Need advice

[collecture]

OK - not soda related (at all), but looking for advice from you guys.
I have been getting brown water out of my hot water faucets for about two weeks. I flushed the water heater, but the issue remained. The heater is 10 years old, so I decided to just put in a new one figuring that it only had a couple of years of life probably anyway. The issue remains, so....
Upon reading further on the web I think I may have a broken line, but why would the dirt only come out of my hot side?
Any thoughts or ideas? I need to get this resolved.
Thanks

[kbareit]

Tom,
The reason the color shows more in the hot water than the cold is when water is heated the solids drop out and goes to the bottom of the tank. When you run your hot water the water entering the tank goes to the bottom to stir the sediment to keep it from building up in the tank. So all the dirt and minerals that have dropped to the bottom of the tank are concentrated and stirred in the tank making the color of the water more noticeable. Do you have well water?

[briandr1]

Do you have a water well or city water, sometimes well water will get sand in it if the water table is low. I never seen a leaking pipe pull dirt in but i guess it could be possible. ive seen dirt in lines after a leak has been repaired it someetimes gets in there from loose sand around a cut pipe. or possibly the city had a main repair and got sand in the water main but it should clear up. Also if the house is old it couls have steel plumbing instead of copper.

[Jim]

If you are on city water, do you know if the fire hydrants in your area have been recently flushed...?
This will definitely cause your issue, but generally not for two weeks unless your water usage is really low...

[collecture]

There is a hydrant right across the street, but have not seen any activity with it.

I am on city water, but in the 21 years that we have lived in this house I've never had this issue. It is a brand new tank, so I can't see that it would have that much sediment build-up in it. I just filled a bucket directly from the tank's drain spout and it is brown as well, so that eliminates downstream issues.

When we built our addition onto the home, the plumber ran a line from our main down to the garage, where we moved the water heater. I am thinking that there is a leak in that line. I think I will get the water tested to tell me what it is and go from there.

[Creighton]

Just can't see how any sort of leak in an inbound line could cause this.
There should be enough pressure to force contaminants out not allow them in.
Creighton

[kbareit]

I would check with the water dept. to see if there is something going on with the supply. I don't see this as a leak.

[davethebirdman]

I'm assuming you have checked with the neighbours to make sure they are not having the same problems.
We had a similar issue a few years ago and it was the water company, nothing internal.

Keeping fingers crossed for you.

[flippa]

I have seen this issue when municipalities are working on or replacing water mains.  Municipal water mains are typically ductile iron pipe and corrosion scale and mineral deposits will builds up on the interior the water mains.  When these lines are repaired/replaced, scale inside the adjacent pipes can become disloged & come into the houses.  

Are you on a dead end street?  THis debris can also collect at "dead ends" of the mains.  This is why many municipalities flush water mains thru the hydrants on a regular basis to flush this crap out of the mains.  Another possibility is that you may have a galvanized steel water service.  THese can corrode from the interior as well, and scale & corrosion may be coming from your service.

I would call your town & tell them that you are having a problem with your water & see if they will investigate what is going on.  You are paying for this service, so there is a problem, they will at least give you some advice.

PM me if you have questions and we can discuss it.

Larry

[Blind1968]

Have you tried flushing the hot water heater several times just in-case the hot water holding tank is storing the debris?

[collecture]

I had the city service rep come out today and, like I suspected, he said that the water was fine since the cold was clear. We spent more time talking about soda machines than water.

I have been needing to get my water softener serviced and the city guy suggested that it may be the culprit. I just don't understand how though - I have had it by-passed for the past month or so and it was by-passed when the new tank was filled. He also said there was no way it was a leak in my main line - the meter would indicate if there was.
I have the water softener company coming out next Tuesday to service it. I will keep everybody informed....thanks for all the input.

Have you tried flushing the hot water heater several times just in-case the hot water holding tank is storing the debris?

I flushed it once, but it is a brand new tank.

[collecture]

Well, I guess the new tank did the job!
I didn't realize how MUCH old water remained in the pipes. Ater running each faucet for a while, it has been running clear for a couple of days now.
Whew!
Thanks everybody for your input.

[Blind1968]

Glad you got it fixed, I will file that away just incase I run across it in the future.