Why Do My Pipes Vibrate When I Flush the Toilet

There are several reasons as to why your pipes vibrate whenever one flushes his/her toilet. Some of the major issues as to why you keep hearing that rattling sound could be.

Loose Pipes

In case your pipes are loose, they normally rattle whenever someone flushes the toilet or turns on a faucet. Visibly inspect the pipes to determine whether there is movement and if there is consider having them tightly fastened.

Water Pressure Issues

Another cause of vibrating pipes could be issues with your water pressure. When the water pressure is too high it causes pipes to vibrate and can even bring about long term damage to them as well as other appliances. Normally, it is recommended that indoor water pressure should range between 40 – 60 pounds per square inch. To fix this pressure issue, consider adding a pressure regulating valve to the incoming water line to reduce pressure in case it is high.

Water Hammer

A water hammer at work could also be causing your pipes to vibrate. Water hammer is normally caused by valves closing very fast. When water flows through the pipes and the valves shut off quickly, water is forced to stop suddenly causing the hammer effect. To correct this problem, call a trusted plumber to help add a water hammer arrestor to the vibrating pipes. Also, you could replace the toilet’s fill valves with slow-closing fill valves.

In case you have been experiencing the hammering effect for some time now and the problem keeps on worsening, the problem could be that there is an air chamber behind the walls connected to the pipes. Air chambers act as cushions against the hammering effects, however with time they might fill up with water rather than air. If this is the case, they need to be drained to make more room for air. By shutting the water valve and opening the taps and also flushing the toilets starting from the heist level to the lowest, the pipes could be easily drained. Once all the pipes have been drained, close the drain and turn the water valve back on.

Vibrating pipes could not only be aggravating but also damaging as it might cause the pipes to break because of the banging force. This can be an expensive and devastating repair. Therefore it is of paramount importance to find a trusty plumber to help diagnose and fix the problem before more damages can be done.

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