A customer emailed in for some free tech support and I wrote up helpful how to that could save her a $105 service call.
I thought it good to replicate it here on the blog.
Shadia,
Usually any knocking sound from a heater system is going
to be caused by air somewhere in the system. The noise can sometimes be heard very far away from the actual source, and not heard at the source.
Air is sometimes delivered in city water and builds up
over time.
1) Sometimes you can convince the air to move out by a
fast flow rate...open all the hot water faucets and tubs in the house at once,
and listen for and gurgling/popping to confirm air removal. Running for 2 minutes should be more than enough.
2) Air can be trapped in the tank, at the pressure relief
valve or up in the panels. The
pressure relief valve is the valve with a small level, almost always in the
dead center top of the tank. These
should be replaced every 3 years in the required "solar tuneup". You can simply "pop" the lever and
if there is air it will burp out.
For air in the tank or panels, simply do the exact same
process as the important "annual flush". You are doing the customer annual flush
right? Sheesh even I forget to do that
on my system. But it's pretty easy to
do, you don't even have to go on the roof.
The description of how to do it is here:
Second link down in the article
3) If there has been new construction or plumbing work,
suspect those for entrapped air or for
pipes that are not properly supported or cushioned.
4) Finally there are plumbing water hammer arrestors
(WHA) in most residences. These sometimes
fail or depending on the design, just fill up with water as the air is
dissolved into the water. It’s the air
that creates the cushion that prevents knocking. This is probably a call to a plumber, or a
really good handy man friend. Typical
WHA below
Hope this helps, advise on results.
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