Drying Cycle Moves Pipework for the Whole House

Hi Andy,

Thank you so much for your reply!

I have tried to reduce the water pressure to the washing machine and indeed it made a difference - the level of banging was reduced considerably. The only problem is that it still happens, and I cannot reduce the pressure any further because then no water will go to the washing machine. I am also worried how such low pressure may affect the actual machine.

The pipework where the banging happens is inaccessible. It goes from the ground floor to the loft in the corner of the kitchen, embedded into the wall behind all of the kitchen units.

It seems that what has happened is that previously the cold water pipe (which now vibrates during the drying cycle) would go up to the loft and into a large water tank. Therefore, there was more weight attached to one end of that pipe (tank is huge), reducing the vibration to almost zero. Now, the pipe goes to the loft, and then down to the combi boiler and the shower. So there is less weight to prevent the vibrations.

Everything else is fine - it is just that drying cycle on the Hotpoint machine. I am wondering, do some washer/dryer units work differently? i.e. Without drawing water during the drying cycle? Because I think it will be far easier for us to change the machine then to break walls/kitchen units to access pipes.

Thank you!

Hello Sylvia. Thanks for the update. I would try to secure the pipework much more in the loft where it is accessible. If you think about it the pipework that is inaccessible and is currently banging has not changed. As you say the reason it didn't bang before was that it was connected to the heavy water tank. So being secured up in the loft should stop it banging. You may just need to secure the pipes in a different way. I would get the washing machine on the dry cycle and have someone up in the loft. When the pipes start knocking get them to hold the pipe firmly in various places to see if they can stop it. If they can, that's the place it needs securing properly to joists. It's not guaranteed to work but well worth a try.

Other than that yes, many other washer dryers don't operate like that. Many of them just have the cold water supply constantly running (at a trickle) not the condenser chamber. That type would cause far less if no banging at all. I couldn't give you a list of ones that do though. At a guess I 'd expect most washer dryers to not constantly turn the condenser valve on and off so frequently but you'd have to try and get an answer from the manufacturer before buying.