Rattling Pipes. Only upstairs bathroom sinks. Only hot water.

[guht]

I have some pipes that are rattling in my upstairs bathroom. It has dual sinks, and both sinks will cause the problem to happen.

If you turn on just the hot water, and leave it on for 30-60 seconds, the pipes will start banging in the wall.

If I turn on the cold water half-way to full, while the hot water is still on, the rattling will stop.

It does not do this in the bathroom shower , which is located only a few feet away from the sinks.

The hot water heater is located in the garage, which is not quite directly above this bathroom, but in close proximity.

Can I fix this myself, and if so where would I start?

Additionally, this may or may not be related, but might be worth mentioning just in case. When running the washing machine downstairs, also close proximity to the hot water heater, it seems like when the washing machine is switching between using water and not using water, it makes a singular loud clunk in the walls. It doesnt rattle on and on like upstairs bathroom, just a loud clunk. I usually run the washing machine with at least some hot water. I havent tested to see if it does it with just cold. Need to try that!

Thanks for reading.

 

[Kreemoweet]

You can either open the wall and secure the loose hot water supply pipes, or else investigate for a
loose washer/cartridge in the faucet innards. Might just be a design flaw in the faucets, and there's
the obvious solution for that ...

 

[Sponsor]

 

[guht]

You can either open the wall and secure the loose hot water supply pipes, or else investigate for a
loose washer/cartridge in the faucet innards. Might just be a design flaw in the faucets, and there's
the obvious solution for that ...

Thank you for the response.

Just to update, I turned the hot water on for the shower, and then tested one of the sinks hot water, and let it run for several minutes. No rattling.

I then let the shower, the other sinks hot water run, and turned on the remaining sinks hot water, and let it run for several minutes. No rattling.

I then turned off the showers hot water, and still no rattling.

I then turned off the first sinks hot water, and the last sink started rattling.

It seems isolated to that one sink faucet and hot water?

The faucets are in a cabinet installed to wall, so no easy access to pipes. I would have to access from other side and do drywall repair (i suck at drywall), and then repaint the room... Sooo I wont be doing that.

 

[Reach4]

You can either open the wall and secure the loose hot water supply pipes, or else investigate for a
loose washer/cartridge in the faucet innards. Might just be a design flaw in the faucets, and there's
the obvious solution for that ...

It seems isolated to that one sink faucet and hot water?

The faucets are in a cabinet installed to wall, so no easy access to pipes. I would have to access from other side and do drywall repair (i suck at drywall), and then repaint the room... Sooo I wont be doing that.

Do you have flex lines from the stop valves to the faucet? If so, how about interchanging the hot and cold flex lines. See if the problem still occurs when using hot on the that sink, stops having the problem, or switches the problem to the cold.

 

[Jadnashua]

The sealing washer in the shutoff valve that supplies that sink may be getting old or id starting to come apart. When that happens, when water flows, the washer can flutter, partially shutting the water off and then back on. The solution is usually to replace the shutoff at the wall for that line. If the hoses to the faucet are flexible, replace them at the same time. Consider a 1/4-turn valve rather than a multi-turn one...it uses a different sealing mechanism, and wont' flutter. Make sure that the shutoff is fully open, too.

 

[guht]

It does use flex lines, and I think the shut off valve might not have been completely open! Looks like I have several things to try! Thanks for the good advice, I will let you know how it turns out!

 

[Terry]

I open shutoffs all the way, and then back them in a little.
Like mentioned above, an old or loose water will flutter and rattle pipes. Sometimes making sure the shutoff isn't closed down too much, or even replacement. It's like a reed in a musical instrument.

 

[Jadnashua]

A valve stem (multi-turn valve) can freeze up over time, so being able to turn it both ways can help, as Terry indicated, to free it up again when you need to shut it off. Not so much with a 1/4-turn ball valve, though.