Pipes suddenly started banging

[rose202]

Moved into this house a couple of years & all was fine, the house was built in the 1960's's so not that old. The toilet is your normal toilet with a kind of inflated bag inside the cistern to save water (I think) & we have left it there but for the past couple of months, every time we flush the chain the pipes have been banging & making a shuddering sound. It was literally one day there was silence & the next the pipes were noisy.

Should I be concerned? Do I take the inflated bag out of the cistern?

Thanks

It is probably air in the pipe making the pipe knock or rattle. Try turning water off at the mains and draining out the cold tap from downstairs sink. When you turn the main back on just let it fill back up by restricting how much you turn the stopcock to let it fill up slowly. When pies are full put stop cock back to where you want it pressure wise

edit pies should read pipes. Just had a pork pie salad ,senior citizen moment

Thanks roneik I'll try it.

I shall toast you with an apple pie :)

Quite likely the ball cock is worn out.

You can take the old one apart and renew the worn bits at trifling cost, especially if it is brass, but it is quicker and easier to fit a new one. If you want, you can refurbish the old one on the kitchen table later when you have plenty of time and keep it as a spare.

Two other things that contribute to noise are removing the loft cold-water tank when you fit a combi boiler, so that the water is at high mains pressure, and having water pipes that are not tightly clamped to the wall using pipe clips, so that they can vibrate.

There are a couple of more modern designs of filling valve that are much quieter than old ballcocks.

Is your old one plastic or brass, and does the supply pipe come in through the side of the cistern, or the bottom? Is the cold water supply to the bathroom tank fed (you can stop the flow from the basin tap by pressing your thumb on the spout) or mains pressure?

If your cistern has a button in the lid for flushing, rather than a lever on the side or front, it will be more tiresome, and you will resolve never to buy one again.