Kitchen Gas Appliances - Problem with Rattling Pipes

I am having a problem with our copper water lines rattling every time our swimming pool's auto fill comes on (which seems to always be in the middle of the night). The supply line for the auto fill comes right off of a tee off of the main water line and there is a water hammer suppressor right above it and there is also a vent line about five feet down the line. The rattling seems to be coming from the copper piping directly above our water heater (which is very close to the water main tee). There is an expansion tank above the water heater, then the copper line goes to a valve and then up into the plenum between the first and second stories of our house. When the auto fill comes on and the pipes start to rattle, I can turn off the valve above the expansion tank and the rattling will stop. I obviously can't leave this valve shut, so I would like to know if I need to replace this valve or if there is another way to stop the rattling.

Hello Matthew

I am not a licsened plumber. Therefore I cannot offer you any professional help with the problem.

I suggest you post your question in our plumbing forum if you have not already done so. The plumbing professionals in that forum are best suited to offering you professional advice, suggestions and help.

I tried that twice with no luck, so I figured that I'd try this forum.

......Hello Matthew

I put on my thinking cap and now using my common sense. Which by the way is the only sense I have...LOL!...:D

Somewhere in the system there has to be a part that senses the water level in the pool. Most likely this sensor is in the skimmer.

It may be a float valve like or similar to the type used in a toilet tank. May be some where else in the system but there has to be one or the water level in the pool would not be automatically refilled.

The task would be to locate it and disable it. Which means you will have to manually refill the pool like in years long gone by. Do it manually as needed to maintain the water level.

Stopping the rattling is not the single objective here. There are two objectives as I see it.

The first objective would be to stop the noise or change the refilling time to daytime etc.

The second objective is a two part objective.

One part would be to avoid paying the costs of a professional pool person, unless you already have one who knows how to turn off the auto system.

The second part is to avoid paying a licensed plumber to disconnect the entire system from the main system through the house or what ever it happens to currently be and refill the pool manually with the backyard hose.

Finding the auto refill yourself and turning it off seems to be the best do it yourself option....:D in my opinion as a non plumbing profesional using simply my common sense...:)

Sure hope one of the above suggestions and alternate idea methods meets with your approval and helps you resolve the problem for now. That's all I can offer.

Is there away to test the pressure on the line heading to the pool?

I don't know much about pools, but I know high pressure and fast closing valves create shock waves in the water distrubution system.

I don't know what pressure is requried for the pool refill line, but if the pressure does not need to be too high, and it's 80+ then I'd say install a pressure reducer valve on the line.

Hello Matthew

As you have noted here, I asked one of our top plumber moderators, Plumber2000, to assist me in obtaining you a more professional and complete reply than I could offer you.

Thanks Plumber2000 for assisting us. Much appreciated.