SamSpade
Well-Known Member
I've been looking at our water problem and I could use some ideas.
We've been having problems with dark spots in laundry and our faucets for years. Until recently, I suspected a failure in our water softener.
I noticed a pattern - it only seems to occur with *hot* water. We don't get the rust stains in the toilet or anywhere there is only cold water.
Stains appear around areas where hot water occurs. This would tend to eliminate the idea it comes from the well or in any way enters the house
with rust in it - or sediment (in the event it is sediment and not just rust).
Logically this would point to rust in the water heater - except it's fairly new. A couple years, tops.
I've looked at the pipes that are visible throughout the house - the kitchen, the washing machine, the bathtub, the dishwasher, the toilets and the pipes leading away from the basement. They are all copper colored and for as far as I know, everything is copper. Normally, the culprit would be galvanized pipes, but I can't find any. When we redid our oven and pulled out the drop ceiling - copper pipes.
One culprit IS likely - the last water heater DID in fact, rust out. One morning I came down to find water pouring out of it, and when we removed it,
the bottom had rusted out.
This was a few years back - I would think that if any residual rust lingered, it would be gone by now.
So - what do you think it could be? Isn't there bacteria that produces a rust-like residue? Does anyone else have rust problems with their water?
If so, how did you fix it?
We've been having problems with dark spots in laundry and our faucets for years. Until recently, I suspected a failure in our water softener.
I noticed a pattern - it only seems to occur with *hot* water. We don't get the rust stains in the toilet or anywhere there is only cold water.
Stains appear around areas where hot water occurs. This would tend to eliminate the idea it comes from the well or in any way enters the house
with rust in it - or sediment (in the event it is sediment and not just rust).
Logically this would point to rust in the water heater - except it's fairly new. A couple years, tops.
I've looked at the pipes that are visible throughout the house - the kitchen, the washing machine, the bathtub, the dishwasher, the toilets and the pipes leading away from the basement. They are all copper colored and for as far as I know, everything is copper. Normally, the culprit would be galvanized pipes, but I can't find any. When we redid our oven and pulled out the drop ceiling - copper pipes.
One culprit IS likely - the last water heater DID in fact, rust out. One morning I came down to find water pouring out of it, and when we removed it,
the bottom had rusted out.
This was a few years back - I would think that if any residual rust lingered, it would be gone by now.
So - what do you think it could be? Isn't there bacteria that produces a rust-like residue? Does anyone else have rust problems with their water?
If so, how did you fix it?
