Brown water

Bayrat · May 24, 2002

Less than two weeks ago I tied my new public water line into most of the water lines in my house. Gradually, the water has turned a bit brown /w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif, especially noticeable in the hot water. I know the pipes (and probably the nine year old hot water tank) have mineral deposits on the inside of them. I believe the Ph of the well was quite a bit higher than that of the public water, although I have not yet tested it. I am assuming the more acidic water is pulling the iron etc from the pipes and tank causing the brown color, but not being a chemist am not sure. Have any of you ruralites' had experience with this /w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif.

frank_f15 · May 24, 2002

BAYRAT: U AIN'T TOO FAR FROM ME, when u say u tied MOST of the water lines in what do u mean by that?if u have well water that is high in iron ,is it possible that u are mixing well water with city water? water that has iron be it iron particles or iron bacteria , when it has chlorine added to it(city water will be chlorinated) the chlorine will chase the iron. depending on the amt of iron or the amt of chlorine , u could get water from brown to red to black. don't know if this is your problem, just know municipal water should not be colored.

Bayrat · May 24, 2002

Frank,

I split the system and kept the best of two wells for drinking water. It is not mixed. There has been an initial mixing in the hot water tank however (82 gals). Perhaps I should drain it??

patrickg · May 24, 2002

You didn't mention how you flushed the lines. I'm betting on the previusly mentioned chemistry but if a hot tap were opened before the new lines were well flushed you could have pulled in a shot of muddy water and it takes a while to clear up, hundreds of gallons. If that doesn't fit your scenario, disregard. I'm sensitive to that as the plumbers that did my mom's new house got a lot of mud in the pipes working in the crawl space and of course the idiots ran the hot water to fill the hotwater tank prior to heating it up. Too bad they didn't run the cold everywhere in the house first to clear the lines as it put a slug of mud in the HW tank and it took a lot of flushing to clear it. Brings to mind the difference between a professional and an expert. A professional gets payed for what they do and the expert is very knowledgeable. The two are not mutually exclusive but the one does not imply the other.

Patrick

Bayrat · May 25, 2002

I flushed with an outside faucet that is the first outlet in line past the new feed. I also flushed the toilets to purge them, they are all ahead of the water heater. The hot water looks like a very light rusty color, the cold is clear as can be. That is why I am thinking the tank has iron deposits on it and the chlorinated water with a lower Ph is pulling it off of there.

patrickg · May 25, 2002

BayRat, Was just checking... Well it seems even more likely the chemistry is the culprit. If the DHW tank were impervious to chemical assault you could fill it and let it cook with something really strong to clean out the deposits but that is not likely the case with most. This leaves 1. wait and see or 2. R&R the tank. Is there a problem beyond aesthetics? Will the "brown water" stain the sinks, ruin the fine china and crystal in the diswasher, react with someones hair dye, shampoo, or conditioner and turn their hair into a really weird fashion statement or selectively bond with tooth enamel to create a really horrific smile? If it is harmless aesthetics I would personally try a wait and see attitude or maybe a chlorine bleach chemical soak for the tank. If chlorine is pulling out the iron or whatever maybe you could accelerate the process by giving it a few gallons of chlorine bleach and a good long soak.

How to get the bleach into the tank? Hmmmm, maybe you could put a short length of hose on the drain outlet and place the other end of the hose above the tank. Put a funnel in this raised end of the hose. Turn off the supply valve controling the cold water coming into the tank. Open a nearby hot water tap. Open the drain valve and pour bleach into the funnel. Maybe as a confidence builder and safety check you could try pouring in water to make sure it goes in and doesn't overflow the funnel. In theory, the head of pressure from the hose and funnel above the level of water in the tank should force the contents of the funnel into the tank. Since many brands of chlorine bleach give water purification dilution information on the back of their labels it isn't too scary to put bleach in your water system. All the excess can be flushed out fairly easily through the drain valve and not put much into the house plumbing. The length of time you can let it cook is an issue. Planning an overnight trip or at least a day away so no hot water is used is a good idea. I would be inclined to return all valves to "normal" and have the heater in service as the elevated water temp will accelerate the process.

To get sufficient "head" you might have to take the end of the hose outside and use a ladder.

The down side to this is that if the tank has a potential leak that isn't leaking because of deposits in the tank plugging it, then this action could clean the plug away and start a leak. If the chlorine in the treated water is removing deposits the same thing will happen eventually but probably not while you are focusing attention on the tank. Either way, you might be replacing the tank if it isn't currently in good condition (without mineral deposits pluging incipient leaks).

Curious situation... Please post your actions and results, I'll bet it is of interest to several folks.

Patrick

frank_f15 · May 25, 2002

just read your post on the cold water being clear and the hot is rusty colored. think your hwt is loaded with iron from years of well water, now u are putting chlorinated water in it and it is trying to clean itself, u have a few choices) 1 wait a few days and see if it improves,2) replace hwt.. if it was me i would try flushing hwt every day and see if it clears up after a few days.