Bits in water

[Livvi2021]

Hey, I don't know if anyone can help but I've been having bits that look like sediment in sinks and bath when the hot water runs for a while now. I've also got a light staining on my bathroom sink bowl too. It only seems to be the hot water taps and very occasionally the water has run rusty coloured too. I have no idea what this is. The pipes are copper so not sure if it's to do with corrosion also we have no pressure issues so don't think there's a leak or anything. I wondered if it could be something with the boiler (we have a combi). If anyone has experienced anything similar and any remedies would like to hear. Thank you

how old is your house?

Are you in an old country area?

how long is "A while?"

I'd assume there's gaskets or washers are degrading if the house hasn't been maintained properly. Easy to fix.

Hard water area? Do you have a water tank in loft that needs cleaning?

I see it is only the hot taps, and you have a combi. So probably something connected with that, but I don't know why you'd get rust. Does the boiler pressure change?

Presumably you have no water tanks, cylinder, expansion vessel in the house.

House was built in the 50s. What does is country area mean? We've asked neighbors and none else has this issue of that helps. Noticed it ever since getting a new bathroom.

Yes just hot water, we do sometimes have pressure issues with the boiler have to top it up more than we should...no water tanks etc

Yes hard water area. But no water tank

And yes it's a combi sorry

@JaninaDuszejko

I'd assume there's gaskets or washers are degrading if the house hasn't been maintained properly. Easy to fix.

Is this something that would still be happening after 6 months ? Where are these gaskets and washers ? We've got pipes under the house so not sure how easy it would be to fix if this is the issue

old taps used to have red rubber washers for hot. Haven't seen them for a while, modern ones are some kind of black sunthetic rubber/plastic.

the old ones can break down withe age but very easy to replace with new.

there is a faint chance a fault in your boiler could allow its internal circulating radiator water to contaminate the tap water, but I'd think it very unlikely. Mention to your boiler service person when making your next appointment. Use a fine coffee sieve or something to try to accumulare the sediment, it may be easier to recognise in bulk. You can also drip vinegar on it to see if it fizzes (limescale flakes)

1950's house, have a look in case you have any iron pipes, especially near the stopcock(s) and bathtaps. they are usually a lot bigger than finger-sized copper pipes. Old bath taps may still have old 3/4" copper pipes but a magnet will tell you.

@PigletJohn

1950's house, have a look in case you have any iron pipes, especially near the stopcock(s) and bathtaps. they are usually a lot bigger than finger-sized copper pipes. Old bath taps may still have old 3/4" copper pipes but a magnet will tell you.

We've had new pipes around the stock cock and a new bathroom so new pipes in there too. All remaining pipes are under the house so aren't able to access to see them. Thanks for your advice. We have been having an issue with our boiler lately. I will collect the sediment. What does it mean if it fizzes with vinegar?

It means it's probably limescale.

So limescale probably from the hard water? If pipes are all new? Hot water has more dissolved minerals in it than cold water when the water is hard so it will definitely stain and leave deposits.

Do they still sell Cilit Bang in U.K.? I used that weekly when I lived there while going to Cambridge Uni, and we had very hard water. Had same issue. And landlord would inspect to make sure we kept up on removing all signs of limescale. So I’d spray that and let it sit a few minutes and it would usually remove that weeks build up.

@PigletJohn

It means it's probably limescale.

Ok thanks

Most of the pipes are new there are older ones too but think they're 90s. I've tried to sieve but there aren't bits big enough. Just goes through the sieve. There were lots small rust coloured bits and they smudge on your finger like a rust colour basically. Is this rust, limescale, or general sediment and could it be coming from the boiler?

it may be rust, but I don't know where it will be coming from. Ask your boilermender if they know, as it seems to be on the hot water.

After plumbing work, the disturbed pipes often shed small particles of corrosion from the cut edges, it is usually green from copper pipes. Iron pipes are seldom seen now, but I have seen rust particles clogging the valves of a washing machine after pipework changes in an old house.

@PigletJohn

Yes it's very strange. We've asked the people who put the bathroom in and they've not heard of it before, so have no idea. The boiler is due to be fixed as it makes weird noises so will ask the boiler man when he comes to fix. See if that could be the culprit. I'm hoping so, thanks for your help

Do you know if they’ve been doing any pipe flushing in your area? Yorkshire water occasionally write to us to tell us that they will be doing and it results in the water being slightly cloudy but when allowed to settle it is a noticeably red sediment that is present. Although it doesn’t explain why it’s been going on for so long and why only on the hot taps if you don’t have a water tank like we do. They always say to you not to use anything that runs off a tank as obviously you don’t notice immediately with those so it silts them up, but inevitably the letter doesn’t arrive until they’ve started and by that point it’s too late!!

@NoParticularPattern hi, no I don't believe they have been doing any work nearby. We also asked the neighbours and they hVent had any issues. In addition, the first tap that gets the water from the mains we have the least amount of trouble with. Literally never had anything out of the cold water and very rarely out of the hot tap, seems to be after it goes round the pipes to everywhere else. I'm hoping it's an issue with the boiler maybe a part has degraded inside or something ? I'm hoping it's not the pipework as a lot of it is hidden in the brickwork so would have to either have the lot repiped or bash through some of the walls to get to pipes (and we don't even know if the issue is in the pipes).

So a bit of an update...we had our water and the bits tested and turns out it is calcium and magnesium with small amount iron which they have said is due to hard water. However I'm confused as none of our neighbours have bits in their water, so what could it be that's causing it in ours? Also apart from getting a water softener is there anything you can do to get rid of the bits (it's really gross in the bath sometimes just lots of bits floating around and sometimes the water even runs a light tea colour). Thanks in advance if you have any suggestions or ideas.

@PigletJohn

@PlanDeRaccordement

If it is only in your house, and only in the hot water, and is from all hot pipes, and includes rust, then I think it must be coming from an old iron pipe.

Possibly from an old redundant bit of pipe that used to supply a previous bathroom or hot tap.

Use a magnet to test all the pipes.

@PigletJohn we've discovered it's also the cold water. Bit still could it literally just be a build up in one of the pipes? There's a lot of pipework under concrete so don't think we'd be able to use a magnet with any success. Is there anything you could do to flush out your pipes to reduce the build up, or are we just looking at a full repipe of all the old pipes ?

@PigletJohn just to add we've had a new water supply pipe so that's not old, which connects directly to the kitchen sink and we get the bits in there too.

[quote Livvi2021]@PigletJohn just to add we've had a new water supply pipe so that's not old, which connects directly to the kitchen sink and we get the bits in there too.[/quote]
That is quite different from the previous description.

So it must be downstream of the new pipe.

Have you still got the old stopcock?

Some photos of the incoming pipe, and where it goes, may be useful.