Rattle and Hum! Water pipe woes....

[Hartlebury lad]

Hi all.

 

Hot water gets drawn off the supply (standard calorifier, shurflo pump, accumulator set up) Huge rattle as it presumably re-primes, reverberating down the entire boat, from the pump at the back right up to the water tank at the front. Rattling loud and up to 8 seconds long getting louder and louder. Only happens on hot water.

 

Any suggestions before I start dismantling stuff and mess it all up? Cheers in advance.

 

ps: still looking for a decent "new bathroom" fitter - Whitchurch area....

[bottle]

Is this recent, has any work been done?

 

Starter for ten, the pump is mounted correctly and has flexible water connections?

[Hartlebury lad]

Thanks Bottle.

 

It's recent and now been like it two or three months. No related work I can think of, although I have had some engine overheating issues recently. There was an airlock in the skin tank/cooling system on the engine (Beta 38) and I have discovered an intermittent coolant leak just below the leisure alternator which is being addressed shortly.

 

The rattle underneath any guests perched on the front steps is becoming entertaining to say the least.

 

I had a visual look at the pump last week - (I am on the boat 12-15 days a month, but I don't live aboard so can't check much at the moment) - and it seemed secure enough. The pump is about t four or five years old and had nothing done to it since I took ownership 2.5 years ago. Probably not been touched since new. White plastic plumbing onto the black fitting. The noise makes an almighty racket down the full length of the boat via copper piping into the water tank, which is of course the supply line. I was suspecting air in a line somewhere or a blockage of a filter?

 

Wierd how it is only on hot water .

[bottle]

That was my next port of call an airlock.

 

The engine cooling system will not have any effect on the domestic water pipes.

[Hartlebury lad]

Fair enough. I mentioned it as if the water was super hot going in, it may have caused something.

Air it may be - which makes me think if air gets in, water may have escaped! Also, I am wondering if the lack of pump servicing would have any bearing on it.

[Odana]

A pressure relief valve on calorifier banging? Sounds like that kind of sound

[ditchcrawler]

Do you have a thermostatic mixer valve so the water coming out of the hot tap is not near boiling?

[blackrose]

Plastic pipes? Are they supported at least every 1m? Any copper/chrome pipes going to shower, etc? They tend to rattle if not properly supported.

Edited September 22, 2015 by blackrose

[Hartlebury lad]

Thank you so far. I will have a look/listen for a pressure relief valve knocking. It may well be a two person job as one of us can turn on a tap and the other listens for the source of the noise!

 

I don't think there is a thermostatic mixer valve - again , I will check.

 

I take on board the pipe support aspects, but as this is a recent phenomenon and the pipes are unchanged I am sure this is not the cause.

 

It's the noise chasing down the length of the boat terminating at the tank that is odd.

[Richard T]

Have you got ceramic quarter turn taps? If so if one of the discs is breaking it up it can cause really bad vibration.

We have a shared cold water supply pipe at home (7 houses on it) we all started to get really bad pipe hammer. Waterboard confirmed it wasn't their stop cock after visits by a couple of plumbers who couldn't track down the source. I did some checking and found the ceramic discs in a neighbours cold tap had fractured - replaced them problem gone away!!

[ditchcrawler]

The only thing I can think of is what I had happen. The pump sucked in air which in turn was pumped into the BOTTOM of the calorifier and then bubbled to the top, but with that we also got spluttery water from the taps when first turned on

[Hartlebury lad]

Richard - thanks, we have one of those taps in the kitchen, but it happens on the other "standard" taps in the bathroom. Will take a look regardless.

 

Ditch crawler - thank you again, and your suggestion sounds a possibility, as the hot water can be spluttery. How do you rectify it if so?

[ditchcrawler]

Richard - thanks, we have one of those taps in the kitchen, but it happens on the other "standard" taps in the bathroom. Will take a look regardless.

 

Ditch crawler - thank you again, and your suggestion sounds a possibility, as the hot water can be spluttery. How do you rectify it if so?

It was the pump sucking in air so I bought a new one. I have tried repairing them before and they always leaked afterwards.