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Fixing Water Hammer

By Bob Formisano, About.com

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Introduction


It happens when you do nothing more than quickly shut off a faucet.

BANG! Water hammer. It sounds like a shock wave just went though your pipes!

Well, in fact one just did. Water hammer can damage your pluming system. The shock wave that created the water hammer is traveling at thousands of feet per second and exerts pressures at hundreds of pounds per inch. So just what is water hammer?

Let's take a look at what is and how to solve it.

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