Pipe "chattering"

[poppycat]

Does anyone know what would make the pipes in your house chatter, or make a kind of banging sound when the water is on full tilt? Any ideas on how to fix it?

Thanks

 

[Beekissed]

I would venture a guess that the pipes are not stabilized, or fastened down, as well as they should be, so when the force of the water hits they vibrate against the boards in the walls.

 

[enjoy the ride]

Don't know this but saw stuff on This Old House. One was air in the pipes from a hot water system, the other was expanding and contracting pipes hitting into the joists from which they were hanging. Might have some pipes not securely suspended or isolated from the wood.

Is it hot or cold water? Do you have city water or your own system?

Oh- and a couple of my pipes "sing" or whine sort of like a rock singer when the amplification gets turned off.

 

[poppycat]

It's city water, and it only happens with the hot water on a couple of fixtures. There's a long expanse of pipes under the crawl space. I might just check and see if it can be fixed by anchoring them to the joists. If there was air trapped in them I wonder how to get it out?

 

[enjoy the ride]

On the old house segment I just saw - it was long runs of hot water pipe too and what they did was get some plastic clips they called "Mickys" (Because they looked like Micky Mouse ears) and took off the old hangers and put these on where it was banging. The problem was that the pipes were hitting the wood joists to which they were attached when the hot water caused the pipes to expand. The Mickys isolated the pipe from the wood.

I don't know if the air thing is what you have- doesn't sound like it. But the fix if I remember was complicated.

 

[pioneergirl]

Mine do the same...its just the force of the water going through....and the expansion, etc. I just attribute it to the 'character' of my house, lol, and the fact that since there is no one here but me, my house is talking to me :/

*goes to her room to put her straight jacket back on*

 

[ChickenTender63]

It is called air hammer, and it is air in the lines. It is most common on the hot water side and can be easily remedied.

You need to install an air gap in the water line. You can buy these at Lowes or Home Depot for $5 or $6 bucks. It installs in the hot water line after it exits the water heater. Just cut the pipe, and solder this in place (for copper water lines) This should take care of your problem.

This piece will resemble a "T" with a 4-6" piece of pipe going straight up and it is capped. It allows the air to get trapped in the upper part of the "t" as water flows horizontally through the pipe.

Good luck, and let me know if you have other questions.

 

[user251]

master plumber here the most common cause of pipe chatter/banging is loose piping. the pipes expand and contract with heat and cold as mentioned before and force the hangers to loosen. go and get a good quality hanger, plastic hangers with a single nail work great since they are not affected by the heating and cooling expansions, and re-do the hangers. another cause is thermal expansion on the hot side. if not installed already purchase a thermal expansion tank (about 25 bucks at lowes) and install it just above the hot water heater on the hot side just cut in a tee and get whatever adapter is required (usually a 3/4" male adapter) and just screw it on. It has a bladder in it with a pressureized air chamber to absorb water hammer and thermal expansion. if you have a thermal expansion tank already it has a valve at the top, make sure it has at least 40# of air pressure in it. Good luck by the way i have found that "hammer arresters" are not usually the problem. water hammer is caused by shutting off a faucet, valve etc to fast forcing the water to stop suddenly causing a hammer affect and is usually a man made phenomenon. this can do all kinds of damage like blow out lines, rupture water tanks, rupture seats in faucets, that's why its imperative to shut off water flow slowly.

 

[poppycat]

master plumber here the most common cause of pipe chatter/banging is loose piping. the pipes expand and contract with heat and cold as mentioned before and force the hangers to loosen. go and get a good quality hanger, plastic hangers with a single nail work great since they are not affected by the heating and cooling expansions, and re-do the hangers. another cause is thermal expansion on the hot side. if not installed already purchase a thermal expansion tank (about 25 bucks at lowes) and install it just above the hot water heater on the hot side just cut in a tee and get whatever adapter is required (usually a 3/4" male adapter) and just screw it on. It has a bladder in it with a pressureized air chamber to absorb water hammer and thermal expansion. if you have a thermal expansion tank already it has a valve at the top, make sure it has at least 40# of air pressure in it. Good luck by the way i have found that "hammer arresters" are not usually the problem. water hammer is caused by shutting off a faucet, valve etc to fast forcing the water to stop suddenly causing a hammer affect and is usually a man made phenomenon. this can do all kinds of damage like blow out lines, rupture water tanks, rupture seats in faucets, that's why its imperative to shut off water flow slowly.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[user251]

you are VERY welcome hope it works out ok. if not e-mail me and maybe we can talk over the phone and figure it all out.