Question:
Recently we have been hearing a fairly loud booming sound from somewhere in the pipes whenever we turn the water off in any of the sinks or flush the toilets. What is this from? Our house is about 75 years old but some of the pipes are new due to renovation. Susan
Response:
: Recently we have been hearing a fairly loud booming sound from somewhere in the : pipes whenever we turn the water off in any of the sinks or flush the toilets. : What is this from? Our house is about 75 years old but some of the pipes are : new due to renovation. Sounds like water hammer. When valves are closed suddenly the water in the pipes has to stop, and the momentum is transferred into the pipes at the valve and bends. This can cause noise and/or pipe movement. Perhaps the renovations removed seemingly useless vertical dead end pipe sections which were intentionally there to act as air filled dampers to prevent water hammer. You can install the pipe sections or more compact commercial dampers to prevent water hammer. In the mean time, try closing the valve slowly to see if it prevents the problem. Toilet valves normally close fairly slowly, I think, so it may be something else, but it sure sounds like water hammer. David
Response:
Sounds like "water hammer" which occurs when the moving water in your pipes suddenly stops when a valve closes and the force causes the pipe to move and bang into things, causing the noise. I haven’t heard of any problems arising from it, other than it being most annoying, although I could envision a number of things that could happen since the pipes are moving around and banging into things. Usually, a pipe(s) isn’t secured well or has come loose which is why the problem may suddenly appear after several years. There is a gadget that you can buy called a water hammer arrester, that should reduce the problem. It’s just a piece of sealed-off tubing that gets added to the line, that contains a column of air to absorb some of the shock energy. Also, go around and secure any pipes that may have become loose and maybe even use some rubber cushioning material in areas where the piping is right up against a beam or wall, or another pipe. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Recently we have been hearing a fairly loud booming sound from somewhere in the > pipes whenever we turn the water off in any of the sinks or flush the toilets. > What is this from? Our house is about 75 years old but some of the pipes are > new due to renovation. > Susan
Response:
> Recently we have been hearing a fairly loud booming sound from somewhere in the > pipes whenever we turn the water off in any of the sinks or flush the toilets.
I was having a problem like this with my hot water. Whenever we (or the dishwasher) shut off the hot water, we’d hear a clanging sound from under the house or in the wall near the kitchen. I figured it was water hammer, so I got a water hammer arrestor device at the hardware store and installed on the hot water line to the washer. No improvement! Just the other day I put on a bunch of old clothes and wriggled down into the crawlspace. I discovered that the hot and cold water lines under the house were touching with very light pressure at a point where they crossed. That is, with only a very slight pull, I could pull them apart and then let go and I heard what sounded like that water hammer sound. So I just slipped a piece of pipe insulation foam between the pipes where they were crossing and lightly touching and … problem solved! — Adrian Brandt
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