What's this black stuff?

[theberzh]

Can someone help me out please? These little black flakes are pouring out of my drain. They are all a little larger than the size of pepper flakes and they smudge when I try to wipe them up. They only come out when I only run the hot water, and they come out of every single faucet in the house. They do not come out when I run the cold water. My mother says she notices it worst the next day after the salt machine goes off but I can't confirm that. We have had the plumber come to the house a few times but he seems to not be able to know what it is. He did a water test and everything seems to test fine. I'm not sure what he tested for. I think it was just a simple water contamination test. We are also about to do another water test with our town that tests more things in the water. Would any of these tests be able to tell what this is?

I'm guessing that it could be paint chips of some sort flaking off the inside of one of these water filter machines that the water runs through because the flakes reflect as though paint chips do in water. I don't think it could be coming from the well because there are so many filters in the line to the faucet. But am I wrong about this? Could it be from the well? The flakes are not magnetic. All of our pipes are either copper or PEX and I'm guessing the flakes can't come from the pipes. Could they be coming from the pipes? The house is about 50 years old. The water furnace and boiler are about ten years old. I think the salt machine could be anywhere between the age of the house and at least 20 years old. Can someone please shed some light on this situation?

Attached are also photos of our furnace, water heater, and salt machine and all the model numbers to each, and the flakes that I have picked up on a napkin.

Here are a few links to videos I have taken of it happening.




Here is a link to photos I have taken of the furnace, boiler, water treatment and flakes. The last few are super close up macro photos.

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

 

[Frelon]

Let's throw a few things around!!

You say...

These little black flakes are pouring out of my drain. They are all a little larger than the size of pepper flakes and they smudge when I try to wipe them up. They only come out when I only run the hot water, and they come out of every single faucet in the house. They do not come out when I run the cold water.

You say....

out of my drain

....but you really mean out of your taps (or faucets)

You also say..

They do not come out when I run the cold water

This indicates that the filters that you have filtering your water from the well are working and the water softener is not causing these flakes as all cold water supplies are clear.

So, something in your water heating system needs looking at! You really should not have to filter your hot water supply to get rid of these flakes.

My experience is as a French home owner with water supplied from our well and using a water softener! Hope this helps!

 

[rpm]

If you have flexi pipes fitted to the taps then these have a black rubber hose inside the braid so perhaps the rubber hose is the cause.

 

[cjg]

charcoal filter breaking down?

 

[Frelon]

charcoal filter breaking down?

But on hot water only?

 

[theberzh]

Let's throw a few things around!!

You say...

You say.***

***.but you really mean out of your taps (or faucets)

You also say..


This indicates that the filters that you have filtering your water from the well are working and the water softener is not causing these flakes as all cold water supplies are clear.

So, something in your water heating system needs looking at! You really should not have to filter your hot water supply to get rid of these flakes.

My experience is as a French home owner with water supplied from our well and using a water softener! Hope this helps!

Thanks.
It really looks like paint flakes and there are a lot of them. Could anything inside the boiler besides rubber fittings be breaking down? Could it be some sort of coating on the inside? Some people mentioned that rubber fittings might be the cause but it seems as though there are so many of them. It really looks as though if someone ran water over paint that is chipping off.