Can someone please help me? What can I do to stop my pipes from making this loud banging noise?
Question:I have called out several plumbers and they haven't been able to fix the problem. I could just be sitting down reading a book and all of a sudden I hear this loud banging noise coming from the bath tub in one of my bathrooms and it flows all the way to my washing machine and cause the pipes connected to my washing machine to rattle. I have tired everything from opening up the faucets to putting a new faucet in my bath tub. The noise is loud and irrating, when I turn the water on the noise stops but as soon as I turn the water back off it starts again. The noise last about 5 minutes. Please someone help me. I have spent alot of money getting plumbers to come out but they cant locate the problem.
Answers:
For a hammer powered by water, see Trip hammer.
Water hammer (or, more generally, fluid hammer) is a pressure surge or wave caused by the kinetic energy of a fluid in motion when it is forced to stop or change direction suddenly. It depends on the fluid compressibility where there are sudden changes in pressure. For example, if a valve is closed suddenly at an end of a pipeline system a water hammer wave propagates in the pipe. Moving water in a pipe has kinetic energy proportional to the mass of the water in a given volume times the square of the velocity of the water.
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For this reason, most pipe-sizing charts recommend keeping the flow velocity at or below 5 ft/s (1.5 m/s). If the pipe is suddenly closed at the outlet (downstream), the mass of water before the closure is still moving forward with some velocity, building up a high pressure and shock waves. In domestic plumbing this is experienced as a loud bang resembling a hammering noise. Water hammer can cause pipelines to break or even explode if the pressure is high enough. Air traps or stand pipes (open at the top) are sometimes added as dampers to water systems to provide a cushion to absorb the force of moving water in order to prevent damage to the system. (At some hydroelectric generating stations what appears to be a water tower is actually one of these devices.)
On the other hand, when a valve in a pipe is closed, the water downstream of the valve will attempt to continue flowing, creating a vacuum that may cause the pipe to collapse or implode. This problem can be particularly acute if the pipe is on a downhill slope. To prevent this, air and vacuum relief valves, or air vents, are installed just downstream of the valve to allow air to enter the line and prevent this vacuum from occurring.
In the home water hammer often occurs when a dishwasher, washing machine, or toilet shuts off water flow, resulting in a loud bang or banging sound. A hydropneumatic device similar in principle to a shock absorber called a 'Water Hammer Arrestor' can be installed between the water pipe and the machine which will absorb the shock and stop the banging.
Steam heating systems for buildings may also be vulnerable to water hammer. In a steam system, water hammer most often occurs when some of the steam condenses into water in a horizontal section of the steam piping. Subsequently, steam picks up the water, forms a "slug" and hurls it at high velocity into a pipe elbow, creating a loud hammering noise and greatly stressing the pipe. This condition is usually caused by a poor condensate drainage strategy.
Where air filled traps are used, these sometimes become depleted of their trapped air over a long period of time through absorption into the water. This can be cured by shutting off the supply and draining the system by opening taps at the highest and lowest locations, which restores the air to the traps and then closing the taps and opening the supply.
Water pipes do not vibrate unless there is air in the system
What you have there is a trapped air bubble. You can shut the water off at the main valve then turn your inside faucets on to rid the water with the air bubble.
Let me know if it works for you.
The loud banging sound when you shut off the water flow is actually called "water hammer," and is a fairly common complaint in older homes. The flow of water through the pipes contains energy, and when the flow is abruptly stopped, this energy causes the loud banging sound. Initially a home's plumbing system was built with short pieces of pipe that filled with air and acted as air cushions to absorb the water's energy when the flow was stopped abruptly. However, over time the air has leaked out, meaning there is no air cushion left to absorb the water energy.
You can put that air cushion back into your plumbing system by turning off the main water supply and opening all the faucets in the house to drain the system. Next, turn the water supply back on and work your way up through the house, turning off the faucets as water flows through them. This should trap some air in the air chamber so it will once again provide the cushioning effect. If this doesn't work, you can buy a "water hammer arrester" that attaches directly to the water supply pipe where the water hammer originates.
If your plumbing is making any of these sounds, you should be listening because it's telling you it needs some maintenance. The sound is caused by something not working properly in your system and if you ignore it, over time, that small sound could lead to larger problems.*
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