Spring water eating copper

[Subby]

I ve just been to a job at a farmhouse up on top of a mountain.
The house is plumbed out with JG speedfit and the customer told me that the house has been plumbed out with plastic as the water feeding the property is not mains supply but fed from a spring, and the water corrodes the copper!
Has anyone ever heard of this or has my customer been spun a yarn?

 

[appm]

Hi Subby, Your customer has not been spun a yarn. I also live in a house supplied by spring water. Dependant on rainfall amounts etc the acidity of the water varies over the year. As it is filtered through the ground and the ground is peat the acidity of the water can increase to levels that do strip the copper from the inside of the pipes. As copper is alot thinner now than it was years ago this stripping can happen quite quickly, say 5 years. I have a PH filter which resolves this problem. The only problem with speedfit as a solution is mice. It is quite easy to identify blue copper deposits in white shower trays or basins.

Hope that helps

 

[Ray Stafford]

I came across something similar in a big house fed from a private supply a couple of years ago - see this thread

Chris Watkins suggested something called "Blue Water corrosion".

 

[ShaunCorbs]

+1 thats why you see some in mapress stainless steel

 

[lame plumber]

seen it round my way on well water. good work