Intermittent regular vibration in cold water pipes

[AliG]

For the last 5 days and nights we have heard a regular intermittent vibrating noise coming from (we think) the cold water pipes - you can feel a vibration when you hold the one going to the bathroom sink. It comes on quite suddenly, vibrates (fairly gently) then fades over a period of about 30 seconds. It then starts again after every eg 5 minutes. It is regular, within seconds, within a time period eg an hour or so but can change during the day. We have tried turning off the stopcock in the house, the stopcock at the start of our property, the main electricity supply but it makes no difference. Nothing seems to change it eg having the washing machine going, running taps etc. We are beginning to wonder if the pipes are picking up vibrations from a paper mill, close to our house, that has a variety of pumps etc going. Having visited various sites we wondered whether it was a leaking supply pipe and did a test suggested - holding a jug of water over the kitchen tap when the mains stopcock in the garden was turned off. No water was sucked up so we are assuming there is no leak.
Any ideas? Hope someone can help.

 

[Paulus]

Hi

If you still get the vibration when the water supply to the house is turned off it sounds like there is some sort of external cause, nothing to do with the mains. Have you talked to neighbours? Are they experiencing similar?

 

[WHPES]

If its external, you need to contact your water supplier.

 

[WaterTight]

we wondered whether it was a leaking supply pipe and did a test suggested - holding a jug of water over the kitchen tap when the mains stopcock in the garden was turned off. No water was sucked up so we are assuming there is no leak.

Never heard that one before, that's quite clever.