Brown water in taps and toilets after power flush

Golden Horde

I had a registered plumber install a new gas boiler and do a power flush recently. Since then I've had brownish water in the taps (hot and cold) and in the shower and toilets.

Plumber says likely a hole in the coil in the hot tank.

Is this likely correct and did the power flush cause it?

It's a 19 year old tank so could it be an age thing....and who should pay to fix this if I need a new tank.

lawred2

I would expect that you would... I'm sure that there is some disclaimer in the contract with whomever carried out the flush.

It's nearly twenty years old. It's probably high time to replace it anyway.

Wearb

Ask him to pressure test the coil.

The flush didn’t cause it, the flush simply removes dirt, the trouble with removing dirt is it shows up problems with the pipe work or cylinder that that was being prevented by the dirt.

My own thoughts on the matter would be the problem would show itself one day so it’s better to find out now than wait for it to happen.

Golden Horde

Thanks lads....

Any idea why toilets and cold taps would be affected if it was the coil..?

I checked in the attic and the water in the tank is affected but the water feeding the tank is clear.

Sleeper12

It's not the plumbers fault as others have already posted.

Golden Horde wrote:

It's a 19 year old tank so could it be an age thing....and who should pay to fix this if I need a new tank.

You have already paid out a lot by the sounds of it. The only positive is if you didn't have an insulated cylinder & now you get one. It'll pay for itself in 3/4 years.

Wearb

Golden Horde wrote: »

Thanks lads....

Any idea why toilets and cold taps would be affected if it was the coil..?

I checked in the attic and the water in the tank is affected but the water feeding the tank is clear.

The water in the heating system is under more pressure than the domestic water and forces the heating water out of the coil into the cylinder. I have seen systems with the heating header tank having its overflow overhanging the domestic water tank :eek:, but if you have an open system, the plumber would have noticed that when doing the flush.

Your main kitchen tap should still be clear.