Water discolouration

[howy1]

Hi all , my bath water is a light yellow colour ( not wee) mains seems ok , I have unvented cylinder Which has solar as well as conventional coil 4 years old bath also has temp control on it .
have any of you peeps come across anything similar as I can’t figure it out .
cheers Howy

 

[centralheatking]

So your kitchen mains cold and hot are not discoloured...it is often difficult to see in small volumes and deeper water in a bath is where if manifests mostly. Is your cold water in your bath discoloured, try running hot and cold seperately to a good way up the bath to check. Does it smell ? I would taste it but thats up to you. let us know. centralheatking

 

[howy1]

So your kitchen mains cold and hot are not discoloured...it is often difficult to see in small volumes and deeper water in a bath is where if manifests mostly. Is your cold water in your bath discoloured, try running hot and cold seperately to a good way up the bath to check. Does it smell ? I would taste it but thats up

So your kitchen mains cold and hot are not discoloured...it is often difficult to see in small volumes and deeper water in a bath is where if manifests mostly. Is your cold water in your bath discoloured, try running hot and cold seperately to a good way up the bath to check. Does it smell ? I would taste it but thats up to you. let us know. centralheatking

Thanks for reply , has it been known for coil to go allowing content of solar to migrate ?

 

[centralheatking]

Of course all coils fail at some point and smelly water from 'the other side' gets into your hot water.
Thats why I asked you to check. Smell it, taste it (solar fluid tastes of peardrops, they used to adulterate German wine with it years ago to make the wine sweeter) central heating inhibitor is clear usually and tastes acidic...and kills wriggly worms real quick. So you are looking for leakage from both sources. But its more likely your utility doing work and flushing thro, ring them tell them your location and they will/might send a superintendant by to have a look. At least thats my experience over the years as a customer and plumber let us know how you get on centralheatking

 

[Christopher buzzard]

Do you have an accumulator?

 

[Brambles]

If a solar coil has failed (leaked), you will be in no doubt - both from the smell from DHW (propane glycol) and system performance

 

[howy1]

hi again , no I don’t have an accumulator it’s straight off mains , brambles you seem certain I would be able to tell , myself and wife can’t smell anything as such also I wondered about skin irritation which we have not noticed , can anyone tell me what the pressure on the glycol side is because I guess it would have to be greater than mains to leech through .
still a mystery 🤔 cheers howy

 

[centralheatking]

hi again , no I don’t have an accumulator it’s straight off mains , brambles you seem certain I would be able to tell , myself and wife can’t smell anything as such also I wondered about skin irritation which we have not noticed , can anyone tell me what the pressure on the glycol side is because I guess it would have to be greater than mains to leech through .
still a mystery 🤔 cheers howy

You are quite correct in your analysis ...mains pressure most of the time is way more than any sub circuits in your home, esp. with unvented systems or combi systems. So its quite difficult for the sub circuits to be adulterated. Go ask your neighbours see
if they are in a similar situation...I would look at your utility ...whom might of provided ok but mucky water over a short period.... centralheatking

 

[howy1]

You are quite correct in your analysis ...mains pressure most of the time is way more than any sub circuits in your home, esp. with unvented systems or combi systems. So its quite difficult for the sub circuits to be adulterated. Go ask your neighbours see
if they are in a similar situation...I would look at your utility ...whom might of provided ok but mucky water over a short period.. centralheatking

Hi , I did call Anglian water concerning this and they told me to check glass of water at kitchen cold which seems ok and they said no works had been carried out , I will chat to neighbours se if they have got any issues .

 

[townfanjon]

Compare the kitchen cold glass with one from the bath hot .
Depending on your bathroom lights , decor , the true whiteness of the bath etc etc it can appear to tinge the colour of the water .

 

[howy1]

Compare the kitchen cold glass with one from the bath hot .
Depending on your bathroom lights , decor , the true whiteness of the bath etc etc it can appear to tinge the colour of the water .

Your right I did a glass test it seemed airated and slightly dull the basins seem to have coloured water to which seems to point to the hot , big question is why I am going to get a ph probe to see if there’s a difference , clutching I guess

 

[John.g]

So your kitchen mains cold and hot are not discoloured...it is often difficult to see in small volumes and deeper water in a bath is where if manifests mostly. Is your cold water in your bath discoloured, try running hot and cold seperately to a good way up the bath to check. Does it smell ? I would taste it but thats up to you. let us know. centralheatking

The (my) solar coil (E.vessel) pressure is 2.5 bar when cold, if it is at 0 bar the solar system will not work. If the boiler water cylinder coil is leaking, check it by ensuring the auto fill (if fitted/opened) is closed off and see if pressure falls.
The solar coil might be holed and just reading the mains pressure, PRV on solar systems is set at 6.0 bar.

 

[howy1]

The (my) solar coil (E.vessel) pressure is 2.5 bar when cold, if it is at 0 bar the solar system will not work. If the boiler water cylinder coil is leaking, check it by ensuring the auto fill (if fitted/opened) is closed off and see if pressure falls.

The pressure gauge near exp vessel is 1.5 bar equal to the red indicator arrow , sorry could you explain the auto fill part a bit more , I have seen what looks like top up valves .

 

[John.g]

You may see a pressure reducing valve (PRV) with pressure gauge at the top up point, this may be pre set to 1.5 bar and is left open so that any cylinder coil (boiler water) leaks are made up for automatically, you can shut it off by shutting (clockwise) a black knob on the underside of the PRV or any valve installed upstream of the PRV. You may just have, as you say. just top up valves with or without a pressure gauge and you crack these open and read the pressure off the boiler front.

The solar system does not have any top up facility.

 

[howy1]

Hi all , back again just found out a neighbour has same problem , Anglian water visited him and said it could be the expansion vessel on the cold main to the unvented cylinder , have anyone Come across water discolour because of this seems long shot .
one question I have is could the water discolour in cylinder when heated due to something in the water ! still scratching my head cheers howy

 

[centralheatking]

Hi all , back again just found out a neighbour has same problem , Anglian water visited him and said it could be the expansion vessel on the cold main to the unvented cylinder , have anyone Come across water discolour because of this seems long shot .
one question I have is could the water discolour in cylinder when heated due to something in the water ! still scratching my head cheers howy

So your neighbours have a similar water dis-colour problem which has been acknowledged by your utility....the common thread is the water supply not your house....complain big time centralheatking

 

[howy1]

So your neighbours have a similar water dis-colour problem which has been acknowledged by your utility....the common thread is the water supply not your house....complain big time centralheatking

Yep think we need to start beating drum .

 

[howy1]

Hello all , have changed expansion vessel on hot water but water still discoloured do you think this will take time to clear , anyone had experience of this .
regards Howy .