Water Hammer, OK to drain pipes fortnightly?

[James1116]

Hello,

I had this problem is my bedroom, where there was a rattling in the wall. It turned out it was something to do with water in the pipe, so I turned the water off at the valve, turned all taps on to drain the water out, that problem solved. The other problem now is that I get water hammer, that loud bang, when I flush the toilet. Turning the water off and flushing the toilet solves the problem, but then it comes back maybe two weeks later, and I have to repeat the process. Is it okay for me to do this or will it damage the pipes?

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Won't damage the pipes but the wastage of water isn't very good might be worth fitting a shock arrestor to the bathroom

 

[James1116]

I'm very conscious about wastage, the only thing I do is flush the toilet once, I don't run any other taps. Thanks for the reply.

 

[Darren Jackson]

Hi James, I fear you are just sticking a plaster on your problem. And prevention is far better than cure they say. You need to find the source of the water hammer and fix it. Most likely to be the toilet filler valve needs a new washer or needs replacing all together. It won't do any harm what you are doing but the problem will only get worse over time.

 

[James1116]

Thanks, Darren. Duly noted!

 

[James1116]

Could I just ask, ''worse'', meaning what? Thanks.

 

[James1116]

ttt

 

[sammathias]

Could I just ask, ''worse'', meaning what? Thanks.

Will end up sounding like a train is driving through your house haha.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

or someone with a tommy gun

 

[Chuck]

Won't damage the pipes...

It won't do any harm...

I've known loud water hammer blow a 15mm mains pressure cold water pipe out of a compression fitting.

20 litre/s is a lot of water when you're standing right by it and your only warning was the houseowner saying "Just a second, listen to that pipe while I switch off the shower..."

 

[James1116]

Thanks, guys. I'll see if it goes away, but if not I'll get it fixed.

 

[Chuck]

20 litre/s

I meant 20 litre/min, of course. Still enough to get very wet very fast...