Identifying and Dealing with Plumbing Hammer Problems
If you keep hearing banging noises emanating from your plumbing system, chances are you have a hammer problem. There are two main types of hammering problems that your plumbing could be afflicted with:
- Air hammer problems: This type of banging occurs when you turn on your faucets and there is air being trapped within pockets in your plumbing's pipes. The action of switching on the taps causes the air pressure to be released. This results in loud hammering in the plumbing system.
- Water hammer problems: This type of hammering will come about due to the momentum of your water. When you turn on your taps, the high pressure in the water causes it to crash into the valve of the tap. This causes the initial loud banging. However, further down the plumbing, air pockets form due to the vacuum formed when the water is released at high pressure. This also causes a banging noise. As the water surge dissipated, so does the air pressure, and that is when the banging stops.
Ways of dealing with plumbing hammer problems
There are several ways that you could try to remedy hammer problems in your plumbing. The first would be to shut off all the water from the mains of your home. Once this is done, let water drain out from all your taps until they run dry. This is to try to eliminate any air pockets that could be in the plumbing. After draining all the water, you can turn you taps back on in hopes that the water hammer problems would not recur.
The second way of dealing with plumbing hammer problems is by cleaning the air chambers. Over time, mineral deposits accumulate in the air chambers, preventing them from arresting any water pockets that may occur in the plumbing. It is best to enlist the services of professional plumbers to clean these out for you rather than opting to do it on your own. On the other hand, if you live in an old home, chances are that your plumbing may not even have these air chambers in the first place. An inspection conducted by plumbing contractors can determine whether you need to have these installed.
In the meantime, you should advise all family members to turn on the taps slowly in an attempt to reduce the amount of water pressure released. Additionally, you could also try to manually reduce the water pressure on your entire plumbing system before the professional plumbers can come and remedy the problem.