Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I have a nice older home that is between 90 and 100 years old. When we moved in we were noticing the odd bit of rust particles in the bottom of the bathtub and isolated this to the cold water line (we had just replaced the water heater). Within the past few days the problem has gotten substantially worse with the entire bottom of the tub full or rust and the running water a brackish brown colour. We have noticed the same in the toilet and the cold water tap on the sink.
All plumbing is copper with a small run of PEX tubing in the basement to supply hot water to the kitchen and we are on town water. We are at a loss as to what might be causing this and it is very distressing to my wife who loves to take long luxurious baths but won't now because of the quality of the water.
Since you are noticing it everywhere, and you say the plumbing inside is PEX or copper, then the line from the street or well could be at fault. One of the simple things I did was to put a whole house sediment filter on our incoming water, even BEFORE hooking up a supply. The rust is not only cosmetically bad, it can get squoze in washers, create stains, and so on.
Check with your neighbors to see if they have the same problem. If they do, then talk to the utility department in your town.
Strange...
Open the water heater drain valve, if the water is rusty in color, the problem has to be with the water main and considering the age of your home that line is probably cast iron.
Water supply lines are rarely cast iron. The older ones are galvanized.
There could be some galvanized pipes inside the walls, or the main supply pipe between the water meter and the house is galvanized.
My guess is you have old galvanized pipe underground between the meter and the house, and it is getting ready to go south. You can sometimes check by looking at the water meter or at the point where it comes into the house. While it may look like PEX, if you look close where the pipe goes thru the wall, you may see old galvanized pipe.
I see a new trench in your front yard in your future.
When you figure it out, let us know what caused it.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
