What is a Water Hammer Arrester in Plumbing?
The knocking you hear in your walls can stem from a number of sources, from loose pipes to echoes of darts hitting a dartboard in the apartment next door. One possible source is called water hammer, which, if you find you have it, you need to stop immediately by installing a water hammer arrester. Does this Spark an idea?
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Water Hammer
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Water hammer is a sudden reversal of water flow, after a valve is closed, that causes a banging sound in pipes. When you shut off a faucet, the water doesn't stop moving; the water that didn't get out of the faucet while the valve was open slams into the closed valve and shoots backward, causing noise either through hitting the wall of the pipe or by causing the pipe to rock back into a wall stud or another pipe.
Arresters
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A water hammer arrester is a pipe attachment that provides extra space for the water, giving it somewhere else to go other than hitting the valve. The arrester contains a piston or bellows that helps absorb the initial shock of the water by pushing up into a pocket of air.
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Cautions
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Take care of water hammer as soon as possible, because it can cause pipes to burst and hoses to fail. The Sioux Chief company warns that a central arrester, meant to handle all valves, won't do any good, because any water flowing back will still damage everything between the valve and the arrester.
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