Sioux Chief 652-A Water Arrestor

Sometimes people use the 1/2" models near the fixture in question. I prefer a couple large 1" models as a central arrester. The Sioux Chief models are my go too. They last a long time - but nothing lasts forever! I prefer to put these behind access plates so they can be replaced. Just a word of personal advice.Will buy again.

I don't usually write product reviews. But, I am very impressed by these water hammer arrestors. When our sprinkler valves would shut off, the line between the kitchen sink and the ice maker in the fridge would rattle with some fury. The sprinkler valves are a long distance from the kitchen and I was worried about the potential for pipe damage. As our copper pipes are in the slab, a leak would be a pain to fix.Installing the 652-As took just a few minutes as I already had pipe Ts in the lines. I installed one in the front yard near the sprinkler valves and one in the back yard next to a sprinkler valve.After installing the 652-As, our water hammer issue completely disappeared and our pipes are silent when the sprinkler valves close. Only thing I regret is not installing these years ago.

I’ve been using Sioux Chief Mini-resters (model 660-H) to handle my washing machine water hammer. They work OK…but only seem to last 18-24 months. I wanted a longer lasting solution so I can stop replacing the Mini-resters.Inspired by another Amazon review (house guy), I built my own hammer arresters using these larger Sioux Chief 652-A units. My solution requires soldering…so this idea won’t be for everyone. But if you can solder and are replacing an existing set of Sioux Chief Mini-resters, check out how I built a larger version (see images). The part numbers are in the images. You have to un-solder the copper portion from the 660-H mini-resters to re-use them. Don’t cut it off because you will need the entire length of that copper section. Then assemble the new arrestors as shown. These are working well and I hope they will outlast the Mini-resters by a long time. If/when they stop working, I can just replace the 652-A air chambers instead of replacing the entire Mini-rester.

My old house has the usual "air chamber" type water hammer arresting pipe extensions above every faucet and fixture. But I recently switched the house from a private well to the village water supply, and with this came much more water pressure and also greater flow. I started to have water hammer issues where I never had before, mainly in a few places that had automatic valves (e.g. the cloths washer and the outdoor faucet that has a timer that controls watering; in those places the valves close quickly.I was faced with upgrading my existing 'pipe extension' type air chambers in hopes of eliminating the water hammer, or switching to proper water hammer arrestors. These are devices that are essentially little shock absorbers that work on the water in a pipe, and which cannot be "water logged", and thus can be expected to work for a long time without attention or gradual degradation in performance. I decided that if I was going to cut into pipes and do soldering, that I would go for the better solution.I chose Sioux Chief because they seem to be one of the major manufacturers of these products. But I learned that while many stores (Home Depot, etc) carry these products, that they are actually supposed to be selected based on static water pressure and actual water flow at the location (faucet) in question.I bought (on Amazon) two inexpensive meters to measure pressure and flow...see my other reviews of those products. I reported my findings to Sioux Chief via their inquiry form, and their technical support advised on which model arrestor I should use for best performance in my situation. The 652-A arrestor reviewed here is the one they recommended for the outdoor faucet, while a different model was deemed best for the clothes washer.The arrestors of any given size can be purchased with various connections, such as basic soldering type (the small end of the arrestor is sized like a copper pipe end, and you solder directly to the arrestor), plus screw fittings and another kind of fitting that I had never seen before. I chose the regular screw fitting.My work involved cutting the existing copper pipe just above the "tee" where the existing air chamber pipe extended up from the faucet, and soldering on a pipe fitting of the correct size. Then I just screwed the new arrestor onto that fitting, and the job was done. I thought this was preferable to soldering directly onto the arrestor, since excess heat can possibly damage the internal plunger or O-rings or whatever. I don't solder pipes professionally and figured that I might heat the arrestor more than a professional plumber would. I also like being able to quickly remove and/or replace the arrestor without doing any more soldering.I have not noted any more water hammer since I installed these arrestors, so I think they are doing their job.

Added this to my sprinkler system that uses an auto shut-off. My water hammer was so bad that it would make sounds inside of my refrigerator when the sprinklers turned off. Now it's so quiet I can't even tell when the sprinklers turn off.

Once again I received damaged used item. I am done.

I may return these due to excessive solder inside the threaded end. The manufacturer should add a step to wipe away the solder that weeps inside immediately after brazing the NPT connector joint.

Product works very well. I had tried MiniRestors with AA size pistons, but they did not manage our water hammer issues. They helped some, but we still had a decent hammer. We decided to go up to the "A" size to fix the problem. However, I didn't have access to the pipes without demo of wall, and the "A" size piston will not fit the MiniRester fitting. Fortunately, it is pretty easy to build your own fitting... Here are the pieces - two of each for the two water lines... Worked well for us.Brass 1/2 inch FIP TeeBrass Elbow 3/4 inch MH X 3/4 inch FHBrass Adapter 3/4 inch MH X 1/2 inch MIPBrass Adapter 3/4 inch FH X 1/2 inch MIP