Blue water

wyld thang · #1 04/10/10, 01:37 PM

I have one tap that just started putting out really blue water when you use it in the morning(water has sat). I'm sure this is from the copper pipes/corrosion. No other tap in the house and the sink is at the highest point. My question is, is something going to blow soon, so should we rip up the wall(if needed) to check and repair now before it blows? There is also the blue deposit/scum around the drain that builds up, so I know it's ongoing.

We are on a well with rusty water and have a softener set up.

Also I'm curious if we were to replace fittings preemptively if the blue water just coming out of the one tap would help in know how far to replace stuff?

The house is 30 years old, for the first 10 years it was a vacation cabin with gravity fed water from a tank(in other words pipes sat, were not in daily use), then a well was put in and no water softener used (just the well, water as is) for about the next 10 years, then before we bought it the softener stuff was added on. Copper pipes.

wyld thang · #2 04/10/10, 01:39 PM

PS we did replace a fitting under the kitchen sink where the pipe corroded through at the spigot thing under the sink. SO just saying I know there is corrosion issues going on, and just wanting to get a little fortune teller skillz to smell a blowout before it happens?

blooba · #3 04/10/10, 01:55 PM

Here is more info about it. http://www.toolbase.org/Building-Sys...-pinhole-leaks You may get pinhole leaks in your copper. The key is to fix it now before you do. Halfway down the page is a chart of possible causes. since it is only one faucet I would say there is too much pressure because it is sized down too small.

wyld thang · #4 04/10/10, 02:32 PM

thank you, excellent info! and that is interesting about the horizontal pipes being affected(which makes sense).

can you explain more about the too much pressure? water pressure is definately NOT a problem for us, the water pressure is on the low side.

ozark mike · #5 04/10/10, 02:49 PM

speaking of blue water.. Shirley put one of those things in the toilet tank that turns the water blue in the bowl, without telling me... well, in the middle of the night and about 3/4 still asleep, you look down .... that and it is enough to scare the hell out of you... mike

wyld thang · #6 04/10/10, 03:17 PM

haha! yes that's exactly the color that came out of the tap this morning.

BTW we keep getting free water heaters because our water rots them out fast enough under warrantee--we used to flush the heaters periodically to help it not rot, but it didn't make a difference, so...we just get a new one.

blooba · #7 04/10/10, 05:51 PM

ummm..... yea then the problems not water pressure.
Is your water "slippery" or oversoftened? It usually would be purple or brown/black with that though.

When was the last time you had it tested? you can take a sample to a big box store for free testing. Just act like you want to buy a new water softener.

Maybe your ph is messed up also. You could also call one of the at home water treatment companies to come out to test it also.

I'll bet it's one of the issues listed there. Although I have never seen "blue" water.

wyld thang · #8 04/10/10, 06:04 PM

no it's not slippery feeling

My hub has mentioned something about where the pipes are soldered, some kind of chemical thing with the lead(yes lead whatever was used, the builder is our neighbor)/copper/hard water doing it's own corrosion thing. That has been where the pipe failures have occured before, I just recalled having to fix the downstairs shower, pipe. The pipe just disintegrates at the soldedred connection. WE indeed turn off our water when we go on trips

thanks for all your help!!!

wyld thang · #9 04/10/10, 06:05 PM

PS, we also had recent torrential noah rain which made the well water more turbid/rusty than normal, that has gone away now.

Harry Chickpea · #10 04/10/10, 08:17 PM

Sounds like you may have sulfur in your water, and it is acid. Blue in pipe water is usually copper sulfate. Something may be off with your water softener.

wyld thang · #11 04/10/10, 09:09 PM

thanks harry. It's coming out of the hot water, not the cold water in this sink, and I checked the other hot water sides of the other sinks etc and no blue water from them.

blooba · #12 04/11/10, 07:48 AM

Does the hot water coming out of that sink smell of sulfur?
When aluminum mixes with the iron/sodium it can produce a sulfur. Maybe there are aluminum pipes or solder?

When you first turn on the hot water does it spurt out air bubbles first if let sit overnight?
Sometimes the annode rod in your water heater(usually aluminum) will produce the sulfur air bubbles and it will float to the highest point in the water lines.

wyld thang · #13 04/12/10, 11:51 AM

no sulfur smell, no more blue water, never have had the air bubble spraying stuff. tho I have smelled sulfur just a few times from the hose raw out of the well(not now)--and I think I remember smelling it when we turned on a faucet after being gone for a week. I think it must be tied to the huge amount of rainfall messing with the well(it's 80 feet deep). You all have given me a lot of great info to work with, and I appreciate it!