[JoePan59]

Between 5:30 AM and 5:40 AM every day there is a loud banging sound it seems to come from pipes under the house. It happens the same time every day. Any insights?

[talaniman]

What else is going on at that time? Got a radiator? Is someone is opening a faucet/valve on this system, and the pipes bang. Could be a number of things actually. More info?

You can read this article and there are several on the internet.

What causes the loud banging noise in my home's pipes? | HowStuffWorks

[joypulv]

You don't even say if you are miles from your nearest neighbor or in a city, or something in between.

[JoePan59]

I live in a suburban neighborhood. Lots are about 7500sf and there are adjacent neighboring homes on three sides of my property. The pounding pipes sound occurs on a daily basis between 5:30-5:40am each morning. I do not have a radiator, nor do I have a water softener. I acquired the home three months ago and noticed the pounding sound a couple weeks after moving in. I have installed "hammer arresters" on the washing machine supply faucets. The pounding occurs independent of water usage, i.e. I have flushed toilets, opened and closed faucets while the pounding occurs and it continues. The pounding consists of 10-12 "pounds" (about one second of time elapses between each "pound") followed by 2-4 minutes of silence. The series of 10-12 pounds continues for about 20 minutes each morning, followed by 23 1/2 hours of silence until it resumes again. The home is two story, 2300sf, 4 beds, 2/12 baths. I have programmed to dishwasher to run on a delayed basis (commencing at 4:30am and running for 1.5 hours) thinking that maybe lack of water usage from bedtime (10pm) until 5:30am has something to do with it. I have (several times) turned off water at the main and opened all the faucets, flushed toilets, etc. as a known remedy for water hammer. The 5:30am pounding continues like clockwork on a daily basis. I have disconnected my sprinkler timer as I read elsewhere on this board that the cause for similar symptoms was an inoperative sprinkler valve attempting to be activated by a timer.

[Milo Dolezal]

You have some mechanical device in your house that makes the pipes to rattle. Look around the house. Since you are new owner, you are not fully familiar with the hours.

Also, ask neighbors if they have the same problem.

Lastly, unplug dishwasher for few days as dishwasher is programmed to run in that time slot. See if the sound continues.

Back to you

Milo

[JoePan59]

Hi Milo,
Thanks, I will ask the neighbors and check for devices that run during the 5:30am time frame. To be clear, I programmed the dish washer to run at that time once, as an experiment, to see if water usage shortly before, and, during, the "pounding hour", somehow prevented the pounding. It did not, the pounding just keeps on keepin' on...

[jlisenbe]

Is the house on a slab, or does it have a crawl space? If it has a crawl space, how about just getting under there with it at 5:25 or so and checking it out?

[JoePan59]

Crawl space, yep, getting under there and checking it out is my next move...

[jlisenbe]

The joys of home ownership. Let us know what you find. Best wishes.

[Milo Dolezal]

JoePan59: Just brainstorming to give you additional ideas where to look for the source of the noise:

A/C - Furnace
Reverse Osmosis system
Icemaker
Irrigation system / drip system
Hot water circulation pump
Well pump
Booster pump
Automatic coffee maker
Attic fan

As per your explanation, we know it is probably not water related ( you tuned off main water - noise continued )

Look around the house for any programmable appliance or mechanical device in the house. Best would be, if you could turn OFF main electrical breaker for the whole house at 5:15 AM and wait until 6:00 AM without power to see if the noise occurs even with main power breaker OFF. This will help you to pin-point the location and source of the noise

Back to you

Milo

[JoePan59]

Mystery SOLVED. Seller disclosed that sprinkler timer was not operational but that sprinklers worked. Because of recent heavy rains, no need to program sprinkler. My point is: I have not been using the sprinklers or sprinkler timer. Just for kicks, I unplugged the sprinkler timer. Voilà! No more morning pounding. I had read on another home repair site of a similar situation so I tried it. And I didn't even need to get under the house. Had a bit of a scare this morning when I heard a pounding sound at 5:30am, but it was just a trash truck. Sweet silence. No more pounding pipes.

[jlisenbe]

Congrats. A little detective work paid off.

[Milo Dolezal]

Glad you found the source of the noise !

Milo