What causes this and is there an inexpensive way to fix it. My in-laws own this duplex and they live in one side and my husband and I rent the other side from them and they are on a fixed income, and hubby and I can't help out because of a lot of medical bills. Any ideas?
2006-12-09 06:44:42 · 7 answers · asked by Ryan's mom 7 in Home & Garden ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
O.K. the cheap and easy way to address this is to gather up a bunch of rags and some baling wire and a pair of pliers. your husband, if he is able,or someone,needs to go under the house and locate the water pipes. he needs to listen and look for banging or moving pipes while you turn the water on & off. when he locates pipes that are moving or banging, he should wrap the rags around the pipes and secure them with the wire.
this may take a little while, and a lot of yelling back and forth, but if you keep at it you should be able to quiet down those pesky pipes.
you could put those air hammer arresters all over the place, but if the pipes are moving and banging they won't do any good at all.
good luck & happy hunting!
if you can afford it , it would be a good time to insulate the hot water pipes (cold too,if you have freezing temps where you live).
2006-12-09 16:08:33 · answer #1 · answered by spooky 1 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
2 things I can think of. A loose washer inside the faucet can flutter and make a hell of a noise. Simply shut off the water to that faucet and remove the stem and look at the washer. Has the screw backed out a little and is the rubber washer loose? Tighten it.
Until recently, water hammer was corrected with small upward pipes, near washers generally, that trapped air, thus acting as a cushion or shock absorber when water is shut off. But now they use a fat tube that has a rubber washer inside because the air is eventually absorbed the old way. So simply shut off the water at the meter, and open all faucets everywhere. Let drain for an hour or so. Now when you refill the system, air will again be trapped (not absorbed yet) in the small, upright, capped pipes. It will once again act as a shock absorber.
It also helps to secure all loose pipes that you can. Use plastic ties so no pipes are loose.
2006-12-09 15:04:24 · answer #2 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
it's mostly caused by pipes that have been improperly secured to framing members as they were installed. as the water is turned on or off, the change in the water pressure (not the pressure itself) causes a shock which makes the pipes move.
the only way to fix it is to go into the ceiling or walls and better secure the pipes. one easy thing to try - if you have plenty of water pressure everywhere in the building, you can try reducing the pressure in the whole system if you can find the regulator and pressure gauge (usually near the water pipe first coming into the house from the street). it may help.
by code, plumbers have to install air chambers at every fixture which was intended to provide a 'cushion' against water hammer, but we now know from recent research that those fill within weeks and are essentially useless. mechanical ones are now on the market and work well, but are still seldom used by plumbers.
2006-12-09 14:56:12 · answer #3 · answered by iii go iii 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It could be that you have air in the lines. Go to the main shut off valve and turn it off. Then open the highest and lowest water faucet in the house. This will drain the water from the system. Then close lower faucet, while leaving upper open(should be in a bathtub or sink so water will not spill all over!). Turn main water back on. This will force all air through the top faucet. Once water is running smoothly through the upper faucet, turn it off. This should fix the problem. There should be air chambers built into the plumbing, but sometimes over time these fill with water. That will cause the noise. By draining and refilling in this sequence, you drain water from the air chambers.
Lee
2006-12-09 14:55:23 · answer #4 · answered by Lee T 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Pipes are not secure,when you turn on the water, it acts like a jet propulsion and creates movement along the pipe that is not secured and banging noises.
2006-12-09 14:52:42 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The water-hammer effect is preventable with good plumbing installation, but there's no easy, cheap fix that I'm aware of.
2006-12-09 14:53:36 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
It's caused by water pressure. Talk to the inlaws about it.
2006-12-09 14:46:42 · answer #7 · answered by beez 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋