Boy's Plumbing Woes: Ancient Roman Plumbing Was Better Than Mine

[wolram]

Boy do i have water hammer, it sounds like some huge fog horn and is enough to make one jump out of ones pants, it comes unexpectedly, and when i have a bath the hot water dries up to the kitchen sink, the Romans had better plumbing than mine.

 

[FredGarvin]

They make very easy to install hammer arresters. They sell them at hardware stores. For example:

http://www.plumbingsupply.com/waterhammerarresters.html
http://www.terrylove.com/mini-rester.htm

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Take a bath at the Romans house.

Or, you might try adding an arrester.
http://www.factsfacts.com/MyHomeRepair/WaterHammerArresters.htm

 

[Danger]

enough to make one jump out of ones pants

That sounds pretty handy. You should take it to the pub with you the next time you're horny.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

You could just have a water-logged arrester as well.

 

[tribdog]

If you don't have the cash to buy an arrestor try installing an empty 2 liter soda bottle inline. p.s. I totally made this up and have no idea if it would actually do anything at all.

 

[glondor]

A water hammer is actually an energy source. The action in the pipes gives off a lot of heat. i believe it is caused by some sort of cavitation. They do generate a lot of energy, however They are not a workable power source yet.

http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-7127158/Put-wasted-power-from-water.html

 

[Chi Meson]

My kids call it "the pipe singer" and they all get real excited when it makes its noise. Tonight it went on for about 30 seconds.

Deja vu. Have I already told this one before?

 

[binzing]

Speaking of Deja vu, has there ever been a thread about that occurence?

 

[ronterry]

glondor wrote: they are not a workable power source yet.

probably not in house pipes, but controlled water hammer is what 'drives' hydraulic ram water pumps.

 

[Chi Meson]

A water hammer is actually an energy source. The action in the pipes gives off a lot of heat. i believe it is caused by some sort of cavitation. They do generate a lot of energy, however They are not a workable power source yet.

http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-7127158/Put-wasted-power-from-water.html

Certainly a mechanism for the delver of energy, but not a "source."

 

[Astronuc]

Water hammer (or, more generally, fluid hammer) is a pressure surge or wave resulting when a fluid in motion is forced to stop or change direction suddenly.

from Wikipedia - but it's reasonably accurate.

Cavitation may be an initiating factor, by virtue of the cavity (vapor phase) collapse and the rapid development of a wave along a pipe.

If there is a banging in hot water pipes, that could be a check valve abruptly closing or a steam bubble collapsing.

I've experience a rather large water hammer in 1.5 m pipe header at water production facility. A rather large check valve closed abruptly when the water pumps tripped off. The was a rather large bang and building shook and vibrated.

 

[wolram]

from Wikipedia - but it's reasonably accurate.

Cavitation may be an initiating factor, by virtue of the cavity (vapor phase) collapse and the rapid development of a wave along a pipe.

If there is a banging in hot water pipes, that could be a check valve abruptly closing or a steam bubble collapsing.

I've experience a rather large water hammer in 1.5 m pipe header at water production facility. A rather large check valve closed abruptly when the water pumps tripped off. The was a rather large bang and building shook and vibrated.

I bet that made you jump, the boiler at work is good at making such noises, if it cuts out and has cooled the restart is quite scary, the first time i had to restart it i ran for cover.