OP
Anonymous Poster
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- Joined
- Sep 27, 2005
- Messages
- 29,678
Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. Here is where I am on the problem.
As suggested by Harry K, I looked at the piping layout to see if it could account for the quantity of grit coming from the Moens. That seems to make sense. I'm not exactly sure how the pipes run upstairs, but the grit free Deltas are downstairs, and they are a long way from the stub end of the pipes they are fed from.
I think, but am not positive, that both upstairs bathrooms are at the end of individual runs of piping. I say this because of the relative locations of the two upstairs bathrooms and the location of the water heater where both the hot and cold supply lines disappear into the house.
Incidentally, both lines go into the ceiling of the mud room. That means the downstairs lines come from upstairs. I have no idea why it was done that way.
It seems likely that the grit is being swept along until it reaches the end of a pipe branch, and then is forced out of the end faucet. I think the Moen mystery is solved.
Now about the grit itself...
The copper plumbing has a #6 bare copper running to the service panel where is connected to the ground bus. The ground bus is strapped to the neutral bus. There is no dedicated ground wire/rod for the panel.
The panel is grounded entirely through the neutral conductor from the meter base, which is located about 150 feet away on a pole. The service is underground from the pole to the house. The meter base has a #6 ground wire running down the pole--presumably to a ground rod.
I plan on adding a ground at the service panel itself.
When we had the well's pump replaced, the well crew complained that the old pump hadn't been grounded to the well casing. They tied the neutral to the well casing before they left. As far as I know, this is the correct procedure.
Tomorrow will be the first chance I have had to get to town. I will pick up some muriatic acid and see if I can detect any color traces from the disolved grit, as suggested. I really hope I don't have any disolving copper plumbing.
I am also going to start on relocating the pressure tank and pump control to the mud room. Since the pump had to be replaced, I've done quite a bit of research on submersible pumps and deep wells. I'm convinced that:
A. The pump we had/have is too poweful
B. The pressure tank is too small--especially with the oversized pump.
So I'm putting a much larger pressure tank in. This will also get rid of the galvanized T pipe in the crawl space. I will also mount a whole house filter at the same time.
If, as I suspect, the grit continues and requires frequent filter changes, I will just have to raise the pump.
I'll let everyone know how this saga plays out. Again, thanks to all for taking time to read this and provide me with helpful suggestions. They have been greatly appreciated.
SnowRidge
As suggested by Harry K, I looked at the piping layout to see if it could account for the quantity of grit coming from the Moens. That seems to make sense. I'm not exactly sure how the pipes run upstairs, but the grit free Deltas are downstairs, and they are a long way from the stub end of the pipes they are fed from.
I think, but am not positive, that both upstairs bathrooms are at the end of individual runs of piping. I say this because of the relative locations of the two upstairs bathrooms and the location of the water heater where both the hot and cold supply lines disappear into the house.
Incidentally, both lines go into the ceiling of the mud room. That means the downstairs lines come from upstairs. I have no idea why it was done that way.
It seems likely that the grit is being swept along until it reaches the end of a pipe branch, and then is forced out of the end faucet. I think the Moen mystery is solved.
Now about the grit itself...
The copper plumbing has a #6 bare copper running to the service panel where is connected to the ground bus. The ground bus is strapped to the neutral bus. There is no dedicated ground wire/rod for the panel.
The panel is grounded entirely through the neutral conductor from the meter base, which is located about 150 feet away on a pole. The service is underground from the pole to the house. The meter base has a #6 ground wire running down the pole--presumably to a ground rod.
I plan on adding a ground at the service panel itself.
When we had the well's pump replaced, the well crew complained that the old pump hadn't been grounded to the well casing. They tied the neutral to the well casing before they left. As far as I know, this is the correct procedure.
Tomorrow will be the first chance I have had to get to town. I will pick up some muriatic acid and see if I can detect any color traces from the disolved grit, as suggested. I really hope I don't have any disolving copper plumbing.
I am also going to start on relocating the pressure tank and pump control to the mud room. Since the pump had to be replaced, I've done quite a bit of research on submersible pumps and deep wells. I'm convinced that:
A. The pump we had/have is too poweful
B. The pressure tank is too small--especially with the oversized pump.
So I'm putting a much larger pressure tank in. This will also get rid of the galvanized T pipe in the crawl space. I will also mount a whole house filter at the same time.
If, as I suspect, the grit continues and requires frequent filter changes, I will just have to raise the pump.
I'll let everyone know how this saga plays out. Again, thanks to all for taking time to read this and provide me with helpful suggestions. They have been greatly appreciated.
SnowRidge
