Do you hear a strange banging sound every time you use the water in your home — What is it? Where is it coming from? How can you make it stop?
To answer these questions, we actually want you to forget about your pipes for a second and think about cars. Like many car collisions, noisy pipes are caused by a domino effect. If one car suddenly brakes, the car behind it will hit it. Then the car behind that hits the first two; then the car behind that hits all the others, and then you have a four-car pileup.
So what does that mean for your pipes?
How to Fix Noisy Pipes
A similar version of that pileup is what's happening in your pipes. But instead of cars hitting other cars, your pipes have water crashing against closed valves (mostly thanks to differences in water pressure). If there's enough water, it can even cause the pipes themselves to bang up against the wall, which is where we get the name for this problem: "water hammer."
So how do you stop all these noises? It's simple. All you have to do is turn off your main supply valve. Once your water is off, turn on all of your faucets and flush all of your toilets to completely drain your pipes of water. After everything starts running dry, turn your water back on at the main valve nice and slow and you should be good to go. If you turn the water back on too quickly, the air chambers in your pipes won't have time to refill, leaving you right back where you started.
If this doesn't solve your problem, check to see if your pipe-mounting straps are too loose, if your water pressure is too high, or if there is a problem with your water hammer arrestor.
If you need help finding the right solution to fix your water hammers, we'd love to help you get everything back in proper working order! Just give us a call at (864) 242-5511, or click the banner below to schedule service online! You can also sign up for our Diamond Club to be sure your plumbing is getting regular checkups, and that little problems are caught before they turn into big ones.
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