did some research and assured me a new tub spout would solve the whistle. How could it be that simple? She was correct. Moen has a flap that likes to vibrate in the spout, especially on well water. Case solved!!!  The next morning I took my shower with no accompaniment. This should have made me happy but I soon realized I missed that irksome sound. I yelled to Brian to whistle me a tub spout tune...which he obliged with a perfect “top ten” bathroom Billboard whistling winner.