We recently purchased a home (four years old) and there is an upstairs bathroom that had a leaky faucet in the bathtub. Since we've been busy working on other things in the house and yard it's taken me a couple of months to fix it. During this time we really didn't use it. When I went to test the faucet after having had the main water line shut off and replacing the washers in the faucet, I noticed that the pipes in the wall make a knocking sound when the faucet is turned to a certain position. The faucet is a one-handle disc-type (I think this is what it is called). The knocking sound seems to happen when the handle is in the middle between the hot and cold.

Just wondering, is this likely to be water hammer or is there something else that is causing this?

Thanks!

"Just wondering, is this likely to be water hammer or is there something else that is causing this?"
Water hammer affects all the faucets not just one so I don't believe that's it.
I'm confused. You say you changed the washers in the tub valve but one handled valves don't have washers, they have cartridges. What's the brand name of your tub valve? Regards, Tom

Sorry, my mistake. I replaced the "seats and springs" behind the cartridge. I'm still learning the lingo to what I'm working with. I had never fixed a leaky faucet, but looked up information on the Internet, took apart the handle and took it into Lowe's. I had planned on replacing the entire cartridge, but they didn't have what I needed. After one of the salesman looked at my cartridge he said that at this point it wouldn't be necessary to replace the entire cartridge, anyway, just the seats/rubber seals behind it. (FYI: I also replaced the seats and springs in another bathroom that was just starting to drip a little bit, but there is no knocking in this bathroom.)

Regarding the brand, I don't know what brand it is. There isn't anything on it that I could find that identified what brand it was. Is there a specific place I should look?

Thanks!

"Regarding the brand, I don't know what brand it is. There isn't anything on it that I could find that identified what brand it was. Is there a specific place I should look?"

Given your description of washers, springs and it being single handled, I'm guessing either Delta or Peerless.

When you installed the springs, did you install them 'fat side down'?

And when you installed the cone washers, did you make sure they were seated properly before reinstalling the cartridge assembly?

Sometimes one or both cone washer will push out to one side or the other before you can get the cartridge assembly back into place.

Just a thought.

Yes, the springs were "fat side down." I installed them exactly as they were when I took them out (except they were new).

I'm assuming when you say "cone washers" you are talking about the rubber seals/seats. If so, then, yes, they were securely in place when I inserted the cartridge. It's possible that one of them could have become loose when I inserted the cartridge, but I think that would have caused the faucet to continue leaking, which it isn't doing right now. Right? Could putting in the new rubber seals have affected/caused the "knocking" sound?

Thanks!

Also, I'm not sure if this would be related to this as well, but when we had the home inspected we were told about the leak as well as the fact that the diverter to the shower doesn't open automatically when you turn the water off. You have to manually push it down to get the excess water to come out of the bottom spout. Just a little more information to my puzzle.

Thanks!

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Originally Posted by MrsHandyman

Yes, the springs were "fat side down." I installed them exactly as they were when I took them out (except they were new).

I'm assuming when you say "cone washers" you are talking about the rubber seals/seats. If so, then, yes, they were securely in place when I inserted the cartridge. It's possible that one of them could have become loose when I inserted the cartridge, but I think that would have caused the faucet to continue leaking, which it isn't doing right now. Right? Could putting in the new rubber seals have affected/caused the "knocking" sound?

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I wouldn't think so.

Could also be debris in the seat -- Did you flush the valve before installing the rebuild kit?

You generally want to turn the stops under the sink on very slowly and just a little bit, one at a time, to flush out the valve body before installing the new parts.

This can be very messy, so have a couple of towels ready.

If the problem persists, then replacing the cartridge is the next logical step.

BTW, do the parts in the rebuild kit look anything at all like this?

Growler gave you very good advice when he said;" Could also be debris in the seat -- Did you flush the valve before installing the rebuild kit?
You generally want to turn the stops under the sink on very slowly and just a little bit, one at a time, to flush out the valve body before installing the new parts."

This could be your problem. In working with and around pipes sometimes crud and scale built up on the pipe walls gets dislodged and drawn up into the inlet ports and seats of a valve. They must be flushed out first. I've put up a couple of Delta Tub/shower valves. Anything look familiar? Cheers, Tom

Thanks for all the information! Sorry it's taken me so long to reply. I had been receiving emails notifying me of responses and didn't receive any to your most recent responses. I am going to try flushing the valve body and see if this helps. My only question is how to do this considering this is a bathtub faucet and not a sink faucet.
Growler said:
"You generally want to turn the stops under the sink on very slowly and just a little bit, one at a time, to flush out the valve body before installing the new parts."
How do I do this on a bathtub faucet?

Also, Speedball1, the Delta 1400 1600 Bath Valve looks like the valve in our bathtub. Thanks for the diagram.

You might check to see if the problem is only when hot water is running through the valve or no noise when only cold is on if the noise is only when there is hot water running the problem could be the pipe in the wall exspanding and creeking against a drilled hole that it runs through that is to tight on the pipe or shimed tight plastic drain lines will do the same thing as hot water runs thrugh it this is just a suggestion that may give you another option if its not the cartridge and its easy to check good luck

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Originally Posted by jim dandy

you might check to see if the problem is only when hot water is running through the valve or no noise when only cold is on if the noise is only when there is hot water running the problem could be the pipe in the wall exspanding and creeking against a drilled hole that it runs through that is to tight on the pipe or shimed tight plastic drain lines will do the same thing as hot water runs thrugh it this is just a suggestion that may give you another option if its not the cartridge and its easy to check good luck

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I doubt very much that your sound is pipes that expand and contract for two reasons. (1) I've had calls such as yours and the pipes tap-tap or creak as the expand and contract against a stud and (2) The asker said the pipes only made a noise when the handle was turned to a "certain position". If it were caused by expansion you would notice the noise every time the hot water was used. Flushing the supply lines might help if the seats and springs went in correctly. Regards, Tom