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hello,
we recently moved into our home....it's been fully renovated and things are brand new......however, for some reason, whenever hot water (usually when ONLY hot water) is turned on in the upstairs bathrooms, a clunking sounds, 1 second apart from each other, can be heard in the space between the upstairs and the downstairs (main level) floors!
what's also an issue is the fact that we are seeing a small (but growing) blackness forming in the foyer area....directly below the master bath upstairs!
i'm sure there's a leak of some sort...and the black stuff is mold....right?
what's the clunking noise? how bad is this situation?
hello,
we recently moved into our home....it's been fully renovated and things are brand new......however, for some reason, whenever hot water (usually when ONLY hot water) is turned on in the upstairs bathrooms, a clunking sounds, 1 second apart from each other, can be heard in the space between the upstairs and the downstairs (main level) floors!
what's also an issue is the fact that we are seeing a small (but growing) blackness forming in the foyer area....directly below the master bath upstairs!
i'm sure there's a leak of some sort...and the black stuff is mold....right?
what's the clunking noise? how bad is this situation?
The mold is a separate problem and much more important in the long run. I have a similar clunking problem, usually starting a minute or two after the hot water is turned on. I am not a plumber, but I believe its' related to an anti-syphon valve (required in California by code). The valve protects water from backflowing into the house. However, it creates sort of a vacuum between the line and my hot water heater. The clunking is the hot water heater trying to get air out of the line while it is refilling. Notice that the clunking stops after the hot water heater refills to replace the hot water you have used. It is not a problem that needs fixing if you can put up with the aggravating sound.
Location: Sometimes Maryland, sometimes NoVA. Depends on the day of the week
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If you are seeing the mold on the finished side of the drywall, its 10x worse on the backside. I'd get the contractor who did the renovations out ASAP.
The sound is most likey coming from the movement of the pipes expanding when the hot water is coming through, the pipes either could be touching something or is not secured with plastic brackets. The mold is more than likely from the drain or a loose fitting that leaks only when in use.
Location: Visitation between Wal-Mart & Home Depot
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I'm not sure that's water hammer. To my mind, water hammer occurs when the flow of water through a pipe is abruptly stopped and there isn't a surge arrester to act as a shock absorber (or your arrester doesn't have an air cushion any longer and needs to be drained).
Does the hot water sputter with the clunking? If you have a vacuum breaker of some sort as described by GLS that could definitely explain the issue.
the clunking noise is air in the lines. you might try draining the hot water heater. I can't remember what else we had to do when this happened.
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