Insects coming out of the hot water tap!

[Persie1]

In the upstairs bathroom, the supply to the bath. This has been happening on and off for a couple of weeks. It began with bits of grass coming through when initially running the water, and small insects, which then cleared. Then today a large bee (the final straw!), with other bits of grass debris.

I'm guessing this is something I need to contact the water company about?

Do you have a combi boiler or a boiler with hot water cylinder?

I'd guess you have a boiler with a tank in the loft causing the problems?

I don''t know if we have a combi boiler. We do have a tank in the loft, which seems to be for the hot water, but I'm puzzled as to how we'd get grass and leaves up there.

Sorry if my answers are dim, it's quite embarrassing. I don't want to bother my husband yet, by asking, as he's away at the moment.

You need a plumber, not the water supplier.

Do you have to wait for your hot water to heat up to use it- or does it just run straight out of the hot tap hot at all hours?

We have to wait for the water to heat up.

Either the Header tank or the cold water storage tank in the loft has no/ ripped cover and insects are getting in/ debris blowing in and sitting in the water.
Simple to go see for yourself if your loft is accessible.

You will have tanks in the loft that feed the hot water cylinder. They need checking that the lid is in place on the feeder tanks so that crap can't get into the water

You don't have a combi if you need to wait for hot water as combi boilers heat the water up as you use it

Only happens with hot water? Are you sure? I would be more inclined to think it's direct water supply.

I'll ask my husband later (gas engineer) and get back to you.

Thank you very much. I'll go and have a look.

The cold water looks completely fine, is just the hot water.

We have a plumber coming next week, for something unrelated, so if I'm unable to solve it I'll be able to get them to have a look.

Thank you, Mummyhas. I've just spotted your reply. Yes, it only seems to be the hot water (upstairs), for the first few seconds organic debris like grass, leaves and insects sometimes come out, then it runs clear.

I spoke to him and he seems to think it's highly unlikely, he said a bee would struggle to get past the valves. It's an odd one isn't it? It's there is a water leak sometimes things can get drawn into the fresh main water, but then you would see it in both cold and hot water. How many times has it happened?

I've been up into the attic to have a look. There's a large tank high up, with insulation foam around it, which seems to feed to a smaller, very small, box tank at floor level (with a floating ballcock) wooden planks on the top of this. I can't see anything amiss, though it's difficult to see the top of the large tank as it goes up to the roof.

It's happened several times over the last few days, Mummyhas. It's more usually bits of grass and debris. It also happened briefly last year, but nothing quite as bad. I assumed it had been a local fault reported and fixed. There were actually two large bees and a smaller when we drained the water! Nothing at all has come from the cold water tap.

It will be an issue in the tank then- the cold water in your house runs off the mains, the hot warm is from the tanks