My house has an unusually long main landing, with straight pipe runs in
the floor down the length of it. Since the old galvanised pipes were
replaced with copper there have been dreadful expansion noises and
several attempts at stopping them have failed. A while ago I thought
about putting PTFE "U"s in the joist notches but didn't get the right
tuit until today. A few hours work removing carpet and boards then
cutting/bending/inserting 2" and 3" wide strips of 2mm PTFE into the
notches seems to have finally solved the majority of the noise. In case
it's of interest to others - the PTFE sheet is readily available on-line
and cuts easily on a band saw or with tin snips. WTH didn't I do this 2
(or 3!) years ago.

On 16/03/2023 22:18, nothanks@aolbin.com wrote:
> My house has an unusually long main landing, with straight pipe runs in
> the floor down the length of it. Since the old galvanised pipes were
> replaced with copper there have been dreadful expansion noises and
> several attempts at stopping them have failed. A while ago I thought
> about putting PTFE "U"s in the joist notches but didn't get the right
> tuit until today. A few hours work removing carpet and boards then
> cutting/bending/inserting 2" and 3" wide strips of 2mm PTFE into the
> notches seems to have finally solved the majority of the noise. In case
> it's of interest to others - the PTFE sheet is readily available on-line
> and cuts easily on a band saw or with tin snips. WTH didn't I do this 2
> (or 3!) years ago.

After seeing a plumber, I've used felt bumf. Perhaps PTFE is a better
alternative.

On 16/03/2023 23:06, Fredxx wrote:
> On 16/03/2023 22:18, nothanks@aolbin.com wrote:
>> My house has an unusually long main landing, with straight pipe runs
>> in the floor down the length of it. Since the old galvanised pipes
>> were replaced with copper there have been dreadful expansion noises
>> and several attempts at stopping them have failed. A while ago I
>> thought about putting PTFE "U"s in the joist notches but didn't get
>> the right tuit until today. A few hours work removing carpet and
>> boards then cutting/bending/inserting 2" and 3" wide strips of 2mm
>> PTFE into the notches seems to have finally solved the majority of the
>> noise. In case it's of interest to others - the PTFE sheet is readily
>> available on-line and cuts easily on a band saw or with tin snips. WTH
>> didn't I do this 2 (or 3!) years ago.
>
> After seeing a plumber, I've used felt bumf. Perhaps PTFE is a better
> alternative.
I tried with felt, and bits of insulating sleeve, and enlarging the
notches but nothing worked reliably. I even had expansion joints at the
half way point. It's early days still, but the PTFE seems to have worked.

On 16/03/2023 22:18, nothanks@aolbin.com wrote:
> My house has an unusually long main landing, with straight pipe runs in
> the floor down the length of it. Since the old galvanised pipes were
> replaced with copper there have been dreadful expansion noises and
> several attempts at stopping them have failed. A while ago I thought
> about putting PTFE "U"s in the joist notches but didn't get the right
> tuit until today. A few hours work removing carpet and boards then
> cutting/bending/inserting 2" and 3" wide strips of 2mm PTFE into the
> notches seems to have finally solved the majority of the noise. In case
> it's of interest to others - the PTFE sheet is readily available on-line
> and cuts easily on a band saw or with tin snips. WTH didn't I do this 2
> (or 3!) years ago.

I found that felt/fibre style insulation pipe jacket also does the trick.

One thing to watch with long runs it that the pipes are not able to
abrade themselves other other things as they slide around, as I found to
my cost once:

http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php/The_tale_of_the_rubbing_pipe

--
Cheers,

John.

/=================================================================\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\=================================================================/

Fredxx wrote:

> nothanks@aolbin.com wrote:
>
>> Since the old galvanised pipes were replaced with copper there have
>> been dreadful expansion noises
>
> I've used felt bumf. Perhaps PTFE is a better alternative.

I repurposed some "horsehair" underlay, did the trick ...

On 16/03/2023 23:55, John Rumm wrote:

> I found that felt/fibre style insulation pipe jacket also does the trick.
>
> One thing to watch with long runs it that the pipes are not able to
> abrade themselves other other things as they slide around, as I found to
> my cost once:
>
> http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php/The_tale_of_the_rubbing_pipe

An interesting tale. I wonder if copper pipes are not all created equal.
Perhaps in the drawing process to create them the 22mm pipe ended up
harder than the 15mm pipe, so it was the latter which wore away when
they rubbed together. Otherwise, I'd have expected some wear on both.

--

Jeff

On 16/03/2023 23:55, John Rumm wrote:
> On 16/03/2023 22:18, nothanks@aolbin.com wrote:
>> My house has an unusually long main landing, with straight pipe runs
>> in the floor down the length of it. Since the old galvanised pipes
>> were replaced with copper there have been dreadful expansion noises
>> and several attempts at stopping them have failed. A while ago I
>> thought about putting PTFE "U"s in the joist notches but didn't get
>> the right tuit until today. A few hours work removing carpet and
>> boards then cutting/bending/inserting 2" and 3" wide strips of 2mm
>> PTFE into the notches seems to have finally solved the majority of the
>> noise. In case it's of interest to others - the PTFE sheet is readily
>> available on-line and cuts easily on a band saw or with tin snips. WTH
>> didn't I do this 2 (or 3!) years ago.
>
> I found that felt/fibre style insulation pipe jacket also does the trick.
I tried just about everything except a full pipe sleeve - the pipes are
28mm so that would have needed too much of the joists to be cut away.
PTFE isn't expensive and is easily cut and bent so I don't know why
using it isn't commonly discussed. I opted for 2mm but it's available in
a wide range of thicknesses down to 0.1mm.
> > One thing to watch with long runs it that the pipes are not able to
> abrade themselves other other things as they slide around, as I found to
> my cost once:
>
> http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php/The_tale_of_the_rubbing_pipe
That's a good write-up of an unpleasant problem. Unfortunately I
probably have several places where pipes are resting on other pipes, but
to sort it all "just in case" would be a humongous task so I will
promptly forget about it, with one exception: the expansion joints.
These are corrugated stainless steel, side-by-side, and have large ribs
where the s/s is joined to the copper stubs. It would be sensible to put
a PTFE barrier between them next time I have that bit of floor up.
>

On 17/03/2023 08:50, Jeff Layman wrote:
> On 16/03/2023 23:55, John Rumm wrote:
>
>> I found that felt/fibre style insulation pipe jacket also does the trick.
>>
>> One thing to watch with long runs it that the pipes are not able to
>> abrade themselves other other things as they slide around, as I found to
>> my cost once:
>>
>> http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php/The_tale_of_the_rubbing_pipe
>
> An interesting tale. I wonder if copper pipes are not all created equal.
> Perhaps in the drawing process to create them the 22mm pipe ended up
> harder than the 15mm pipe, so it was the latter which wore away when
> they rubbed together. Otherwise, I'd have expected some wear on both.

That is actually an interesting point... there was at some point a
change from the thicker walled fully annealed copper pipe of the past to
the modern thinner wall "half hard" pipe... not sure when that was.

However looking at my end on photo of that bit of damaged pipe, that
could well be the thicker wall (and hence softer) pipe.

--
Cheers,

John.

/=================================================================\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\=================================================================/

Almost any kind of plastic works for this. In my immersion heater cupboard,
it used to make some very weird and ghostly noises. The hardest bit was
figuring out which point on the tank or pipes was doing it. I just gently
prized up the point of contact with the surrounding wood and slid sheet of
soft plastic under each one till it stopped. As to why this works, I can
only guess that maybe it goes in jerks when on the wood, but is smoother on
plastic. Now all I need is a way to stop the plastic gutters from groaning
and clicking as the sun comes up in summer....
Brian

--

--:
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
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briang1@blueyonder.co.uk
Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
<nothanks@aolbin.com> wrote in message
news:k7hisuFgib3U1@mid.individual.net...
> My house has an unusually long main landing, with straight pipe runs in
> the floor down the length of it. Since the old galvanised pipes were
> replaced with copper there have been dreadful expansion noises and several
> attempts at stopping them have failed. A while ago I thought about putting
> PTFE "U"s in the joist notches but didn't get the right tuit until today.
> A few hours work removing carpet and boards then cutting/bending/inserting
> 2" and 3" wide strips of 2mm PTFE into the notches seems to have finally
> solved the majority of the noise. In case it's of interest to others - the
> PTFE sheet is readily available on-line and cuts easily on a band saw or
> with tin snips. WTH didn't I do this 2 (or 3!) years ago.