The next day, I returned to the apartment to find that the hum continued its relentless mockery of my investigative skills. I employed the help of Mr. Gupta the building superintendent (well, more like the landlord's man Friday) and the brother of the landlord who lives in the apartment beneath me. The posse set out and investigated the entire building from top to bottom, but we found no trace of the noise outside my apartment.
That night, through simple shear exhaustion, I was able to get some sleep, but not much and of no quality of which to speak. The next morning, I called the landlord and she brought in the building Structural Engineer and Electrician to reconnoiter the building for the elusive source. After an all day investigation, the two engineers finally discovered the source.
The way the buildings are set up in Delhi, water is brought in from the city into a large holding tank under the structure. It is then pumped to the roof into individual tanks for each apartment. These tanks are fairly large and sit on top of the elevator housing above the terrace. Each tank, then, has a separate pump to assist the water pressure, so that you do not take a gravity-feed, drippy shower (this pump is unusual in Delhi, but was installed as an extra benefit). Apparently, one of the pumps was stuck in the on position and was continuously running. These pumps are very quiet, but this particular one sits right on one of the building's main support walls was not insulated. The constant running of this pump and its uninsulated location combined to make the perfect amplification in my flat.
They have fixed the bad pump and insulated the fixture, so we should be good in the future. When I returned from work that day, all you could hear was the faint sounds of Delhi gridlock and the growl in my stomach as I thought about returning to the US and eating a large steak!
No comments:
Post a Comment