Water Hammer Difficult Situation

[Provincial]

I replaced the hoses on my washing machine. The 2003 era old rubber hoses are out, and the new braided steel hoses are in.

The problem here is that I immediately noticed the loud water hammer bang whenever the washing machine stops filling, particularly on the cold side. It looks like the rubber hoses were absorbing the water hammer. I am in a highrise apartment building so I can't go opening up the walls to install an air chamber or something, and I'm deathly afraid of some pipe exploding inside the wall. (The pipes are plastic.)

After doing much research, I got 2 of those Souix Chief water hammer arrestors, but they cannot be installed on my washing machine due to the idiotic design on the machine's backside. The water hoses attach in this little angled alcove and they are extremely close together, so there is simply not enough clearance.

Edit: Also, the machine is a samsung stacker in one of those narrow closets.

The next logical step would be to attach the arrestors to the wall side of the water supply. The problem here is that the water supply comes from a Symmons W-500-B unit. The connections are downward facing and flush to the wall, so the angles don't work.

Here's a photo of the Symmons unit:
http://i.imgur.com/8sJL2TS.jpg

Any suggestions on how I should approach this? Where can I install the arrestors?

Edit: Photo of setup -
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1642/24181684591_014d6c4d44_z.jpg

 

[Smooky]

You might be able to use a 45 degree or 90 degree hose elbow to attach to the symmons valve and then attach hammer arrestors that have hose fittings and attach the hoses from the washer to them.

http://www.acehardware.com/search/index.jsp?kwCatId=&kw=camco%20elbow&origkw=camco+elbow&f=Taxonomy/ACE/19541496&sr=1

http://media.wattswater.com/ES-LF150A.pdf

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Provincial]

You might be able to use a 45 degree or 90 degree hose elbow to attach to the symmons valve and then attach hammer arrestors that have hose fittings and attach the hoses from the washer to them.

http://www.acehardware.com/search/index.jsp?kwCatId=&kw=camco%20elbow&origkw=camco+elbow&f=Taxonomy/ACE/19541496&sr=1

http://media.wattswater.com/ES-LF150A.pdf

Not a bad idea given my original post, though I should mention that the washer / dryer is a stacker in one of those narrow closets, so I do not think this kind of arrestor would fit along the side of the wall. If it did, then the machine itself would be blocked in by the piping and could never be removed.

 

[Smooky]

The fittings just unscrew like a hose. If you need to move something just shut the symmons valve off and unscrew the fitting. Take a picture of what is there and I'll take another look and come up with something different. .....You could come off the symmons valve with a hose attach the hammer arrestor to the end of that hose and then attach another hose to the arrester and then to the washer and hang the arrester out of the way or up high etc. It can be done somehow to be sure.

 

[Provincial]

The fittings just unscrew like a hose. If you need to move something just shut the symmons valve off and unscrew the fitting. Take a picture of what is there and I'll take another look and come up with something different. .....You could come off the symmons valve with a hose attach the hammer arrestor to the end of that hose and then attach another hose the the arrester and then to the washer and hang the arrester out of the way or up high etc. It can be done somehow to be sure.

Thanks again for lending your experience... here is a photo:

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1642/24181684591_014d6c4d44_z.jpg

Sorry for my crappy cell phone...

 

[Jadnashua]

A couple of short hoses to give you room at either end to the arrestors, then the existing hose the rest of the way should work as described earlier. Or, if you want to open up the wall and put in an access panel, they do sell the arrestors as soldered or pipe threaded in devices you could put in the wall. Ideally, the thing is as close to the valve in the WM. What you're doing is trying to absorb the kinetic energy of the moving water, and it works best at the point where it is being stopped...the valve in the WM, but often, you can get satisfactory results doing it at the supply end of the hose.

It does look like you'd have enough room to use one of the 45-degree fittings suggested earlier, though.

 

[Smooky]

Don’t worry about the obstacles think about all the possibilities. You got enough room and the best part is you do not have to get behind the washer to hook it up. Easy peasy.

 

[Reach4]

It would be rather expensive, but you could use a couple Watts LF150HA with a 1/2 inch arrestor screwed into the side. Maybe just use one of those, because the one you have would probably fit the Symmons unit on the left.

 

[Valveman]

Inside the braided stainless mess there is a plastic tube. But this tube is much smaller in diameter than the old black hose. So the velocity of the water is much faster. The faster the water is going when the WM solenoid shuts off the worse the water hammer.

All you have to do is close off the supply valve to the WM somewhat to reduce the velocity. This will also make it take a little longer to fill the WM, but another minute of fill isn't going to hurt anything. I do the same thing to my toilets. I just close off the fill valve until the velocity is low enough to prevent water hammer. No arrestors required.

 

[Provincial]

Thank you to all of you who took time out of your day to respond to this thread.

 

[Valveman]

Thank you to all of you who took time out of your day to respond to this thread.

So did you try reducing the flow with the stop cocks?

 

[Provincial]

So did you try reducing the flow with the stop cocks?

The switch in that Symmons valve does have almost 180 degrees of motion, but the shutoff is not gradual at all, it is all done through a small range of motion.

I tried partially turning off the overall ballcock valves supplying my apartment (because they are inside my apartment) and it had a positive effect for the hot side but I'm still getting the hammer on the cold side. Maybe I have to experiment with it.

 

[Provincial]

After some experimentation, I am thinking here it might be a better idea to just put rubber hoses back in, and swap them every 5 years if necessary.

Does anyone know if those Flood Chek hoses are flexible enough to absorb some of the water hammer? Or are they more rigid like steel hoses?

 

[Jadnashua]

There have been some horror stories about those failing. Use the shutoffs on a regular basis.