Water very dirty looking

Cheeky Chops

I've a vague memory of this being posted before ..

My bath water often pours out a brownish colour but now the water from the kitchen tap is very dirty looking. Is this a general problem or a plumbing issue? I'm clueless on this kind of thing.

I've been drinking bottled water for months now because I wasn't happy with the tap water but it's now really dirty.

I'm in the Court area. Advice appreciated!!

Eoin

I remember having the same problem. We used one of those Brita water filters for drinking water as the tap water never looked too clean.

drag0n79

The kitchen cold water tap is fed directly from the mains so it is not an internal plumbing issue.

Charlie-Bravo

drag0n79 wrote: »

The kitchen cold water tap is fed directly from the mains so it is not an internal plumbing issue.

Well, you know never know sometimes...could be still from the tank...wrong connections and all that.

Back to the OP's problem, the colour of the water here in C'land isn't fantastic anyway. Get one glass of water from bathroom and one glass of water from the Kitchen. Add salt and pepper to taste...just kidding, compare the two to see if it is just a case of a bad day for the water main. i.e. the bathroom water should look cleaner than the kitchen tap. Not good, I know but if there was a problem there'd be a boil notice!

Another way to see if it is your pipework from the roadway is to fill a glass of water from the kitchen tap and then run your kitchen tap for a few minutes and fill another glass....compare. At least you'll have to something to say to the water department in the morning when you ring them.

Cheeky Chops

Thanks for the replies. The water sorted itself out downstairs but still is brown coming out of the bath taps. Shows how much I know - I had no idea the kitchen taps were connected to the mains. :rolleyes:

Am I correct in thinking that I need to get a plumber to look at it then regarding the bathwater?

Why does the tap water look so iffy? any ideas?

Ta !

mikedragon32

The water is brown coming out of your bathroom taps because the water that was brown coming from the mains also filled your tank. The best thing to do is run off the water in the tank and let it refill with cleaner water.

It's a terrible waste of water, I know, but you're hardly going to bathe in it as it is!

Charlie-Bravo

AFAI remember the tank in the attic is designed to hold a typical day's worth of water in case there's a water main problem locally.

Now if there's a heavy drought, that's a different issue.

NOTE: As an alternative method to Mike's suggestion (hope you don't mind Mike) - If you wish to efficiently 'drain' your tank the best way is to kill the supply in the Hotpress going up (find the mains pipework in half-inch copper - its also connected to the central heating pipe, turn the gate-valve anti-clockwise off). If you are unsure then you can just turn off the mains under the sink in the Kitchen which cuts off the whole house. Now run every tap in the house until all water is gone from the tank (don't put any plugs in the sinks/bath!). Now let the mains water back on, to fill the tank back up. Don't forget to turn off all the taps! Hope you don't need any water in the meantime while this is happening. This process could take the best part of a morning to do. The tank should take a day or so to fill to the ballcock.

mikedragon32

That's what I meant, so no offence taken!

Suder

I had brown water gushing out of me kitchen tap yesterday at 8pm, just as i was making babies bottle! (try explaining that to an expectant 22 month old!) I wonder should we worry about drinking our water???

Cheeky Chops

Well the tank had a load of mud like stuff at the bottom. I'm delighted to know I've been washing in that for months!

Thanks to you guys for sussing the prob. I cannot believe how filthy the water was at the bottom. Yuk!

Cheeky Chops

I spoke to soon. It looks like the hot tank needs replacing.