What is water hammer?

Water hammer can be quite annoying. It is the sound in a steam or water pipe caused by the pressurized air moving around inside or forced to stop suddenly. You may notice it as one loud bang when you shut off the tap quickly, or as a series of bangs or hammering sounds when a water closet is filled and shuts off slowly. This problem commonly occurs in older homes often after renovating and changing standard taps to mixers because mixers have sudden water shut off.

3 main reasons why this occurs

1. Older homes used non-plastic pipes
2. Pipes were often laid directly on the ground
3. Water pipes were often not properly secured.

Solution: If you have access under your house securing the pipes will resolve this however you generally need to not only affix the pipes where the water hammer is occurring but often need to reclip the entire water system because clipping at one spot may move the hammering to another location.

How to install water hammer arresters

If your house develops water hammers after renovation this is considered a pre existing defect. Water hammer arresters are available in the market however they need to be installed in both hot and cold water supply lines from every tap. This may be costly and it is not guaranteed to work.