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This issue arose about a year ago. Does anyone have an idea why I occasionally hear (about once every hour or longer) a hammer related noise coming from my copper water pipes when no water is being used? It basically sounds like the noise you hear after the water shuts off when your toilet bowl has refilled itself after being flushed. I have checked and rechecked my two toilets and they are operating fine and there are no ripples in the bowl that would indicate water is running, nor is any water dripping into the water fill valve. I did lower the water levels in the toilet tank. I have checked all my inside faucets and there is no water leaking. In case I was dealing with air pockets in my water pipes, I also turned off my main water valve and opened all faucets starting from the highest level to the lower lever and drained the pipes. Leaving all faucets in the open position I turned the water back and proceeded to turn the faucets off starting from the highest level to the lowest. That did not make any difference as I still hear the periodic hammer or shut off noise. All my water pipes are tightly secured and there is no play or movement in the pipes.
The noise seems to come from a basement area where there is a water pipe to the outdoors faucet that I have capped and water pipes to an upstairs half bath. I have 3 outdoor faucets and they all have a very minor drip that I couldn't stop after tightening the faucet nut and valve handle, so I put a brass cap on them and covered them with an outdoor cover for the winter. All my basement cold water pipes are wrapped. About 10 years ago I hired a guy with plumbing experience come out to see if we could remove and replace the stem valve on the only outdoor faucet that had a drip in it at that time and we were unsuccessful. I did try to remove it myself before calling the service guy. Since it was a faucet that I rarely used, and we didn't want to possible damage or break the copper pipe trying to get the faucet's stem valve out, we just decided it was better to put a brass cap on it. So that is what I did. I tried to pay the guy for his troubles, but he wouldn't accept any payment as he couldn't remove the stem valve. Now this past summer, my other two outdoor faucets developed some minor drips, so I just capped them also in November. In the summer they have hoses on them, so a minor drip is not an issue.
My house is a 1500 square foot ranch with a full basement. I am on an unmetered township water system. I do have a septic tank. I removed my water conditioner when I hooked up to township water 15 years ago. My water pressure is good and is stable without fluctuations. My gas hot water heater is at least 25 years old. A few years ago, I was hearing gurgling sounds coming from the hot water heater and my hot water had a yellow tint, so I flushed my hot water heater for the third time in 10 years and that resolved those two issues. Given the age of my gas hot water heater I was thinking maybe that is what is causing the hammer noise if it somehow is releasing air bubbles from sediment or calcium percolating or being disturbed in the bottom of the tank?
I did speak to the township water supervisor and discussed my issues. He said he didn't believe the water pressure that they maintain would cause me any issues. He said to check the toilet's fill tank levels to make sure water wasn't leaking into fill valve (it was not but I lowered the level anyways). My only other thought was if the winter stem valve in my outdoor faucet which is defective allows water to fill into the space that is normally empty, that it may cause backpressure on the stem valve area until it is released when I hear the hammer related noise? Given that there is always pressure in the water pipes that didn't seem to make much sense? Anyways, if anyone has any thoughts or ideas, I would appreciate any feedback! I can live with the occasional noise as I normally only hear it when I am in my basement man cave watching sports!
Thanks!
The noise seems to come from a basement area where there is a water pipe to the outdoors faucet that I have capped and water pipes to an upstairs half bath. I have 3 outdoor faucets and they all have a very minor drip that I couldn't stop after tightening the faucet nut and valve handle, so I put a brass cap on them and covered them with an outdoor cover for the winter. All my basement cold water pipes are wrapped. About 10 years ago I hired a guy with plumbing experience come out to see if we could remove and replace the stem valve on the only outdoor faucet that had a drip in it at that time and we were unsuccessful. I did try to remove it myself before calling the service guy. Since it was a faucet that I rarely used, and we didn't want to possible damage or break the copper pipe trying to get the faucet's stem valve out, we just decided it was better to put a brass cap on it. So that is what I did. I tried to pay the guy for his troubles, but he wouldn't accept any payment as he couldn't remove the stem valve. Now this past summer, my other two outdoor faucets developed some minor drips, so I just capped them also in November. In the summer they have hoses on them, so a minor drip is not an issue.
My house is a 1500 square foot ranch with a full basement. I am on an unmetered township water system. I do have a septic tank. I removed my water conditioner when I hooked up to township water 15 years ago. My water pressure is good and is stable without fluctuations. My gas hot water heater is at least 25 years old. A few years ago, I was hearing gurgling sounds coming from the hot water heater and my hot water had a yellow tint, so I flushed my hot water heater for the third time in 10 years and that resolved those two issues. Given the age of my gas hot water heater I was thinking maybe that is what is causing the hammer noise if it somehow is releasing air bubbles from sediment or calcium percolating or being disturbed in the bottom of the tank?
I did speak to the township water supervisor and discussed my issues. He said he didn't believe the water pressure that they maintain would cause me any issues. He said to check the toilet's fill tank levels to make sure water wasn't leaking into fill valve (it was not but I lowered the level anyways). My only other thought was if the winter stem valve in my outdoor faucet which is defective allows water to fill into the space that is normally empty, that it may cause backpressure on the stem valve area until it is released when I hear the hammer related noise? Given that there is always pressure in the water pipes that didn't seem to make much sense? Anyways, if anyone has any thoughts or ideas, I would appreciate any feedback! I can live with the occasional noise as I normally only hear it when I am in my basement man cave watching sports!
Thanks!