Recently my water has changed from a beautiful pale aqua color to rusty brown color. Within 2-3 days the toilet bowls are rusty. I have never flushed or drained the hot water tank since the house was built 9 years ago. It happens with just cold too. I do have a well. Any suggestions? Thanks
Has there been any construction going on around your house? Any blasting within a few miles? If you've never had problems before than you shouldn't now. What do you have for plumbing in your house?
Originally posted by dukenurse: Recently my water has changed from a beautiful pale aqua color to rusty brown color. Within 2-3 days the toilet bowls are rusty. I have never flushed or drained the hot water tank since the house was built 9 years ago. It happens with just cold too. I do have a well. Any suggestions? Thanks
we have the same problem and were told our well wasnt deep enough, we are at 110 feet now and are going to have to drill deeper. unlike you, our house was probably built in the 30s or 40s.good luck
When was the last time you had your water checked? How hard is it? What is the PH level? Do you have a water softener? is it properly set up? or perhaps unplugged? What about a whole house water filter? Do you have one?
Check with the local township. They can suggest someone local to do the water tests. If you live near a large lake or pond, I suggest that you have a complete water evaluation.
Well tests should be done every few years.
Posts: 1440 | Location: New Jersey | Registered: 31 January 2006
Originally posted by dukenurse: Recently my water has changed from a beautiful pale aqua color to rusty brown color. Within 2-3 days the toilet bowls are rusty. I have never flushed or drained the hot water tank since the house was built 9 years ago. It happens with just cold too. I do have a well. Any suggestions? Thanks
Just a suggestion: This has happened to us as well. We have a holding tank that the water goes to after it leaves the well and before it goes to the rest of the house and the hot water heater. What my husband had to do was to first shut the well off and then drain the holding tank after it was empty he turned the pump back on and let the tank fill back up. Once that was done our water was clear once again. Hope that this helps you.
The underground acquifier that is tapped, by your well, Can change direction i.e. up/dwn, right/left. It may have shifted to an area that has a very high iron content. It's not unusual for this to happen. If the shift is a permanent vs. a seasonal shift you may need to add an iron filter to your water delivery system.
In extreme cases this usually consists of a tank similar to your softener, containing sand, gravel and a mineral that interacts with your iron content. Another helpful step is to use an agent to clean the resin, in your softener. (Rust Raze from Morton salt co. is one) and them switch to a salt that is made for high iron problems.
Good Luck, Bill
Posts: 1 | Location: rotravic@verizon.net | Registered: 07 February 2007
Thank you for all the suggestions. I live on 10 acres on top of a hill with a well that is 210' deep. I have pvc water lines and I don't have a softener or filter. I will try flushing the holding tank as well as get my water checked.
You might want to check for iron algae. Our water was fine for years, then one day the rust color began. There was no getting rid of it. We already had a very deep well. Filters didn't work. Bleach down the well would take care of it temporarily, but it would return within a few days. After several failed filtering methods, we finally found one that worked. I forget the name of it, but I'll check if you'd like.
You should also check to see if there is any gas or oil drilling upstream from you. It can be miles away and still ruin an aquifer. So can coal mining and other mineral recovery activities. Sadly, theres' nothing you can do about them.
Bricc, I have the same problem and I would appreciate the name of the product you found to filter out the iron algae.
Thanks for your attention and help in advance.
quote:
Originally posted by bricc: You might want to check for iron algae. Our water was fine for years, then one day the rust color began. There was no getting rid of it. We already had a very deep well. Filters didn't work. Bleach down the well would take care of it temporarily, but it would return within a few days. After several failed filtering methods, we finally found one that worked. I forget the name of it, but I'll check if you'd like.
Posts: 1 | Location: Maryland | Registered: 07 February 2007
You won't be getting rusty water from the water heater if you see it in the toilet bowls, unless you have an unconventional plumbing setup. You didn’t mention if you were on a well or city water. If you are on a well, near your holding tank should be a water valve that you can get water directly from the pump (usually submerged in the well). You also should have a pressure gauge on that line and the pump is usually set to turn on at 30psi and off at 50psi (adjustable). Draw down enough water so that the pump turns on. (Flush a couple of toilets till the pressure drops below the pump start.) Then while the pump is recharging the holding tank, take the water from this spigot closest to the pump. If it is rusty, then its coming from the pump. Whether or not you are on a well or a municipal system a sediment filter can remove particulates that are not dissolved in the water. This is the cheapest solution, but you will need to change the filter on a regular basis. A municipal system can be on a community well and may have “hard water” as well as iron problems. A water softener will remove calcium and magnesium hardness from the water supply and can remove some iron hardness dissolved in the water. If used to remove iron you will need Iron removal compounds mixed with the salt for the water softener. (Sodium Bi-sulfite a/k/a “Iron out” ) If you don't use the "Iron out" the iron eventually can reduce the effectiveness of the water softener. An iron conditioner (like a water softener but specifically to remove iron) can be used, but is recharged with Potassium Permanganate – Not cheap either. You may need both a water softener and an iron conditioner in bad cases. I’ve had both a municipal supply and my own well (currently). I have iron occasionally on my well, usually during the summer months when there is a heavier use on the aquifer. I add a cup of ‘iron out’ regularly to my water softener to remove the iron from the zeolite resin bed. As a result, my water softener is still working well in it's 22nd year.
Posts: 3 | Location: Chicago NW suburbs | Registered: 07 February 2007
I reread your original post and saw you were on a well. If you don't have a water softener, you can usually get a free water analysis from any one of the local water softener purveyors (who want your business.) High dissolved iron can be determined with their tests. They will want to sample the water from the spigot closest to the well/holding tank.
Posts: 3 | Location: Chicago NW suburbs | Registered: 07 February 2007
Originally posted by bricc: You might want to check for iron algae. Our water was fine for years, then one day the rust color began. There was no getting rid of it. We already had a very deep well. Filters didn't work. Bleach down the well would take care of it temporarily, but it would return within a few days. After several failed filtering methods, we finally found one that worked. I forget the name of it, but I'll check if you'd like.
Posts: 2 | Location: Central Montana | Registered: 07 February 2007
We have a well with iron bacteria, too. We have two expensive filtering systems, neither of them work. I would be very interested in the brand of filtering system that works to eliminate the iron bacteria from our water.
Posts: 2 | Location: Central Montana | Registered: 07 February 2007
It was providence your message was on the board. I also developed "rusty" water after living with a well for over 20 years. My water was fine & then all of a sudden i started noticing my sinks, toilets & shower were turning orange. The water tastes fine but i notice that my laundry has an odd odor as well. I already have a water conditioner and my ex had installed another filtering system because we felt we were getting "organics" in our water. Living in Alaska, we have lots of earth quakes & tremors and i have always believed that the aquafuor (sp) can change during these occurances. I guess it is time to spend a little money & have my water analyzed again.
Kayaker, I live in North Carolina up a small hill and there isn't any close neighbor. I am flying in to Anchorage 5/18 picking up a truck with a camper and spending the next 16 days seeing ( what I can) Alaska. Any suggestions for does and don'ts? Thankssimmo003@mc.duke.edu
I live on 3 acres and have a well. My water is very hard. Does anyone know if I install a water softener and house filter now will it adversly effect the plumbing pipes? Someone told me I need to repipe my house before adding a softener unit or it will ruin the old pipes since they have build up in them from the hard water.
What kind of pipes do you have? Old steel galvinized pipes that had rusted in the past and leaked. (you can see these leaks as white deposits on the outside) have been sealed over by the hard water deposits. Over time these deposits will be removed by the soft water and will again begin to seep. It will take a long time for this to happen. If you have copper pipes no need to worry. Also if your on a low sodium diet check with you DR as water softeners that use salt will raise the sodium in the water. They do make softeners that do not use salt but are much more labor intensive to maintain and of course cost more as well.
Posts: 1440 | Location: New Jersey | Registered: 31 January 2006
bricc...i would be interested in getting the name of that filter for iron/rust algae/bacteria. It would shorten my research and if you already know of a system that works that would be awesome! Thanks for your response.
