Joe the builder Versus the Volcano

aah yes

I got a call yesterday from a local builder doing a large farmhouse project in the country, and he mentioned it seemed he had hard water coming from all the taps in the house.

The house had a metered water softener in reserve linked to two 1000 litre attic tanks fed from the local water scheme and double rainwater tanks feeding most of the house when the rain tanks had water.

I got there an hour before the builder and started to diagnose the possible problems.* The farmer's wife was going on about hard limescale on the kitchen sink and in the bathrooms.

A quick test of the kitchen cold tap confirmed very hard water at 400 to 500ppm, and I was confident that whatever was coming from the taps was from a hard source, I checked the feed out of the water softener and sure enough it was soft.

I confirmed she had hard water coming from elsewhere, probably the town water.* "But my old house was on the old town water and it was never this bad" she said in a huff.

"Seriously" I said, "the softener is working fine and is in tip top condition, "it's time to get the builder and plumber down and check things through".* "All I want is good water, and this stuff is stinkin', and me sink is ruined" she snarled.

I went off and tested all the taps around the house and they were all hard.* I checked the water softener diagnostics and they only flagged up a thousand litres used in the last two weeks and it was a big house with 6 people.* The flow meters in the plant room had around 19,000 litres clocked up feeding from the rain tanks.

Back to the farmer's missus, and I said she had been using rain water all along and the softener did not really show much use at all.* "But rainwater is not hard water, so it can't be that, anyway it is all going through your contraptions so just sort it out" ... so no backing down from her then.

Joe the builder turns up, and says "what's all this then?"* I confirmed the water softener was working but not feeding much water to the house at all, just a quick 1,000 litres used one day a few weeks ago.* The builder mentioned they filled the second 1000 litre storage tank from the water softener a few weeks ago.* So off we go to check the water in that tank, and it was fully soft.

Another trip up three flights of stairs to the main house tank and that had very hard water feeding into it.* The builder confirmed that water feed was currently coming from the two rain tanks.* Has the plumber crossed his pipes downstairs we thought ?

So back down to the plant room to check the feed in from the rain tank.* Very hard !* Strange.

Okay, so chuck a bucket down the rain tanks and we test that.* Very Hard.* Stranger still.

The builder confirmed the roof on the house had supplied all the water to the rain tanks since they were put in.* So we took a step back and looked at the roof.

"Are they natural slates up there?", "Sure" said the builder.

"Nice job, but what's the cementy looking streaks off the chimneys coming down the slates?* I said, "Probably cement from the chimney stones, - can't be helped", he replied.

"Okay so lets take a sample of water from that gulley below that streaky old chimney there" I reckoned.* We took the sample and it was hard water.

"No way, how can that be?" I wondered.* The builder looked more confused as many hours had passed of head scratching.

Well I thought it was time to tell the farmer's wife the news.* "Okay, Mrs, yer roof is giving off hard water and yer tanks are full of it".

She had calmed down a lot and did not seem to be putting out the blame so much now.* "But how can me roof be givin' off the hard water?" she looked befuddled.

"Did you choose the slates then", I joked.

Well we were wondering, this is a new one for the books!* The builder's cogs were clicking away and he then had a eureka moment.* "Sure its the volcano!"

What volcano ????

"It's dat volcano in Iceland fer sure" he ventured.* "The volcano in Iceland?" the farmer's wife muttered, "Sure ye are losing yer marbles, so ye are" - [from the look on her face].

I stepped in and said I think the builder has hit the nail on the head right there.* "If volcanic ash has been raining down on the roof for the last week from Iceland, and a recent spell of rain has washed it into the rain tanks, then you are gonna have a right old cocktail of ash and sulphur, no wonder the water is hard with a foul taste.

"No way, its been sunny for the last two weeks here in Ireland, the best weather we have had in the last two years, you know yerself there has been no rain", back to debating again.

"No mum, there was rain last Sunday night" the farmer's daughter chipped in.

"Well that's it then" I finally sighed, "It's time to take the samples for laboratory testing, and we can wrap this all up.* Just to be sure to be sure, we will also take a few samples of water from the other rain tanks in the area".

"Would you like a nice fresh invoice from me van then Mrs, or is dat cash" - I joked.

"Yer getting nothing" - was my general impression. "No chance of a cup of tea then, - thirsty old work that running up and down the stairs?" - was my last thought.

Radiotower

Let us know the results when they come back from the lab

aah yes

A bit of pre-testing on other rain tanks in the same area showed hard water also in all of them.

So the volcano it is !!

The HSE labs in Galway will have chemical test results normally in 2 to 3 weeks.