LESLIE: Ken in Florida is on the line and he’s having a question about some water hammer. What’s going on?
KEN: Yes. Hi, Tom. Hi, Leslie.
TOM: Hey, Ken.
LESLIE: Hey!
KEN: I love your show.
TOM: Thank you.
KEN: I live in the villages and it’s pretty unique for what I’ve ever seen – is I had those plastic pull – push/pull – shut-off valves under my sinks. So, never had a problem with water hammer in my own house, ever, until I changed the valves. I put in quarter-turn, stainless-steel valves and now I’m getting water hammer on my cold-water side.
TOM: Huh. How about that? Gee, that doesn’t really make sense because a valve is a valve. It’s stopping the water. I wonder if the pipes got loose when you did the valve replacement and now maybe that one pipe has the ability to kind of shake more. Maybe it was held so solid before that you didn’t get an effect of water hammer.
KEN: Yeah, that’s possible. But when I changed the valve, I was very careful cutting it. I didn’t yank on it or anything and it just blows me away. But yeah, that’s a very good thought because if there was a strap or a clamp in the wall and just moving it enough to cut it and install the new valves, that could have done it.
TOM: Right.
KEN: Now, my other question would be on that same thing. Is the water hammer – is it something that’s going to tear apart my connection in the wall?
TOM: Not likely. It sounds worse than it is. It’s possible it could cause a leak if you had a weak connection but the option there is to put in what’s called a “water-hammer arrestor,” which is like a shock absorber for water hammer and in homes where that’s a constant …
KEN: Yes. I have those on my supply lines for my washer and dryer.
TOM: Alright. So you’re familiar with them. So that’s an option, as well. But I would take a look and see if you can determine if that pipe got loose as part of that plumbing work, because that would make sense.
KEN: OK.
TOM: Just because you had push/pull valves and now you have gate valves, that shouldn’t have changed anything in terms of whether or not that pipe is shaking.
KEN: Right. Yeah.
TOM: And for those folks who don’t know what water hammer is, you’ve probably heard it. It’s when the water is running through the pipes and there’s a valve that’s turned off and the pipes shake or bang. And because they’re copper, generally, you hear that throughout the entire house. So it sounds worse than it is. It is possible it can cause a leak but I would say that that is not likely.
KEN: OK. Well, thank you very much. Love the show. Keep up the good work and you’re doing a wonderful service for all the do-it-yourselfers.
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