Yellowish hot water...

J

johnnyapple

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Hello,

We live in Dublin southside. Our water supply has a slight yellow tinge to it, and contains sediment... quality seems to vary. Have been told this is fairly normal for the area. But our hot water has become very yellow over the last few months, and feels a bit slimy. Could there be a build up of deposits in the hot water cylinder causing this? It is only two years old, but I would be interested to know if there is a relatively simple way to purge it of contaminants.
 
I'd take a look at the hot water tank (probably in your attic) to see if there's sediment in that. It should be easier to access, empty and clean than the cylinder, and might do the trick.
 
damson said:
I'd take a look at the hot water tank (probably in your attic) to see if there's sediment in that. It should be easier to access, empty and clean than the cylinder, and might do the trick.
Click to expand...

Do you mean the small expansion tank for the central heating, or the attic tank? I cleaned that six months ago, because sediment does tend to build up in there.
 
I meant the main tank in the attic that acts as a reservoir for all your hot water taps.

Apart from cleaning out the attic tank on a regular basis, I wonder would it be possible to fit a filter over the exit point from that tank, to prevent contaminants moving from the tank -> piping -> cylinder -> taps? If the water coming out of the taps is yellow, that means that at least some of the contaminants are coming right through the system (not staying in the cylinder) so if you had only filtered water leaving the tank then eventually most of the muck should get flushed out of the system.

I'm afraid I'm no plumbing expert but there are several knowledgeable people round AAM.
 
Johnnya, tried to Pm you back but you mailbox is full.

sounds like the problem is caused by iron in the water and harmless iron bacteria consuming it and causing the sliminess. The iron bacteria get energy by converting soluble iron to insoluble iron, hence the colour and sliminness.

Most older watermains are cast iron so this could be the cause of it, however chlorination should keep the iron bacteria in check. However as your neighbours are not having the same problem, it sounds more like it is associated with your house.

flushing the service pipe at your washing machine shouldn't affect that mains as it wouldn't cause enough flow.

make sure you flush your service pipe long enough to clean it out. You really need to find out the diameter of the service pipe and then calculate the amount of water in it and make sure you flush out at least that much water (eg a 1/2" pipe will hold 1 litre of water every eight metres a 3/4" pipe will hold 1 litre every 4m and a 1" pipe will hold 1 litre every 2 metres)

try to flush your pipe again and make sure to leave it long enough to get fresh water in to your service pipe.
 
If it's just the hot water going yellow and slimey, then you may have a hole in the central heating coil that runs through your cylinder and thus mixing dirty heating water and fresh plumbing water. check at the tanks for any sign of overflow as the water in the two systems will try and level.
 
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