Silt coming from water faucet
 

Pardon my plumbing ignorance, but why did reddish silt just start pouring out of my bathtub water faucet?

I was running the bath for my daughter, and the water pressure dropped somewhat. We replaced a water heater a couple weeks ago, and ever since then the water pressure has been spotty, but that's not the reason for my post. Turns out my wife was outside watering her tomato plants. She shut off the hose, the water pressure picked up inside, and suddenly the faucet started putting out reddish silt.

I shut off the water immediately, and then started experimenting. Turns out that the hot water is fine. But the cold water pours out reddish silt. Separate shower in the same bathroom does that, too. However, the sink works normally. In the two other bathrooms in the house, the sinks work fine, but not the tubs. Kitchen and outside taps work fine, as well.

Other than calling the leasing company (to call the plumbers) in the morning, what's going on?

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y18...h_DSC_1032.jpg
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WTF? Why are my pictures so small?

Maybe your house is haunted; that does not look good, hot water, cold water or both?


Milt, what say you?

Hot water --> no silt
Cold water --> lots of silt
Warm water --> medium amount of silt

Furthermore, this is only happening in the three bathtubs and the shower. The sinks work fine...so far.

It's fine, but particulate. Like very fine beach sand.

This house is a rental. We've lived here for a year-and-a-half with no water problems until recently. Water heater leaked. Plumbers (surly Russian type) came out and replaced it. We've had some water pressure and temperature issues since then; can't take a shower and run the dishwasher or clothes washer at the same time, for example. But, suddenly, this evening while running a bath for the little girl, this started happening. Fortunately, I had washed everything but her hair, by that time.

It's rust. Older house, mix of copper and zinc coated steel. Sounds like a call to the owner is in order.

Galvanized was the word I was looking for. Could be rust at the bottom of the tank.

Yep like Dave said it's rust. Nothing easy or clean about repiping the house. GoodLuck with it.

Looks like normal for the 5-star hotels in Mumbai, India.

Try a different hotel?

We stayed at the Trident (yes, the one that got attacked) about 18 months ago and it was plush.

Just run the water and flush the system for a bit and it should be ok. Let the system flush out the rust. You might want to take the airator and clean the screen. I am sure is fill with rust and there must be a reduction in pressure at the faucets. How old is the house?

Around here the city flushes the fire hydrants once or twice a year and we get the rust sediment that has settled in the main water lines. Run the water to get it to clear up. Check the washer as it will stain clothes if they go through the wash with them. Shouldn't take long to clear it up.

Same thing happened to me, and it was the result of the city doing some water main work a block away.

Biggest problem was that a lot of the faucet screens had clogged up with debris, as had the screens in the dishwasher and clothes washer, and the hot water heater.

It was a real PITA to clean them all out, but once they were, pressures came back and everything was running fine.


I found the closest tap to the water source (in my case, a laundry sink), pulled the screen, and let the water run until it was running clean (took about 20 minutes). I then cleaned out all the other screens/faucets (after they ran clean as well), and ran the washing machine and dishwasher while empty to ensure they were clean as well.

Are you on a city/county water system or a well???

The same thing is happening on the hot water side, the particles are building up inside the new water heater.

The particles are being caught in the screens on your sinks, you can verify by unscrewing the screens. Flush these.

Verify if this is rust or sand/silt. You should be able to tell the difference, especially with a magnet. If you are at the end of the water run then you just received the flush from your city/county lines after they did something to the lines. Happens. Just run the tub, outside, and inside faucets as much as possible, it will clear. If this is sand/silt and you are on a well then you have another issue. You could be running out of water in the well.

Tip: Undo the lines from your washing machine and run them BOTH into buckets or directly into your drain or outside until they are clean. Then run the washing machine once or twice without anything in it. I would not let it agitate very much the first time through.

Nothing sticking to a magnet.

House was built in 1947. It's a rental, so I don't know the history of the place re:renovations and piping. House gets water from the city; no wells.

I don't recall seeing any water main work in the neighborhood, recently. I'll ask the neighbors if they're having any similar problems.

Interesting that it's only happening to the three tubs and the one shower. Not the bathroom sinks, kitchen sink, or outside spigots. Haven't run the dishwasher or clothes washer, yet. Filter screens on the couple I've pulled off (from the sinks that are clean) haven't had anything trapped behind them.

I ran the tub for 10 minutes this morning, and quit after a little riverbank of stuff started accumulating.

Thanks for the replies.

1947? my home was built around the same time. i had galv water pipes. same red sediment. if you or someone in the system shut the water down, it will blow up mega grit. you need to flush the system.

Yep, grit in the system or one of the lines has a leak. Does your water meter move even with everything shut off?

Contact building owner.

Had that same thing happen last fall.
The city was doing a flush of the hydrants, and it kicked up a bunch of debris.

Let the landlord know to flush the water heater.

Did the mad russian put in a defective or used water heater?

That would make sense, except for this:

...and this...

The neighbor killed someone and dumped the body in your water system :lol:

All the water comes from the pipe from the street.

The "hot water" is from side of the split which goes through the water heater. The tank will collect sediment at the bottom.
Noah posted the hot water side is fine, but the cold water is spitting rust.
Just like bleeding the brakes, I'm guessing the rust/silt/sediment on the "cold side" may have flushed through the nearest outlet.

I'd run the cold water until it gets clear again.
May take a little while, but hopefully won't screw up the drainage system.