I live in an area which has very high water pressure, although for the past ten years this has not caused any obvious problems. The cold water supply to the house comes in directly from the mains i.e. no tank in the loft.
A few weeks ago I had a washer changed in a cold water tap in the bathroom (which is upstairs). I then started experiencing "water hammer" effects from that tap whenever it was turned on or off. The plumber reckoned it might have been the new washer turning the flow on/off more abruptly than had previously been the case and this, combined with the high water pressure, might be causing the banging noise. Just to reiterate - no other tap or appliance in the house suffers from this problem. Does it sound likely that something as simple as a new washer could cause water hammer or similar effects?
In order to try to solve the problem I this week had a Comap Safeguard PRV fitted just after the stopcock (I had previously been advised by the Corgi engineer that this might be a good idea anyway because of the high pressure).
Two things have become apparent;
1) The banging associated with the tap has reduced, but not gone away.
2) In operation the PRV is extremely noisy - producing a high-pitched "wooshing" sound whenever water is drawn from the system.
So, 100+ quid later on, I'm not sure if I'm any better off as the banging is still there (albeit reduced) and I now have this very intrusive noise to live with. The PRV and stopcock are located within a small cavity in the wall which is accessed by a wooden door. I have thought of lining this cavity with soundproofing material in order to reduce the noise levels, although I realise that some noise will still be transmitted through the pipework.
A couple of questions, then...
1) Is it likely that simply changing a washer could bring on "water hammer"?
2) Is it normal for PRVs to be noisy in operation?
3) If the answer to 2) is "yes", is there anything that can be done about it?
What started out as a simple "few quid" job seems to be taking on nightmarish proportions and I am presently thinking of asking the plumber to remove the PRV as overall I don't think there's much net benefit in having it, and the noise is very intrusive. Any opinions or observations that anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated as I really don't know what to do next.
Thanks in advance...
A few weeks ago I had a washer changed in a cold water tap in the bathroom (which is upstairs). I then started experiencing "water hammer" effects from that tap whenever it was turned on or off. The plumber reckoned it might have been the new washer turning the flow on/off more abruptly than had previously been the case and this, combined with the high water pressure, might be causing the banging noise. Just to reiterate - no other tap or appliance in the house suffers from this problem. Does it sound likely that something as simple as a new washer could cause water hammer or similar effects?
In order to try to solve the problem I this week had a Comap Safeguard PRV fitted just after the stopcock (I had previously been advised by the Corgi engineer that this might be a good idea anyway because of the high pressure).
Two things have become apparent;
1) The banging associated with the tap has reduced, but not gone away.
2) In operation the PRV is extremely noisy - producing a high-pitched "wooshing" sound whenever water is drawn from the system.
So, 100+ quid later on, I'm not sure if I'm any better off as the banging is still there (albeit reduced) and I now have this very intrusive noise to live with. The PRV and stopcock are located within a small cavity in the wall which is accessed by a wooden door. I have thought of lining this cavity with soundproofing material in order to reduce the noise levels, although I realise that some noise will still be transmitted through the pipework.
A couple of questions, then...
1) Is it likely that simply changing a washer could bring on "water hammer"?
2) Is it normal for PRVs to be noisy in operation?
3) If the answer to 2) is "yes", is there anything that can be done about it?
What started out as a simple "few quid" job seems to be taking on nightmarish proportions and I am presently thinking of asking the plumber to remove the PRV as overall I don't think there's much net benefit in having it, and the noise is very intrusive. Any opinions or observations that anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated as I really don't know what to do next.
Thanks in advance...
