Moaning and groaning pipes!!!

[jaywood]

No... my wife isn't named "Pipes"... so this is a house repair question.

There are two areas in which I know practically nothing. OK... so there are more than two... but THESE two particular areas are even more foreign to me than most... electrical stuff and plumbing stuff. My question falls within the latter of these two categories.

I live in a two year old house. Just a couple of days ago our pipes started making a loud huming, groaning sort of noise whenever we turned the water on in one of our baths. That is the only fixture in the house this happens with. We don't hear a thing from any other water source in the house.

From what I remember other people saying in the past... this might be due to air in the pipes?!?!?

If so... how do I go about getting rid of the air in the pipes? I not, what might it be and how do I fix it?

Thanks for your help!

[reddog552]

Loud pipes

It may be air captivation, but I think it could be the pipes rubbing Joists or other wooden parts this happens as pipes expand or contracts against wood they have plastic clip-hangers whitch Isolate pipe from wood. hope this helps

[LCHIEN]

It could also be due to lack of air in the pipes!
There are deliberate air pockets in your pipes to keep them from hammering due to the shock of suddenly stopping flow - all that inertia must be dissipated.
Most plumbing has a vertical pipe with a cap on it to serve as this shock absorber. usually located by placing a "T" where you would have used a 90 degree elbow to take a vertical pipe to running horizontal where it comes up the wall and turns to go across your attic floor. The vertical pipe would have initially been filled with air and air being compressible, the air would have absorbed the shock when a faucet is shut of quickly.

Sometimes the air is displaced with water. the way to fill up the shock columns back with air is to shut off the water supply and to drain all your pipes by opening all the faucets and allow the water to drain out.
Then close the faucets and turn the water back on. Running the water for a while will displace the air in the running lines and stop the gurgling flow.

P.S. Thanks Crokett for the name: A water hammer arrestor

[crokett]

I have a water hammer arrestor set up as Loring describes. I did have problems with water hammer in one of our bathrooms until I drained the pipes last year to do some plumbing work. The noise has not come back.