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Water hammer after plumber came

15 years ago

A couple of week ago a plumber came out for a couple of minor things--unplugged dishwasher drain and checked out shutoff valve (only had to tighten the packing nut) on the toilet and showed me how to turn off water at the street, cuz our main shutoff is frozen. He then did a few minor repairs on the toilet, even though I didn't request it---replaced a washer in the fluidmaster fill valve and the flapper.

After that we noticed a water hammer problem at the toilet. Closing the shutoff valve 1/2 helps. We've had minor water hammer in the past but it definitely got worse. Yesterday I decided to replace the washing machine hoses and a previously minor cold water hammer problem became severe, I'm afraid to use it. Just installed an arrester at the cold line to the washing machine and that does not help at all.

Could the plumber have opened the water valve at the street "wider" resulting in more pressure, thus creating more hammer? Should I try closing that part way?

Could I have damaged the washing machine cold-valve in tryng to remove the old hose? I did have to use a lot of pressure to get it off the machine.

Should I call the plumber back? He seemed like a nice guy but he charged $140 for those few things--he hasn't yet cashed the check.

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Comments (4)

bstarz
15 years ago
Check the water closet supply valve and ball cock on water closet. Valve must be 100% open, ball cock could have dirt in it.
frodo_2009
15 years ago
sfter opening valveall the way...if it still persits
close the valve if it helps,leave it there
having the valve wont hurt a thing. water hammer is caused by kinetic energy when the valve opens and closes, causing the pipe to jump.by closing the valve you stop some of the energy..as long as your toilet fills in a timely manner
its ok..if you want to stop the hammer.install a mechanical
arrester on the water heater or a 18" air chamber
just install a 18"to 24" -1" pipe with a cap on it
on the hot and cold side of the water heater
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I was thinkging about going to install arrestors at valves which causes hammer noise but since the water hammer noise is not near the valves, it's somewhere inside the house and I can't locate the exact place. Installing arrestors might not be effective right? Or I should just go ahead and install one arrstor and give it a try? As for installing a full size 3/4" hammer arrestor at WH location on cold side, can someone elaborate little more on why you need it since there's no hammer noise from or near the WH. No offense to anyone, I just want to have a better understanding on things because when comes to the actual installation, I have to have a plumber do that job and I don't want to shell out unnecessary money. As for the original air chambers, I really don't know if we had any or not. I'll have to call up my general contrator to find it out. But I do remember one thing when they changed the bathtub faucet, they had to remove/cut off some plastic part and replaced it with a copper thing to cure the water leak. All advice is good, really broaden my knowledge on plumbing and I really appreciated!
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manhattan42 - Thanks for the help. A couple of updates: I checked the following: (1) No clamps have been removed from the piping in the basement. (2) The sound is more like a steady groan that lasts five to ten seconds rather than a percussive hammer sound and seems to come from the basement. (3) The last time I heard the sound -- this morning when an upstairs toilet and sink were used for the first time since last night -- the sound started while the sink water was still running. When I add those observations together, I wonder if it's the case that water pressure along the long Pex line to the sprinkler is greater than water pressure through the copper tubing that is used elsewhere in the basement. The Pex line is 1-inch; the copper is 3/4". Is it possible that when water is drawn from the house, water in the Pex line is running backwards to the T-connection to the main copper line and causing it to vibrate? The walls of the Pex line is thicker than copper, so the interior dimension isn't 1/4" bigger, but it may be somewhat bigger. If that is the problem, how might it be fixed? How could I distinguish if that is the cause or if it's what you suggested?
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Single lever shut off??? You might be refering to "ball valve" but elaborate so we can be certain everyone is talking about the same thing. "is it common for plumbers to just quote the price and not specify what products they are using? " Very common and about as good of way as any,,,,,,,,UNLESS buyer either A. Understands plumbing and is capiable of judging material. Majority don't/can't. B. Has their knowledgable repersentive create a scope of work calling out details of material and methods. The scope is created and supplied to all bidders insuring that each is useing same parts,material and equal performance. C. Places their interest and athority 100% in the hands of a third party. 1 year warranty on material without spicific mfgr's warranty as well as labor is fair and reasonable. Most mfgr's warranties DO NOT cover labor. Think long and study hard before useing the net as substitude for A,B or C. Better to just choose a plumber based on repitation and referances then following his reccomendations.
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IF you find the city to be a fault and they refuse to do something, take it to legal. About the only way you can 'make' them do something. Other ideas, I wonder if your PRV is faulty, I don't think it should allow pressure to go so high? Another way to help with the symptoms is to install a large expansion tank in the main line which acts as a buffer. It acts as a collecting tank and it has a bladder to control pressure.
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pjb999
15 years ago
Does an air chamber really need to be that large? I've put several in different places when I've worked on different parts of the house, but didn't have room to use chambers that big. I suppose they are just less effective, and more likely to become waterlogged.
tim45z10
15 years ago
Air chambers described above can become filled with water. Turn off water supply, drain from lowest water supply. Close valve turn water back on. It sounds like the plumber MAY have knocked the clamp loose in the toilet pipe when fixing.

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