Pipes bang with water filter turned on (not run-of-the-mill)

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eephys

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I just dealt with similar problems with my GE GXWH40L filter on a 1" line. I had continuous banging in the house, thought it was a loose pipe but couldn't find one loose. I put a pressure gauge on the outside faucet, found the pressure at a steady 60 psi - except when the noise happened , there was a pulse in the pressure to 65 psi or so every second or less, like 70-80 times a minute. This was with no flow into the house. I even have an expansion tank on the line in the house and small arrestors at the washing machine. The town water guy denied any town responsibility, but I'm sure the pressure pulsing is there from the 16" main out in the street. The noises did get worse as the filter cartridge got older. My filter is plumbed like callmebill's with three ball valves for external bypass. With the external bypass open and the other two shut, there was no noise. I eventually figured out that the build-up of sediment increased the pressure drop across the filter and made the cartridge move slightly in the housing, just enough to make it bang with every pressure pulse. It's just possible that the cartridge actually got compressed a bit and became shorter as it banged making the banging even worse. The noise was transmitted by the filter bracket to the floor joist. I installed a Watts LF U5B Z3 pressure reducing valve (not cheap!) near the water meter, set it for 45 psi static pressure. The pressure reducing valve blocks the pressure pulses. Now, all is quiet! With some water running, the pressure in the house drops to about 38 psi, reducing the flow a little more, but it does save on hot water. Silence is golden!
 

CentralFloridaDIY

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My home water system experienced this same pipe-bangling problem immediately after I installed the GE GXWH40L whole house water filter - the one with a clear bowl and a check valve that's supposed to prevent backflow to make changing the filter easier...no surprise it doesn't work, and oh by the way, that check valve is the cause of 'banging pipes' every time you shut off water at the tap, the toilet, dishwasher.....everything that uses water! I've been dealing with the pipe banging issue for years - I found that by attaching a garden hose to an outside faucet and leaving the faucet open, the banging stopped. Same results when you switch off the filter and put it in bypass mode. So today, while changing the filter, I cut out that little black rubber piece behind the slotted outlet at the top-center of the filter housing. I used a sharp utility knife to cut thru the plastic slots. Nothing too neat, just cut out enough to pull out that little black rubber piece. Installed the new filter...moved the shutoff handle to filter mode, and voila...no more pipe banging!!! Guaranteed to work.

Thanks so much. I performed a check-valvectomy today and no more banging! After paying $275 for parts and $200 for a plumber, there was no way I would have paid again to replace it with the 35 GE filter. The solution makes perfect sense! I used a small blade screwdriver and a hammer, and cut around the center, removing some plastic and the rubber valve. And voila! No more banging after 4 months of it.
 

Jadnashua

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A good practice is to install two pressure gauges, one before the filter, and one after it. When the pressure drop when something is using water drops too much, you know it is time to change the filter.
 

JoseFromPhx

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Thanks so much. I performed a check-valvectomy today and no more banging! After paying $275 for parts and $200 for a plumber, there was no way I would have paid again to replace it with the 35 GE filter. The solution makes perfect sense! I used a small blade screwdriver and a hammer, and cut around the center, removing some plastic and the rubber valve. And voila! No more banging after 4 months of it.

Hi there - I apologize for bringing up this old post, but I have the same exact problem as you guys with my filter.

Would you be able to post a picture of the area that was cut out?

Any help with photos on which part needs to be cut out would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance!
 

Nir Lavi

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Hi All -

Just had to give a HUGE THANK YOU TO gfunk1954!!! It took us a while to figure out exactly where we needed to cut but, once we did, what a reward!!! The banging stopped immediately and my wife and I are no longer threatening each other every time someone turns off a faucet or flushes a toilet!

I think the thing that confused us at first was we were looking at the center hole on the TOP of the housing. But it's actually the one INSIDE.

JoseFromPhx, you are right, pictures will definitely help, so see below. Best of luck and THANKS AGAIN gfunk1954!


You have to remove the canister and filter and then you will see the circular hole with slots all around it and a thin, black rubber "tail" hanging down.

GE_Water Filter 2.jpg
GE_Water Filter 4.jpg


The diaphragm/valve attached to that tail is what you need to get out.

GE_Water Filter 5.jpg
 

luv2fixstuff

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gfunk1954 = THANK YOU for posting the beautiful solution to dreaded GE GXWH40L hammer issue!
CentralFloridaDIY = Thank you for coining gfunk1954's procedure as a "check-valvectomy"!
Nir Lavi = Thank you for posting pictures of your check-valvectomy!

I wanted to post pictures of my check-valvectomy to further help others free themselves from GE GXWH40L hammerings!

IMG_20190208_114308789.jpg

IMG_20190208_122219182.jpg

IMG_20190208_122519889.jpg
 

davidvia

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I wanted to post a reply to say THANK YOU for posting this solution! The water hammer caused after the install of our GCWH40l has been driving us crazy! I did exactly what you described and it was gone like magic. I thought I would post a couple of pictures to try to help others with this same problem. I don't know how "gfunk1954" was able to do this with a utility knife. He have been a very sharp knife and very strong hands! I used my Dremel to open up the slots and remove the rubber piece as shown. Thank you again!!

My home water system experienced this same pipe-bangling problem immediately after I installed the GE GXWH40L whole house water filter - the one with a clear bowl and a check valve that's supposed to prevent backflow to make changing the filter easier...no surprise it doesn't work, and oh by the way, that check valve is the cause of 'banging pipes' every time you shut off water at the tap, the toilet, dishwasher.....everything that uses water! I've been dealing with the pipe banging issue for years - I found that by attaching a garden hose to an outside faucet and leaving the faucet open, the banging stopped. Same results when you switch off the filter and put it in bypass mode. So today, while changing the filter, I cut out that little black rubber piece behind the slotted outlet at the top-center of the filter housing. I used a sharp utility knife to cut thru the plastic slots. Nothing too neat, just cut out enough to pull out that little black rubber piece. Installed the new filter...moved the shutoff handle to filter mode, and voila...no more pipe banging!!! Guaranteed to work.
 

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CentralFloridaDIY

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gfunk1954 = THANK YOU for posting the beautiful solution to dreaded GE GXWH40L hammer issue!
CentralFloridaDIY = Thank you for coining gfunk1954's procedure as a "check-valvectomy"!
Nir Lavi = Thank you for posting pictures of your check-valvectomy!

I wanted to post pictures of my check-valvectomy to further help others free themselves from GE GXWH40L hammerings!

View attachment 52587
View attachment 52588
View attachment 52589

It's time again.
I just wanted to keep this thread alive some more. I heeded the advice a few years ago to cut out the check valve, and that fixed the banging. I now have to replace the filter, as mine is outside here and rust attacked some of the areas under the lip of the valve head and the hanging bracket, which rusted through. I like the shutoff/bypass feature of the 40L, vs. the 35. Is that feature the only real difference in the heads?

I keep the housing covered in heavy duty foil, and then wrapped with a microfiber cloth, to prevent UV rays from hitting it. Would I still need to do this with the 35 head, which does not have the clear housing? And is there some other reason besides rust and UV light to worry about outside installations. We rarely freeze here.
 

Jeff H Young

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the filter plugs up causing a pressure drop in the downstream line when a demand is on when demand ends a rush of water causes the hammer. you had good reply in post number 2 . higher micron filter a good tip or a parallel arrangement of several filters . might give longer change interval
 

CentralFloridaDIY

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the filter plugs up causing a pressure drop in the downstream line when a demand is on when demand ends a rush of water causes the hammer. you had good reply in post number 2 . higher micron filter a good tip or a parallel arrangement of several filters . might give longer change interval

Oops.. I meant to say I have to replace the entire unit.
 
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Ledvedder

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Hi everyone, I just installed the GE GXWH50M filter, and I'm having a similar issue. I installed shut off valves and pressure gauges on the inlet and outlet sides of the filter, along with a bypass line. I think my pressure issue is related to hot water heater expansion. I normally get around 60psi on both sides. But, when my hot water heater runs, the outlet side climbs up to at least 100psi, possibly more. It's caused the pressure release valve on the hot water heater to vent a few times, leaving water puddles on my utility room floor. This never happened before the water filter installation. I've considered installing an expansion tank, but this "check valve removal" surgery may be an easier solution. I'd love to hear everyone's experience in the long term after performing this.
20230106_152559_copy_3000x4000.jpg
 

Ledvedder

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This is the inside of my model filter (GXWH50M). It doesn't look the same as the model talked about in this thread.
20230108_111517_copy_2208x2944.jpg
 

Buckn'hopps

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A THOUSAND thanks to Gfunk...This GE filter has been a nightmare since install. I was originally thinking it was a filter issue, or a restriction in a line, or a water heater problem. Installing hammer valves, no help. Thought that I must have pinched a PEX pipe in the wall when I installed this filter, and I was a few days away from tearing down drywall to clamp or re-route pipes in the wall. Blogs, Youtube, all no help until...This is absolutely the best advice I have EVER got. It worked.
 

agaisin

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Thank you all so much for this thread, saved me hundreds and wasted time! Can’t believe the filter’s check valve is not documented and was stumping me. On well system with jet pump and pressure tank and then two of these GXWH40L filters then uv system then indirect boiler, and pressure relief valve kept going off. it became obvious pressure tank wasn’t providing thermal expansion even though itbhad proper precharge. aside from filters and uv there was no visible check valve or backflow preventer and previous keystone cg10 had no such issue. Found this thread and everything made sense. just drilled out the check valves and waiting for hypothesis to confirm no more 140+ pressures on indirect heater.

Question - is there any value in the check valves on a well system where pressure tank is also serving as expansion tank? am i losing anything by pulling out the check valves? I can’t see any benefit and leaving the check valves in means complicating an already complex system by adding another expansion tank, or adding check valve and new route back to the pressure tank allowing flow back to tank…and more fittings and complexity for what added benefit?….
 

Reach4

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Question - is there any value in the check valves on a well system where pressure tank is also serving as expansion tank? am i losing anything by pulling out the check valves? I can’t see any benefit and leaving the check valves in means complicating an already complex system by adding another expansion tank, or adding check valve and new route back to the pressure tank allowing flow back to tank…and more fittings and complexity for what added benefit?….
Any? Yes.

When you use the pressure tank as your thermal expansion tank, for your water heater, as water expands, it flows toward the pressure tank, as it does in my system. One problem with that is the softener sees this flow as flow. Its turbine just issues pulses to the electronics of the valve, and does not distinguish the direction of flow. This causes the count-down on the softener to happen slightly faster than it would have. This is relatively small usually, so I don't worry about it on my system.

Another potential problem, if the pipe distance between the softener and the WH is short, hot water could back up to the softener. The softener valve does not like hot water going thru it. I have seen numbers on the minimum length they want that to prevent that, but I don't know that info at the moment.

But if you have a check valve between the pressure tank and WH, it is important to have a thermal expansion tank. You don't want your T&P (temperature and pressure) relief valve releasing water on a regular basis.
 
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