Hammer Arresters and HE Washing Machine
December 17, 2014 6:37 AM   Subscribe

I have a high efficiency washing machine that shakes our pipes loudly when it takes its incessant micro-sips of water. Does anyone have experience adding hammer arresters like these to their washers?

The pipes in question are well secured where they exit the wall, but seem to be foot loose and fancy free inside the walls.

Per the maker's instructions, I'd be connecting the hammer arresters to the washing machine and then connecting the hoses (which I'd be replacing with steel sheathed hoses at the same time) to the hammer arresters, so as to limit the wear and tear on the hoses (i.e., the jolting would have already been absorbed by the arresters).

I don't see any reason why this wouldn't work, but I'd be grateful for any experiences with 1) whether it actually stopped your high efficiency washers from making a lot of banging, and 2) whether this hookup caused any issues with the washers themselves.

FWIW, it's a Kenmore Elite washer.
posted by Admiral Haddock to Home & Garden (5 answers total)
 
Our front loader used to do something similar, until I turned down the inlet pressure (ie the spigot that the hose going to the washing attaches to). That made a lot of difference. The washer has a sensor on it to know how much water it needs/wants, so problem is solved.
posted by k5.user at 7:29 AM on December 17, 2014


It will probably help some, but to completely eliminate the problem, you really need to secure the pipes in the wall with a bit of strapping to the studs.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:30 AM on December 17, 2014


I had the same problem, possibly with the same machine. I added those hammer arresters and used some strapping to tie down one of the feed pipes where it was a little wiggly just in case, and the problem vanished completely. Before doing that you would have thought someone had filled a cement mixer with gravel and bricks, you could hear it going nuts from any location in our 3-family house. This is a known thing with the new machines -- the new electric water valves are crazy fast-closing and the new designs seem to practically use a PWM-style control that has them jittering constantly.
posted by range at 8:35 AM on December 17, 2014


Echoing range. Those arresters (exact same ones!) completely eliminated our noise problems on LG HE washer.
posted by gregglind at 11:08 AM on December 17, 2014


I have those attatched to the pipes before the hoses that lead to my old-style washing machine. In that configuration they probably don't make the pipes any more quiet (though we've always had them so I don't know), but I think they've been a factor in the long term health of my very cheap machine. This washer should never have lasted 12 years.
posted by monopas at 11:41 AM on December 17, 2014


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