4am Every morning - what are neighbours doing?

[KnobZombie7]

New neighbours moved in before the summer in the flat next door. The water pipes in our building are shocking and make such a lot of noise and we're occasionally woken up at 4am with the sound through the wall of them turning their taps on for 2 seconds then turning them off again. This can go on for up to ten minutes sometimes. On/off, on/off...They don't work night shifts. I usually drift off back to sleep straight away. Didn't think much of it until...

Early this morning at 3.45, I was awake and decided to stand outside their door to see if I could get some clues as to what they do at 4am. Because I was bored. And nosey. I was as silent as a mouse. Sure enough, the taps were turned on/of, on/off for a while then I heard a noise like water being sloshed around in a big bowl right behind their front door. This went on for about 2 minutes then all was quiet again.

What do you think they are doing? I assume there are bowls by their front door that they fill up with fresh water at 4. But why? AIBU to think this strange?

DP says it's a burglar deterrent but why refill the water and why refill it at the same time each day and at an antisocial time? And why not just let the tap run and fill the bowl in one go?

Any ideas? Please help otherwise my nights will be spent loitering around the communal area and trying to figure it out myself.

They probably set the washing machine on a timer so that clean stuff is ready to hang up when they wake. My machine sounds exactly as you describe.
DH used to set our overnight but it kept waking me up so we stopped.

Do they have pets?
Filling a water bowl for a cat or dog.
My bastard cat disturbs me every morning.

SimonBridges you've really got to find out about that one.

Hot water heating up and it's the boiler that keeps firing up and off again a few times. Mine does that.

Yes, I'm well aware my behaviour was pretty creepy this morning!
Otherwise, apart from their confusion regarding religion as I mentioned earlier, I've not really chatted to them much. They seem to keep themselves to themselves. Not any more!!

@acatsnohelpwiththat as you PP

No pets, no.
I may lie in wait tonight as I'm off work now until Tuesday, and I could ask them about it tomorrow.

@knobzombie7

Maybe one of them has a ocd ritual?

Do they have hard wooden floors or carpet? If wooden floors, they might have a cleaning obsession and be cleaning the floor starting at the front door and working back to the other end of the flat.

I know people who are so obsessed with cleaning that they have a set routine that they must perform every day before they can do anything else. Getting up at 4am and cleaning the entire house before work might be how they deal with their OCD.

The taps on and off thing is likely to be smaller containers being filled and poured into a large bucket (especially if they don't have a big enough bath).

I think it is the washing machine or dishwasher, I set mine for about then to hang out before work and to make use of economy 7 electric

My washing machine does make a clunk sound when it puts the water in and there are usually several fillings of water depending on washing load

Dishwasher makes a whooshing sound and sounds are magnified at night - luckily our house is detached

Suggested action plan:

1. Buy a selection of rubber ducks that squeak when squeezed.
2. Set alarm for 4am.
3. When you hear the sloshy water noise, squeak one of the ducks outside their front door and leave on their doorstep.
4. Get back into flat as quickly as possible.
5. Repeat on a different day with different colour duck.

The beauty of this is that they will know they’ve been rumbled but the only way they’ll be able to solve the duck mystery will be by revealing their night-time water antics.

Out fridge self-flushes out the water dispenser periodically, do you think it could be that you're hearing?

How do you know they don't have pets? I reckon filling bowls and pets drinking from a bowl, or a mop and bucket (sloshing).

What a funny thread!

I imagine it is water coming out into the drain by their back door.
The taps thing, I don’t know, it could sound like taps but be a pump going on and off, for the water heater. It could be them filling a washbasin, first hot, then cold, for a morning wash if they get up extremely early for work.

I do this to take my meds and our pipes vibrate through the internal walls (external ones are from 1800s and survived a car driving into them they're not going anywhere!!)

My neighbours weren't impressed at all and tried insisting I took them at other times, not understanding I must take them every four hours and that means during the night as well with food and a glass of water and no I'm not taking them with water that's been sat around for four hours!

Rinsing out their penis beaker?

Becca can't you put a glass of water in the fridge instead? (That's what I do.) #completelymissespointofthread

Are you sure it's on and off? Could it not be water hammer?

Oh my goodness, my neighbour does his recycling at 4am. Why are people so weird!
On a side note, went for a wee at 4 am the other morning and could hear snorting/breathing outside upstairs bathroom window coming from below. Stood frozen listening for a good 15 mins before getting the courage to stand on the windowsill and look out. Couldn’t see anything so shone a torch down, nothing. Went to wake husband who muttered ‘hedgehog, go to sleep!’ I hope it was

@sunshinesupermum - I do that. I put a drinking bottle of cold water in the fridge so I can use it with tablets I take in the early hours.

I'd bet money that it's someone cleaning their colostomy bag. I'd bet my bottom dollar.

An alternative (arguably less surreal) plan is to shout a line from a water-themed movie (e.g Jaws or Titantic) when the water noises start. The next day apologise to the neighbour saying you’ve been suffering from water-themed night terrors. This might elicit the truth.

Lemono That's definitely my sort of solution. I'll come up with an elaborate plan so they'll reveal the mystery to me. I hope it's an instant reveal, I don't want to have the pieces together myself....though actually, the challenge may keep me busy over the next few days..

They def don't have pets, well they said they didn't when I mentioned I had a cat.

The colostomy bag idea is a possibility but I know the lay out of their flat as was friends with the last tenant and there is nothing by the front door other than the door and a corridor of about 1.5 metres leading to a slightly larger inner hallway. No room for a cupboard, so wouldn't understand why the sloshing must happen there.

It's also def a tap being turned on and off as the water hammer in this building sounds different and I recognise the sound from popping back home when the previous neighbour was filling the kettle for our cuppa.