Best Place to Install Water Hammer Arrestor *and* do they work?

[frank1492]

This water hammer is caused by the actuation of the solenoid valves in a clothes washer. It rattles the pipes, particularly the vertical ones behind the bathroom wall. Where is the best place to position an arrester? I had suggested that one be temporaily attached to the nearest faucet (faucet then left open, of course) to see if there was any effect before permanent in-line attachment. Which brings me to my next question: Do they always work? Thanks in advance. Frank

[DerbyDad03]

re Do they always work?

That one's easy: No.

re: attached to the nearest faucet

That might help...certainly worth a try. Although if it doesn't, it must just not be the right location, so you might not really know.

re: rattles the pipes...behind the bathroom wall.

Any chance these pipes are accessible? Sometimes just securing the pipes better will stop the banging.

Are any nearby pipes accessible? How about the hoses to the washers? There are so many different types of arrestors, including homemade air chambers, that it all depends on how accessible any given connection point is.

DAGS for some ideas.

[Rick Blaine]

The ideal location is as close as you can get to the valve causing the hammer, with the air trap portion of the hammer in line with the direction of the water flow from the source pipe. Since that's not always possible, you try to get as close to the valve as reasonable.

Lowes sell screw on hammer arrestors that attach to the valve the washer (or dishwasher) hose screw into. I was very pleased with their performance on a dishwasher install. Saves having to open up the wall.

It seems to me that the old soldered in style of stub pipes are no longer allowed by code, but I don't know why. Maybe because they saturate over time and you have to drain the whole house.

[frank1492]

Thank you both. I will follow Rick's advice and try the screw-on hammer arrestor that Lowes sells. At the same time, we'll try to better secure the pipes that run up behind the tub.

[ronrico143]

IS WATER HAMMER ARRESTOR CAN BE INSTALLED IN HIGH LEVEL OF THE PIPES AFTER THE BRANCH SHUT OFF VALVE

[micky]

Please repost without capital letters (and with punctuation if possible.)

[micky]

Come to think of it, I don't know what this means, so changing to lower case won't help.

[bob haller]

I bet the oofending washer is a front load design. we never had water hammer till my GF INSISTED we get a front load. the purchase price was high, the cycle time is one hour, some of my shirts come out stinking like body odor

while they do save water they ae a bad buy

[Stormin Mormon]

do not; with old batteries? new! mixly: set.

- . christopher a. young learn more about jesus without capital letters! .

. .

[Stormin Mormon]

It's the price for saving the planet. Things just, simply, don't work.

- . Christopher A. Young learn more about Jesus .

. .

[nj48forplay]

And how much water they save depends on how much you use it. If it's a household of one or two it's not going to save as much water as one with 6 kids. I guess if you're in CA and really need to reduce water, maybe it makes sense. But for most people, it would take a very long time to recover the additional cost. I did my own test of a brand new $900 LG front loader versus my 20+ year old Kenmore top loader. Took some towels and old shirts and soiled them with mustard, ketchup, tomato sauce, etc. It was interesting. Used Tide in both. Each was better at removing some stains, worse at others. Overall, we concluded they were actually about the same in overall performance. The LG does take at least 50% longer to do a wash.

[micky]

That does matter to me sometimes (like when it's time to get dressed and Im' still doing the laundry!)

Sometimes I stand at the machine with the lid open and advance the timer when I think it's been doing the same thing long enough.

I stayed in a rented house with a front loading machine and there was no way to advance the timer by hand. I hope if I ever have to buy a new machine I remember all the things I want it to have. (I once bought a car with no cup holders. It didn't occur to me to check if it had any. It took me 2 years to make my own, but it was beautiful when I was done.)

[Ben begeman]

replying to DerbyDad03, Ben begeman wrote: Is it legal to install upside down