Water Hammer Problem

[Key Bored]

Hi All,

I have a 2-year old house. In order to install several new hose bibbs, I recently shut off the main water supply at the gate valve where the pipe enters the house. After restoring the water supply, I noticed water hammer at every faucet, dishwasher, and washing machine in the house. I never had a problem with water hammer before.

I measured water pressure to the house at 55 psi. There is a Zurn (Wilkins) thermal expansion tank Model WXTP-8 (2.1 gallon) above my water heater, and the pressure at the air valve on the tank measures 55 psi. There is no separate water hammer arrestors anywhere in the system.

How can I restore the quiet operation that I had before replacing the hose bibbs? Is there a certain way to drain the system that will solve the problem? Do I need to discharge and recharge the expansion tank? Or what??

Thanx, Key Bored

[dickwells]

[Mike Grooms]

I might suspect the gate valve itself. Make sure it's all the way open. The fact you shut the water off and turned it on again shouldn't have affected the air chambers (if you had any to begin with). As a matter of fact, air chambers that are not accessible, don't do any good after a while. Eventually, the air in the chambers gets mixed into the water supply making them waterlogged anyway.

The way you wrote your message, since it happens at every faucet, and since it happens on the hot and cold, I'd think the problem would have to be where the source of the water for all those fixtures are, and the gate valve is a likely suspect. A loose gate can rattle.

[Bob Wheatley]

......Or even more likely..... The poster is simply calling "water hammer" what we all know as simply having air in the lines after a shut down. He may simply need to purge the system completely.

Bob Wheatley

[Key Bored]

Thanks to all for suggestions. While checking all valves in the water supply system, I noticed the sensor valves under the sinks in the bathrooms. These valves are part of the hot water recirculation system, along with a small electric pump above the water heater. The sensor valves open and close automatically depending on the water temperature, so that hot water (actually warm water) is available at the sink at all times. When the sensor valves were in the closed position, it caused the water hammer. The retrofit recirculating system is sold at Home Depot, and is described at:

When I removed the sensor valves, the water hammer stopped. I was never happy with the recirculating system in the first place, because it used the cold water supply line as a return line to the water heater, and as a result, the cold water at the sink was warm until I ran the faucet for about

30 seconds. In other words, I traded one problem (waiting for hot water) for two others (water hammer and waiting for cold water). I wouldn't recommend this system to anyone.

Thanx, Key Bored

[Ned Flanders]

I agree that system sucks.

id rather have one of the mini hot water tanks under the sink

[PipeDown]

Are you sure you mean "water hammer" (a single bang when a valve is closed quickly) or "cavitation" a series of rythmic banging that happens when a valve flutters (or other causes) due to malfunction for example. Like a machine gun in the pipes. In any case, it sounds like you solved the problem well enough for yourself.

I want to put a recirc system in but one activated by a button not continuously primed. They do save water but at the expense of more pricy gas or electricity as even insulated pipes will loose some heat.