My daughters house is about 40+ years old, galvanized pipes. When the dishwasher begins to fill, the water pipe hammers very lightly, almost more like a vibration. If you turn on the sink faucet, it quits. It has never done this before, suddenly started last week. Is this water hammer or could it be something else? Any easy fix?
In the past, they have had problems with water hammer when showering, however that doesn't happen any more - just seemed to quit on it's own.
Thanks,
Mike
COMMUNITY FORUM
True water hammer is caused when fast moving water is QUICKLY shut off. The momentum tries to keep the water moving and when stopping the water it slams in the valve and the elbows.
It will cause a single BANG followed by a couple of rattles of the pipes.
It mostly occures on solenoid valves such as on clothes and dishwashers. But you can sometimes cause with some of the newer hand valves that only have a short motion.
That is best solved by using a sealed hammer arrestor near the valve.
The other type of noise is a continous noise as water is flowing. It can vary from a trip hammer sound - bang...bang...bang - to a machine gun sound -bang.bang.bang - to higher pitched squeals.
And it will vary by the amount of water flow an the pressure.
It is caused by someting in the water flow that moves in and will block or partial block the flow. Then as the flow stops the item will move away and allow more flow.
This is most commonly caused by a loose washer in the valve what is causing the noise. But it can be caused by others in series with the water flow such as the main shutoff or the water heater shutoff.
In your case since it was in the shower and now the diswasher I would look at the water heater and main shutoff.
But it can be caused by trash that got in the line. Or even broken off parts of an old valve washer.
In geneneral these are easy to fix. It is finding the orginal source that is sometimes the problem.
It will cause a single BANG followed by a couple of rattles of the pipes.
It mostly occures on solenoid valves such as on clothes and dishwashers. But you can sometimes cause with some of the newer hand valves that only have a short motion.
That is best solved by using a sealed hammer arrestor near the valve.
The other type of noise is a continous noise as water is flowing. It can vary from a trip hammer sound - bang...bang...bang - to a machine gun sound -bang.bang.bang - to higher pitched squeals.
And it will vary by the amount of water flow an the pressure.
It is caused by someting in the water flow that moves in and will block or partial block the flow. Then as the flow stops the item will move away and allow more flow.
This is most commonly caused by a loose washer in the valve what is causing the noise. But it can be caused by others in series with the water flow such as the main shutoff or the water heater shutoff.
In your case since it was in the shower and now the diswasher I would look at the water heater and main shutoff.
But it can be caused by trash that got in the line. Or even broken off parts of an old valve washer.
In geneneral these are easy to fix. It is finding the orginal source that is sometimes the problem.
