Banging walls in the middle of the night

[Joshmarshall]

Hi, i’ve just recently moved into a house and in the middle of the night my cold water pipe constantly taps on the wall for a while is always at random times, will i have too pull my wall down to look for the pipe? Help i cant sleep cos of it lol

 

[gmartine]

You might have to but there are a few things to try before you do. It's called "water hammer" and there are devices (water hammer arrestor)s you can fit to your system to prevent or reduce it.

 

[Ric2013]

Pressure reducing valve on the pipe as it enters your house might also do the job if it's pressure fluctuations due to neighbours' water use. What happens if you turn off your mains stopcock overnight? I assume no one in your house is running water?

Jolly weird noise though. Sounds like a float valve gone wrong or some kind of pump more than water hammer. Or a miniature helicopter got trapped during the construction of the house?

 

[Joshmarshall]

Pressure reducing valve on the pipe as it enters your house might also do the job if it's pressure fluctuations due to neighbours' water use. What happens if you turn off your mains stopcock overnight? I assume no one in your house is running water?

Jolly weird noise though. Sounds like a float valve gone wrong or some kind of pump more than water hammer. Or a miniature helicopter got trapped during the construction of the house?

If i turn it off it stops the banging, when its almost fully closed the banging happens on the main valve coming in to the house, i asked my water supplier but they didnt do much. And its an absolute racket mate, close to smashing my wall down haha

 

[Joshmarshall]

You might have to but there are a few things to try before you do. It's called "water hammer" and there are devices (water hammer arrestor)s you can fit to your system to prevent or reduce it.

Cheers, i’ll have a look into it

 

[Ric2013]

If it's as you say, logic dictates a pressure reducing valve might work well as a solution.

 

[Colm]

I wonder are you living your n relatively old house. Maybe you still have the old lead pipes installed. And maybe you still have the old accompanying mains welded valve to switch off/on the water.

Maybe you hear similar noises when you use your own taps around the house. Actually when you turn the tap on or off.

I’ve heard of cases where that old mains valve required replacing in order to quell such a banging noise. In those cases, it’s how the valve ages and wears. And then how the valve moves or vibrates as the mains water pressure rises and drops.

Those rises and falls in pressure typically occur either when the local waterworks turns the pressure up and down to cater for peak and off peak times of the day, e.g. breakfast time, dinner time, or as the water is being used in the house.

 

[Colm]

I wonder are you living your n relatively old house. Maybe you still have the old lead pipes installed. And maybe you still have the old accompanying mains welded valve to switch off/on the water.

Maybe you hear similar noises when you use your own taps around the house. Actually when you turn the tap on or off.

I’ve heard of cases where that old mains valve required replacing in order to quell such a banging noise. In those cases, it’s how the valve ages and wears. And then how the valve moves or vibrates as the mains water pressure rises and drops.

Those rises and falls in pressure typically occur either when the local waterworks turns the pressure up and down to cater for peak and off peak times of the day, e.g. breakfast time, dinner time, or as the water is being used in the house.

I will also add, if your problem is as I have spoken of, then the noise can occur on both rise and fall of pressure, like a grandfather clock pendulum swinging both too and fro, due to age related wear and tear within the valve.