Clear water began turning brown after plumber's work

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G. Depaola

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Hello, I had a plumber come to our home today to replace a cartridge in a Moen bathroom shower faucet and he also ran a cable through the tub drain to remove very heavy hair build up (20-year-old daughter's). He shut off the main water cutoff valve on the street while he worked. When he turned it on again, their was heavy sediment in the water, so he encouraged us to get all new plumbing and a new water heater. He asked more than once if he could go under my house because he said there probably was some plumbing work to be done. He said there might be pipes that needed replacing. I kept telling this man that we just didn't have any extra money, period. (I think I made the mistake of telling him that we are getting a new roof, thinking he would ease up on trying to dig into our pocketbooks). Our bathtub water is now very light brown, but it was perfectly clear right until he worked on it. Is that just a horrible coincidence? We do have an older home, but we have never had anything, but clear water. We had some major plumbing work in terms of pipes replaced about eight years and a new water heater installed, then. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, although we certainly will use a different company.
 

CountryBumkin

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When the water was turned off and back on, it probably stirred up some sediment in the lines. I think it will clear up after some more water is run through the pipes.

Regarding the advise the Plumber gave you - well, he may be correct. It's funny how many people think their Plumber or Mechanic or whomever, is a crook because the repair estimate is higher $ then they would like.

My advise, always get a second (or third) opinion and price estimate on the high dollar repairs.
Good luck.
 

hj

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quote; he encouraged us to get all new plumbing and a new water heater.

Hmm! That does NOT sound like a plumber who is worried about you. More likely worrying how he is going to make his next truck payment, or even buy a new truck.
 

Reach4

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Any advice would be greatly appreciated, although we certainly will use a different company.
I would consider a whole-house cartridge filter. I tend to like the Pentek Big Blue housings. Ideally you will get a bypass around it in case of a problem. You want the outside faucets to be unfiltered usually.

You would probably get a year out of a 20x4.5 inch cartridge. If you don't, you really needed the filter.

You could also consider a Big Blue 10x4.5. That would probably be enough and not have too much backpressure. The full-of-water tub is not as heavy to lift when you remove the old filter. If you have room below, you could late replace the sump with the bigger sump. But if you have the room and strength, the bigger filter gives more without a big increase in costs.

Opaque housings are stronger than clear housings. However clear housing would be nice to monitor, I would think. It would be nice if you could get a compatible clear housing to allow you to change if you liked. Maybe this is already available. I don't know.

Watts WH-LD Premier Whole House Filter System is smaller, and has a clear housing. It has a built-in bypass, which seems really nice to me. For city water, it may be more than enough. I have not studied the cartridges, but it might be worth looking at.

You may be thinking that until the shutoff valve got exercised, you did not need a filter. I expect that all of that stuff would be coming eventually, but it would have been more spread out in time. You would not have noticed.

Did you ever flush your WH? Hooking up a hose and running to a floor drain will give a different picture than draining in a way where you can monitor what comes out.

Clean your aerators? If the material is big enough, and the screen is visible to you, you may see something there.
 
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G. Depaola

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When the water was turned off and back on, it probably stirred up some sediment in the lines. I think it will clear up after some more water is run through the pipes.

Regarding the advise the Plumber gave you - well, he may be correct. It's funny how many people think their Plumber or Mechanic or whomever, is a crook because the repair estimate is higher $ then they would like.

My advise, always get a second (or third) opinion and price estimate on the high dollar repairs.
Good luck.
We thought the price for the work he did was fair. We were just concerned with all the other work he was trying to do such as all new pipes, a new water heater, etc... Thank you.
 

G. Depaola

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I would consider a whole-house cartridge filter. I tend to like the Pentek Big Blue housings. Ideally you will get a bypass around it in case of a problem. You want the outside faucets to be unfiltered usually.

You would probably get a year out of a 20x4.5 inch cartridge. If you don't, you really needed the filter.

You could also consider a Big Blue 10x4.5. That would probably be enough and not have too much backpressure. The full-of-water tub is not as heavy to lift when you remove the old filter. If you have room below, you could late replace the sump with the bigger sump. But if you have the room and strength, the bigger filter gives more without a big increase in costs.

Opaque housings are stronger than clear housings. However clear housing would be nice to monitor, I would think. It would be nice if you could get a compatible clear housing to allow you to change if you liked. Maybe this is already available. I don't know.

Watts WH-LD Premier Whole House Filter System is smaller, and has a clear housing. It has a built-in bypass, which seems really nice to me. For city water, it may be more than enough. I have not studied the cartridges, but it might be worth looking at.

You may be thinking that until the shutoff valve got exercised, you did not need a filter. I expect that all of that stuff would be coming eventually, but it would have been more spread out in time. You would not have noticed.

Did you ever flush your WH? Hooking up a hose and running to a floor drain will give a different picture than draining in a way where you can monitor what comes out.

Clean your aerators? If the material is big enough, and the screen is visible to you, you may see something there.
Thank you for such a detailed answer. It is appreciated!
 

G. Depaola

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quote; he encouraged us to get all new plumbing and a new water heater.

Hmm! That does NOT sound like a plumber who is worried about you. More likely worrying how he is going to make his next truck payment, or even buy a new truck.
Thank you for the response.
 

WJcandee

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Every year in my apartment building in the City, they shut off the building water and clean the water tank on the roof. They get it completely free of dirt and sediment and everything else and flush it thoroughly before they refill it with water and reopen the connection to the building. For whatever reason, the shutting off of the water and turning the water back on stirs up sediment, and the water in the building turns a really gross Brown for about 6 hours, after which it gets lighter, and after which it goes back to its usual perfect clarity. Similarly, a year or so ago, I noticed the water in the house in the country was suddenly flowing a dark rust color. Every faucet in the house. Couldn't understand what the problem was. When I looked outside on the street I saw a giant Yellow hose, about the diameter of a basketball, running up the center of the street. I walked out and looked at it, and realized it was a fire hose, running from the fire hydrant at the corner up the hill around the corner and out of sight. Turns out there was a huge fire at our neighbors house at the top of the hill, and the fire trucks were pumping as much water as they could from wherever they could get it. This stirred up sediment in the lines, of course, and not surprisingly, 12 hours later, back to normal. I recently watched a consumer video about how the friendly guys at the quick Lube were selling unnecessary fluids to people. In the hidden camera, the super friendly, professional, kind, concerned technician tells the Undercover reporter that she needs a complete brake flush and transmission fluid. He patiently explains that transmission fluid is supposed to be pink, but that hers was brown, and smelled like burnt toast. He explained that this indicates that the fluid was bad. He also explained something about the color of the brake fluid, and said it indicates that it is old and unsafe. They then showed a video of him saying the exact same thing to three other Undercover operatives. Exactly the same speech to every person that came through the door. What he didn't know, and couldn't know, was that immediately before bringing the cars to the Lube Center, a mechanic of unquestionable skill had replaced all of the fluids in the cars. They needed nothing. And all the cars had been adjusted to be in perfect running condition. When confronted, the employee explained that the speech about colors and smells was the way he was trained by the owner, and that he was told to be friendly and knowledgeable and patient when explaining the issues, but that he should say basically the same thing to everyone. I think you can take these three stories together, and deduce what this so-called plumber was up to. HJ, our revered contributor, hit the nail on the head. This guy was concerned about himself, not about you, and the problem will most likely rectify itself, by itself, within a few days. You did the right thing to hold the guy off. You most likely don't need to consult anybody else.
 

Flapper

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Do you have galvanized pipes? That is probably the issue. Just wait for the water to become clear again. You can live with the galvanized pipes, but it is a good idea to replace them sometime when you can.
 

G. Depaola

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Every year in my apartment building in the City, they shut off the building water and clean the water tank on the roof. They get it completely free of dirt and sediment and everything else and flush it thoroughly before they refill it with water and reopen the connection to the building. For whatever reason, the shutting off of the water and turning the water back on stirs up sediment, and the water in the building turns a really gross Brown for about 6 hours, after which it gets lighter, and after which it goes back to its usual perfect clarity. Similarly, a year or so ago, I noticed the water in the house in the country was suddenly flowing a dark rust color. Every faucet in the house. Couldn't understand what the problem was. When I looked outside on the street I saw a giant Yellow hose, about the diameter of a basketball, running up the center of the street. I walked out and looked at it, and realized it was a fire hose, running from the fire hydrant at the corner up the hill around the corner and out of sight. Turns out there was a huge fire at our neighbors house at the top of the hill, and the fire trucks were pumping as much water as they could from wherever they could get it. This stirred up sediment in the lines, of course, and not surprisingly, 12 hours later, back to normal. I recently watched a consumer video about how the friendly guys at the quick Lube were selling unnecessary fluids to people. In the hidden camera, the super friendly, professional, kind, concerned technician tells the Undercover reporter that she needs a complete brake flush and transmission fluid. He patiently explains that transmission fluid is supposed to be pink, but that hers was brown, and smelled like burnt toast. He explained that this indicates that the fluid was bad. He also explained something about the color of the brake fluid, and said it indicates that it is old and unsafe. They then showed a video of him saying the exact same thing to three other Undercover operatives. Exactly the same speech to every person that came through the door. What he didn't know, and couldn't know, was that immediately before bringing the cars to the Lube Center, a mechanic of unquestionable skill had replaced all of the fluids in the cars. They needed nothing. And all the cars had been adjusted to be in perfect running condition. When confronted, the employee explained that the speech about colors and smells was the way he was trained by the owner, and that he was told to be friendly and knowledgeable and patient when explaining the issues, but that he should say basically the same thing to everyone. I think you can take these three stories together, and deduce what this so-called plumber was up to. HJ, our revered contributor, hit the nail on the head. This guy was concerned about himself, not about you, and the problem will most likely rectify itself, by itself, within a few days. You did the right thing to hold the guy off. You most likely don't need to consult anybody else.
Thank you for the response. The water is clear again.
 

G. Depaola

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Do you have galvanized pipes? That is probably the issue. Just wait for the water to become clear again. You can live with the galvanized pipes, but it is a good idea to replace them sometime when you can.
Thank you for the response. The water is clear again.
 

G. Depaola

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quote; he encouraged us to get all new plumbing and a new water heater.

Hmm! That does NOT sound like a plumber who is worried about you. More likely worrying how he is going to make his next truck payment, or even buy a new truck.
Thanks! The water is clear again.
 

Craigpump

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quote; he encouraged us to get all new plumbing and a new water heater.

Hmm! That does NOT sound like a plumber who is worried about you. More likely worrying how he is going to make his next truck payment, or even buy a new truck.


Sounds like a guy who gets a healthy commission on products & services that he sells.
 

Jadnashua

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FWIW, what you saw is fairly common when the main water line is shut off and the water drained. Water rushing into the pipes when you turn things back on dislodges alotof the (potentially) years of accumulated sediment in the lines. It takes awhile for it all to either wash out, or redeposit itself. In the interim, if any of your faucets or valves have internal filters or aerators, those may need to be cleaned if they got partially clogged.

As said, though, if you have galvanized piping, you have a ticking time bomb...eventually, you will need to replace the piping so start planning. Copper could last centuries, depending on the water characteristics and how well it was installed.
 
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