Over the weekend I had a terrible case of banging pipes, whenever the hot water tap was turned off in the bathroom, the whole house clunked, particularly the kitchen.
Eventually narrowed it down under the kitchen sink, and when I held on to some pipes under there I could feel the vibration when the upstairs hot tap was turned off. holding the pipe limited the banging a lot but it was still there.
After a couple of hours of head scratching, I realised it was all due to the red wheel valve for isolating the outside garden tap. I'd turned this off last week to prevent the outside pipe freezing, but hadn't fully tightened the wheel. As soon as I'd tightened the wheel, the banging completely stopped. Experimenting, this wheel can be fully open, fully closed, half open, etc, all OK, but just having it in that 99% off but not fully tightened causes the massive banging.
Was well chuffed to figure it out, but I'm really curious as to how having the outdoor isolator wheel not quite fully closed causes such a racket through the house?? Is there an underlying problem I need to be investigating?
Eventually narrowed it down under the kitchen sink, and when I held on to some pipes under there I could feel the vibration when the upstairs hot tap was turned off. holding the pipe limited the banging a lot but it was still there.
After a couple of hours of head scratching, I realised it was all due to the red wheel valve for isolating the outside garden tap. I'd turned this off last week to prevent the outside pipe freezing, but hadn't fully tightened the wheel. As soon as I'd tightened the wheel, the banging completely stopped. Experimenting, this wheel can be fully open, fully closed, half open, etc, all OK, but just having it in that 99% off but not fully tightened causes the massive banging.
Was well chuffed to figure it out, but I'm really curious as to how having the outdoor isolator wheel not quite fully closed causes such a racket through the house?? Is there an underlying problem I need to be investigating?