Thumping noise in home

I get a thumping noise in my home, and I can't pinpoint where it is coming from. I think it's associated with the plumbing because it usually starts w hen I run the sink. Is this possible? Does plumbing make noises like that? And if so should I just get any plumber or do I need to get someone special ?

Reply to
Dom
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Sorry, that was me. Nervous habit. I'm going to sleep now so it should stop.

Reply to
micky

I had the same problem, maddening. After a lot of messing around I replaced the pressure reducing valve. The thumping stopped.

I am interested in hearing what others have to say about this problem.

Reply to
George D

g from. I think it's associated with the plumbing because it usually starts when I run the sink. Is this possible? Does plumbing make noises like that ? And if so should I just get any plumber or do I need to get someone speci al?

*Try running hot water down your sink. You may hear the sound that you are referring to. If so it is probably the plastic drain pipe moving as a res ult of heat expansion. Pretty common with plastic pipes.
Reply to
John G

Possibly a water hammer arrester at the sink would take care of it

Reply to
philo 

Dom,

Your plumbing is quite capable of making many noises. I've no idea what is causing yours. Since a plumber is probably familias with plmbing noises, he might be able to help.

Good luck, Dave M.

Reply to
David Martel

pinpoint where it is coming from. I think it's associated with the plumbing because it usually starts when I run the sink. Is this possible? Does plumbing make noises like that? And if so should I just get any plumber or do I need to get someone special?

For diagnostic, I'd leave the faucet thumping, and go around listening. Touch different plumbing things like pressure reducer.

Let us know what you find. It's probably an easy fix.

- . Christopher A. Young Learn about Jesus

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Reply to
Stormin Mormon

You already know about the 'ticking' or some type noise that you hear the plastic pipes dowhen running hot water through them.

However, I once had 'thumping' noise sometimes when ran water, sometimes just on its own. Overtime went away, until...no hot water! Seems the electric water heater element was shorting out through the water [until completely burned up] and was acting like the boiler section of a coffee pot, thus the thumping. Water boiling and making a thumping noise.

You can check by turning off breaker, disconnect lead to heating element and measure resistance between the tank [should be huge, infinite] and between the two elements, around 8 to 13 ohms depending. If higher, big problems [my hot water tank has two elements so must disconnect at the element to make any measurements. Plus, the advantage of two elements is have one to compare to!]

Reply to
RobertMacy

Can you say a little more about what happens, when it happens, what it sounds like, is it constant thumping or a one-time thump, can you reproduce the noise or make it happen when you want to, etc?

If you post back, people here can probably help you figure it out. But, if all you do is post one time with only limited information, you probably won't get it figured out here.

Reply to
TomR

1) Not necessarily correct. It depends on what he hears, when, where etc. before being able to say what the actual problem is. But, yes, it could be a water hammer. 2) "Col. Edmund Burke" -- could you please stop posting all of the other off topic nonsense types of posts like the ones that you have recently been posting to this group? Thanks.
Reply to
TomR

Thanks to everyone except Micky and Edmund Burke.

I got some more data. I came home, no noise. I ran a sink full of cold wat er, no noise. I ran a sink full of hot water, and for the next hour I got that thump noise. It seems to come from the crawl space. Also, I noticed th at the hot water heater makes a noise too. Like there is something popping inside it. The heater is only eight years old, but I admit I never had it f lushed. But the thump under the crawl space is what bothers me. It seems to come long after I turn off the hot water. I'd say I get only a thump every 5-10 minutes, and it stops altogether after about 1 hour.

Reply to
Dom

Just about any kinda loud noise coming from the water heater is not good, especially popping or wheezing noises. It's an indication that you have scale forming on the hottest parts of that heater, which would be the bottom on a gas fired heater or the elements on an electric. Either way, it indicates that the heating elements or the glass lined tank itself is on it's last legs.

What happens is that as the scale forms on the hottest areas, pockets of water are trapped in the scale. The water in those water pockets gets heated to well above the normal boiling point of water, and as the pressure of that water caues the scale to break, the heater will make popping or wheezing noises.

Here, skim through this:

http://www.ho****er.com/lit/training/4800r9.pdf

The above is instructions on how to dissolve the accumulated scale in a gas fired hot water heater using a deliming acid. The idea here is to dissolve the lime scale at the bottom of a gas fired water heater to maximize it's lifespan. Scale forming on the bottom of the heater effectively insulates the water from the metal bottom of the tank, thereby causing the metal bottom to become much hotter than it otherwise would get during each heating cycle, and that overheating of the metal promotes early tank failure.

If the thumping noise is coming from the crawl space after running the hot water, my guess would be it's due to the expansion and subsequent contraction of one of the hot water supply pipes rubbing against a floor joint and causing a noise as it moves. You can isolate the pipe and the location where the noise is being created with a mechanic's stethoscope as described in my last post. If you find that's what's causing the noise, you can eliminate it by squirting some graphite powder between the pipe and the floor joist. Graphite powder is a natural lubricant that will cause the pipe to slide against the wood rather than rub on it.

Reply to
nestork

Have you definitely established that it is only related to hot water usage, and never is heard when you use the cold water,over a period of a couple o f days minimum?..Your last post sounded like that was the case, but just ch ecking to make absolutely clear before we move on with suggestions.

It doesn't seem to be water "hammer". That occurrs when water is flowing a nd then you abruptly turn it off at the faucet and the water in motion slam s agains the suddenly shut valve making the hammer/clanking noise. It will not occur if you shut the water flow off slowly.

Reply to
hrhofmann

Here is the correct link:

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It's a "hotwater.com" link. I think some web-based discussion forums trim the website link like that. Not sure why.

Reply to
TomR

Interesting information. I didn't know that about hot water tank scale, the noises that it can create, and the possible ways to remove some or all of the scale from the tank. The corrected link is:

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Then, I decided to look up Un-Lime and I found this link that says that it costs $270 for 4 gallons of the stuff:

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Reply to
TomR

My understanding is that A. O. Smith has stopped selling Unlime, and I have no doubt that the reason for that is that is that no one was buying it.

Here's the MSDS for A. O. Smith Unlime:

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It's nothing more than phosphoric acid, which you can buy at any janitorial supply store listed under "Janitorial Equipment & Supplies" in your yellow pages phone directory.

That MSDS sheet doesn't say what the concentration of phosphoric acid is in Unlime, but it's been my experience that it really doesn't matter. I have used both strong phosphoric acid and strong hydrochloric acid on enameled steel bathtubs and neither one would hurt the enamel. The inside of your hot water tank is enameled steel just like a steel bath tub.

You can buy Buckeye "Sparkle" which is 40 percent phosphoric acid (which is the strongest phosphoric acid product I know of) at any janitorial supply house that carries Buckeye International products. It's sold in quart size bottles, but it's nowhere near a quarter of $270. I haven't bought it in a long time, but my guess would be that it'd be less than $20 per quart.

Apex Engineering makes a product called "Rydlyme", which is a 10% hydrochloric acid product made especially for deliming boilers. I import it from Apex Engineering for about $100 for a 4 gallon case, but nearly half of that cost is shipping.

Commercial toilet bowl cleaners will typically either be gelled phosphoric acid or gelled hydrochloric acid, and you can buy either one of them from any janitorial supply store.

I'd say that if you used any fairly strong phosphoric acid product, you'd get the same results as using Unlime. It just may take less or more time to completely dissolve all the lime. Also, once the lime is dissolved, the acid will not harm the enamel coating on the inside of your water heater. Confirm by using some acid on your enameled steel bathtub or enameled steel stove cook top.

Reply to
nestork

Also, Buckeye Sparkle is sold by the quart, the gallon, by the 30 gallon drum and by the 55 gallon barrel.

If anyone is having trouble finding that A. O. Smith link on descaling water heaters, just use Google (or whatever) to look for the text:

Why When & How to remove water scale from tank type glass-lined water heaters

and you should be right near the top of the Google search results list.

Reply to
nestork

You don't necessarily need to stop movement of the pipe. If you just change the movement of the pipe from rubbing against the joist to sliding against the joist, you'll eliminate the noise associated with that movement.

Reply to
nestork

what is the difference between "rubbing" and "sliding" against the joist?

Reply to
Pico Rico

semantics

Reply to
FrozenNorth

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