What's That Reddish Stuff in Our Water?

Forums: Home Improvement
Email this Topic • Print this Page

Hoping H2O man will stop by, or someone familiare with minerals and such.

We have lived in several different sections of Raleigh over the past 20 years and while remaining on city water except for one home, we have had different water issues.

We are now in a new house, all others were built mid to late 70's, and we get a red ring around the top of the water level in the toilets now. It only takes a couple of days to re-accumulate. I'm sure we have PVC piping now where other older homes had metal.

Anyway, ss this magnesium or something? Any health concerns? If we have a filter on our fridge water dispenser, will it catch whatever this is? Should we also be filtering cooking and plant water? (We already use filtered through the fridge for the dog)

Topic Stats
Top Replies
Link to this Topic

Type: Discussion • Score: 1 • Views: 1,598 • Replies: 22

No top replies

Sounds like rust. The city water lines are probably still cast iron or steel. I get some in my place and since I don't have a filter on the ice maker in my fridge that is the most noticable place it shows up. It gets much owrse when they do the annual water line flushing but then disappears a few days later.

"A reddish-brown staining usually means you have elevated levels of iron in your water. This is most often a result of naturally occurring levels of iron in your water source. Black staining is usually from manganese, often found in conjunction with iron. Neither iron nor manganese are considered to have adverse health effects in low-moderate levels, but do leave unsightly staining. "
http://www.islandnet.com/~tiger/Tiger/water_solutions/city/red_stain.htm

0 Replies

Squinney,
I have always assumed that it was rust as well. I work downtown in your city and we have some nasty water... It goes from bright yellow to medium orange on a good day. The bad days, you don't want to hear about.

0 Replies

Thanks, fishin. Man, I'd really get upset if it was rust. That can't be good.

Our dirt / clay is reddish in this part of the world, but it and the rust I would think of being more on the reddish orange side. This is a red red. Kinda slimey. Comes off very easily without scrubbing. At first I considered it new hardware / pipe lube for the toilet connections or something, but it hasn't gone away.

0 Replies

For you squinney, as long as it doesn't overly affect the taste of the water, iron is a dietary bonus.

I have a 120 foot well at my cabin and the water comes out smelling of iron/rust at a continuously cool 36 degrees all year. The toilet is bright orange inside.

0 Replies

LTX - You're so right. I don't wanna know. We are actually not far from the water treatment plant and it messes with my son each time we go by and I mention that's where our drinking water comes from.

0 Replies

Yuck.

Squinney, as far as your sig line, I suggest you visit the U.N. building in NYC, then rethink that.

http://www.travellerspoint.com/photos/16695/large_2006%2004%2022..%20Statue.JPG

0 Replies

So you are on city water? you really werent 100% clear on that. If itd coming through an old system,
1Complain that your plumbing and wash is getting this red and dingy coloring (your whites will soon show a dinginess in their whiteness).

It usually means that (whatever the pH of your water) that the satrurated concentration of your water is greater than the equilibrium amount (Its called tyhge LAngelier index) get your water tested for pH, iron, Manganese (when irons high usually manganese is also and manganese can cause neurological symptoms similar to MS at ppm levels), also have your water tested for its L:ANGELIER (LANG-GAH-LEER') index. Then Id show those numbers to somebody like H2) man and have him spec out a treatment system . ALso bitch like a madman to your water commisioner. Do your neighbors have the same stuff? It always pays to have several p'od people ,

Many times on old cast iron piping, a more frequent system flushing can help a lot, and would extend the life of any filters or treatment systems.

0 Replies

Thank you, farmerman.

Yeah, it's a new development, we've been in the house 6 months) with PVC piping. I've seen some of the newer homes being built so I know its PVC all the way through, not metal pipes unless it's at the city level coming in.

I'll have to check with the neighbors to see if they have it too.

Maybe it's just in the toilets? Does that usually have a different input to the house than other water like the kitchen, shower or laundry? Or, could it be that I haven't noticed it in the laundry or other areas because it's in the mechanics within the holding tank of the toilet? Like something in the water that mixes with the holding tank equipment?

The closest I can come to describing it is that it reminds me of the red fluid that goes in cars... transmission fluid?

0 Replies

If you pour a glass, does the red stuff

1 float to the top

2 sink to the bottom after a half hour or so
or
3 stay mixed in with the water even after a few hours?

This is important , maybe its not iron, it could be the polymer theyre using in the treatment plant and you could be near a pump station where they have a booster polymer feed.

Also, sometimes the authorities just marry one kind of pip[e to another and the iron (if it is iron) comes from the section of pipe thats not PVC. Does this color come out of your spigots first thing in the morning and then disappear? or if you run the water for about 10 min does it clear up?

0 Replies

I think one of the bodies you hid might have been put too close to your water..

but who am i to say..

0 Replies

I've not noticed it anywhere but the toilets. In the toilets, it forms over time, acumulating enough every couple of days for me to need to wipe it out. Hints of it begin as a ring around the top of the water line after several (5-8?) hours.

I haven't tried allowing it to sit in a glass, or in the sink or such. I'll try it tonight with a white ceramic planter I have and with a plain glass. That might work to test the faucet water and see if it forms a ring at the top of the waterline in one but not the other. At least then i'd know if I have to worry about the water I use to cook.

0 Replies

We get a pink/ red mold in this house that I've never seen anywhere else. Don't know if it's a climate thing or what, as in if it would make sense that you had it in one house in a given climate and not another. But it forms in the toilet, just as you describe, and in sinks. As you say, it comes off really easily.

0 Replies

Mold?

Oh, yeah. Maybe that's it. It accumulates as a light pink on the bottom of the clear shower curtain liners, but there and in the toilet are the only places I see it, so thought it was more of a mineral deposit.

Can't seem to Google much info on red mold. Anyone know the scientific name or have better luck with Google? (BTW, Target seems to have it, and Ebay says you can buy it there too. Don't ya love those targeted ads?)

0 Replies

I looked around and didn't find much, either. Here's one thing I found:

http://www.askthebuilder.com/QA_Shower_Mold.shtml

Quote:

Help Me Tim!

In my newly constructed bathroom, I can already see mold (black and red mold) growing down inside the white PVC drain pipe of the new shower. Since it's only a couple of months old, I am wondering what happens after years go by. Did the plumber use the right material when he installed a white PVC pipe for our shower drain? How is someone supposed to get rid of that mold without taking apart the shower drain every month? Thanks!

Jennifer

That mold is normal. It can and should be cleaned. The sides of the pipe leading from the drain strainer down to the trap get covered in a bio-film. This gooey film is made up of soap, shampoo, body oils, bacteria, etc. It is a perfect environment for mold to grow in and on.

Simply take off the chrome ring of the drain strainer and use a bottle brush to clean the sides of the pipe as you run water in the shower. The mold and bio-film will wash off very easily. As for preventative measures, there isn't much you can do. Once you see how easy the mold and bio-film disappears, you will not be concerned.

I think Jes mentioned that she had something like that, too.

0 Replies

Here's Jes' reference, I think it's the one I was thinking of:

http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1646806#1646806

0 Replies

Yes, I saw the ask the builder reference.

It gets on the bottom of the shower curtain, but not on the tub. Tub is one of those preformed fiberglass/plastic installs. Doesn't seem to like that surface in the same way it does vinyl or ceramic.

0 Replies

I have only noticed it in the toilet and I find it lipstick red. Scrubs right off though and I've not noticed anything different about our dirinkin water. I think it has something to do with vampires.

And shewolfn.... I eat the bodies of my victims and grind their bones for my flower beds.

0 Replies

Well, I hope it is just dissolved ferrous metals.

We come in contact with so much crap these days, the last thing anyone needs is contaminated drinking water, even mildly.