Plumbing is one of those things that, for most people, is out of sight, out of mind, but when plumbing starts making noises, sometimes that can be scary, and normally certain sounds lead to certain things.
What Causes Water Hammer
It’s easy to forget how heavy water is, since we hardly ever carry more than a few ounces at a time.
When all that water is moving through a pipe, it has quite a bit of momentum. If you suddenly stop that movement, for example by quickly closing a valve, all that momentum has nowhere to go.
Sometimes you’ll even hear this shockwave as banging in your walls when you close a faucet or run the washing machine, hence the nickname, water hammer.
Can You Hear Your Pipes At Night? We Can Help!
For large diameter pipelines that can be hundreds of kilometers long, that surge in pressure from a change in momentum can cause major damage. A pipeline carrying water that is 1 meter in diameter and runs for 100 kilometers, a fairly average sized pipeline, the mass of water in the pipe is about 80 million kilograms, the equivalent of about 10 freight trains.
Why Household Pipes Make Noise
A ticking noise when running hot water is literally thermal expansion in the copper pipes, remember, heat expands, cold contracts. This is okay, it doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong and it doesn’t mean there’s a drip on the wall.
Hammering, a hammer or a banging noise, is caused by a sudden on and off valve, like a washing machine, any kind of cylinder where it pops open and pops closed real quick. It can cause the water flowing through the pipes to stop suddenly and jolt, and what that does is hammer that water line. A hammer arrestor, shock arrestor, or air chamber can help that a lot.
A screeching and squealing noise, when you do get it, normally means there’s something wrong, the biggest problem often being a bad fill valve, one that’s going bad, the rubbers inside of it, the washers inside of it, that start closing differently. Sometimes just changing a fill valve can solve that problem.
How to Get Rid of Water Hammer by Resetting Your System
The first thing that you need to do before beginning is turn off your main water supply, usually in the basement, and turn it completely off, not letting any new water come into your pipes. Start with your faucet, the highest faucet in the house, then move down floor to floor, opening every faucet, shower head, and yes, even the laundry tub if you have one, and don’t forget to flush the toilets.
By the time you get to the lowest faucet of your house, watch the water turn into a trickle and then stop. Now that the pipes are completely drained of water, the air is rushing back into the pipe, creating that cushion so the water doesn’t bang everywhere.
Checking Water Pressure
One thing that you can do right away before installing the valves is at least check if your water pressure should be changed, high pressure can make water hammer way worse. Ideally, you want your home’s water pressure around 40 to 60 PSI, you can grab a pressure gauge at your local hardware store.
If it is too high, you can install or adjust a pressure reducing valve on your drain line, lower pressure means the water won’t slam into closed valves as hard, cutting down on the noise and the strain on your pipes.
Securing Pipes and Adding Air Chambers
If you know exactly which pipe is making noise and you have access to it, you can see that pipe, and when you open and shut off the valve, you actually see that pipe moving, and that moving sound, that vibrational noise, that wobbling, is what causes most of your noise issue. What you can do is secure that pipe onto the stud using a pipe clamp, making sure that the pipe clamp also has a rubber backing on it for that extra shock absorption.
Maintain or add air chamber in your house, if your house already has air chambers, short vertical pipes designed to trap air, they may have become waterlogged, draining the system refreshes these chambers.
Other Causes of Noisy Pipes
You should know that there are many different reasons behind noisy pipes. If a tap shuts very fast and forces the water to come to a sudden stop, the water does not compress, it has a lot of energy, the water has nowhere to go and it will cause the pipes to vibrate. Dishwashers are good examples of this case, and installing a hammer arrestor or anti hammer device on your pipe is usually the best approach, acting as a shock absorber.
What makes troubleshooting complicated is when there are multiple causes for the noisy pipe, in which case you must call a plumber in your area for help.
