Black Soot in bathtub from SharkBite

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SuperMatttheHero

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I've been getting black soot coming out in the bathtub when the hot water hasn't been used all night. It doesn't appear to be broken-up rubber. It is very fine, black, and the large pieces will break up and dissolve if I poke them with my finger. It will smear on the tub.

I have a gas hot water heater. Does this mean it's on its way out? It's been like this for months now.

EDIT: I should add that I also get them in the bathroom sink. It is not limited to the bathtub.
 

hj

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It is magnesium sulfide, often caused by a reaction between the anode rod and soft water. Change the rod and try to flush the remnants out of the heater, which may not be possible.
 

matrazar

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I recently replaced my gas hot water heater 2nd floor above master bathroom.
I now have black soot appearing in my tub. since this is a new tub I am guessing I have magnesium sulfide in the pipes is there anything I can use to flush this out and clean the lines?
 

poe

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I have the same problem but all of my lines are copper. Running peroxide through my tank cleared it for about a week. I pulled my anode rod to find it covered with a thick layer of the black slime.
 

S.Smith

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Hey everyone. I realize this post is almost a year late, but after I replaced my water heater about 2 years ago, using Sharkbite U3088Flex24 Flexible Connectors for both my hot and cold lines, I started having the same problem with black soot in my bathtub. I just replaced them with Flexible copper. I cut one of the sharkbite connectors open and it was, in fact, black rubber on the inside. The rubber was disintegrating into black, flakey pieces that, when rubbed together, further dissolved into a slimy greasy film. Exactly the stuff that was in the bathtub. Thought I would share. Good luck to all.
 
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