Advice needed regarding surestop swich

[hammers4spanner]

Sure its not a washer on a ball valve ??

 

[richie51]

Thanks for that. So a worn washer can also cause banging in the pipes? Where is the ball valve? I had a new hot water tank fitted last Oct.The boiler was also new last year. It still seems odd why I'm hearing hammering at virtually the same time every morning, 5.40am,especially as I'm detached and I turn everything off overnight except the surestop switch. I will turn that off tonight just to see.

 

[Rob Foster]

Thanks for that. So a worn washer can also cause banging in the pipes? Where is the ball valve? I had a new hot water tank fitted last Oct.The boiler was also new last year. It still seems odd why I'm hearing hammering at virtually the same time every morning, 5.40am,especially as I'm detached and I turn everything off overnight except the surestop switch. I will turn that off tonight just to see.

do you live in a rural area. often the utility zone pump is switched off at night and comes back on when demand is expected this leads to a spike in pressure and MAYBE your bang. leaving a tap trickling was suggested to short term stop the noise and indicate that if it works its solvabubble (new word) by a aav at that pipe leading to the tap you left running Rob Foster aka centralheatking

 

[richie51]

Thanks Rob, no I don't live in a rural area. It's odd because I heard this hammering last winter, then it stopped completely for about 4 months,then started again a week or so ago. Why was this? The trickling tap in the kitchen did work for that one night. I think I'll try turning the surestop swich off overnight and see if that stops the hammering. An aav? Is that an air admittance valve? Is that a job for a plumber to fit? I wasn't sure if I had a loose pipe in the bedroom because it often sounds like a pipe being wacked against a wall. Sometimes it's really loud! It means cutting up sections of my chipboard flooring though to investigate. Sometimes but not every time, I hear a clang 5 minutes after I've ran water. Maybe I've got a loose pipe and water hammer too. Not sure. Some things are never straightforward! As I didn't hear any hammering the night I left the tap on a slow trickle, do you recommend fitting the aav to the pipe leading to the kitchen sink first and see if that works. I may have to try several things one a time,til something does work.Many thanks for your help!

 

[JCplumb]

If the pipes are difficult to access then maybe fitting a mini shock arrestor close to the incoming point of your water supply pipe would stop the water hammer.
Something like the following:
https://www.NoLinkingToThis/p/reflex-expansion-vessel-shock-arrestor-0-16ltr/8199v

 

[richie51]

Thanks JCplumb. I've just read your link about shock arrestors. Definitely worth a go before I start cutting up the floor to look for a loose pipe. Are these easy to instal or is it better to ask a plumber to fit one. Thanks.

 

[richie51]

If the pipes are difficult to access then maybe fitting a mini shock arrestor close to the incoming point of your water supply pipe would stop the water hammer.
Something like the following:
https://www.NoLinkingToThis/p/reflex-expansion-vessel-shock-arrestor-0-16ltr/8199v

Sounds good. Would this solve things other than hammer. I've yet to find out if I'm on shared mains, or if there's a loose unclipped pipe somewhere. Thanks.

 

[JCplumb]

If it were my house it's what I'd try first especially if the alternative would take a long time or cost a lot.
I have no idea if you'd be OK to fit it yourself, depends on how good you are at this kind of thing, if you're not sure then probably best to call someone. Not a difficult job for a plumber.
Might be an idea to get a plumber in anyway as I don't understand why your last plumber would fit a surestop in an airing cupboard.
They're not easier to fit than a traditional stop tap and they cost about £40 more than a brass stop tap, unless the plumber was actually not a plumber and fitted it because it's pushfit rather than compression. You can't just re-site the mains stop valve to somewhere else, it needs to be at the point where your supply enters the building.
The fact that you get water hammer at the same time every morning suggests something kicking in, if there's nothing in your property timed to come on at that time then it must be outside, possibly in a neighbours house. Does a neighbour get up at 5:30 each morning and go brush their teeth? Local water pressure is higher at that time of day so hammer is more likely, especially if you both share a supply after a shared external stop valve. Shared valve are more common in older properties, I've seen a row of 8 houses all sharing an external valve, that was fun with a pinhole in the lead before the stop tap.

 

[richie51]

Thanks for that. I did chat to the one neighbour who said they have nothing kicking in at that time. He has a bit of plumbing knowledge though he's not a plumber,he even fitted his sisters bathroom for her and seems to know what he's on about. He said call the plumber back who fitted my bathroom last year.He was recommended though I've no idea how qualified he is. My neighbour said very often after you've had a new bathroom you can get an air lock.He said he should be able to fit something to one of the pipes to sort out any air lock. I can't remember now what he said could be fitted to the pipe though. The neighbour said I won't be on a shared mains as I'm detached, but it's odd as I hear this hammering at roughly the same time. It was 10 mins earlier this morning, 5.30am. The neighbour said you can often get noise at the same time each day if there's a problem. I haven't chatted to the other neighbour yet. I haven't even met them yet. They're Chinese but hopefully they speak English well,and have only been here 8 weeks. I feel a bit bad asking them before I've even met them properly. There's obviously nothing I can do to stop them getting up at 5.30, so if we are on shared mains,what can I do to stop the pipes banging in my house. Thanks.

 

[richie51]

I've just chatted to the other neighbours who said they haven't put their heating on yet and no water running that early, so I think shared mains can be ruled out.