water heater 6 hours after set up now has yellow tinted water throughout whole house please help

[Kclavijo1116]

Today I bought a brand new 30 gallon electric water heater and had it installed two hours after installation I checked the hot water and it was having no problem producing and maintaining hot water. My problem is that ever since the new hot water heater was installed all running water is now tinted yellow this includes both cold and hot water. Someone please help me understand why this is happening with a brand new freshly installed electric water heater and if it's normal or not and if it is not normal what is causing it and how can it be fixed? Also is it not safe to shower with the water coming out in this manner. This might sound disgusting but it comes out looking like a very light yellow diluted urine color. Again this is happening with both cold and hot water flows please help someone I need to understand this I need to know if it is safe if it will go away on its own why it is happening. I have an 11 year old son in my home and I do not want him being harmed in any way shape or form due to my current dilemma thank you very much a fast response would be greatly appreciated because I am literally on the verge of freaking all the way out lol

 

[Nakopf]

It's not uncommon to see some discoloration after depressurizing and repressurizing a residential plumbing system.

You might try running a bathtub until the water runs clear.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Kclavijo1116]

It's not uncommon to see some discoloration after depressurizing and repressurizing a residential plumbing system.

You might try running a bathtub until the water runs clear.

Thank you for your response, I just got installed today like 8 hours ago, should I wait to take a shower or bath until the water runs all the way clear? What about cooking with it is that unsafe? Also what is the maximum amount of time I should give it to start running clear, what I'm saying is if it's not running clear by tomorrow afternoon should I just keep running it like you said to get the discoloration out? What would you say are the maximum amount of days I should give it to start running clear before I start exploring other reasons why it may still be discolored?

 

[Jadnashua]

It's highly likely that what you are seeing is just stuff that was on the insides of your pipes, and once you turned the water back on, refilling the pipes, that turbulence flushed it off. While kind of annoying, it is unlikely to be unhealthy. If you have an icemaker in the fridge, you might want to throw the ice out as it won't look good, but many of them have their own in-line filters, so they are probably still clear. The filter may clog quicker, though.

You tend to get the same thing around here when they open up the fire hydrants to flush the lines...the water can look funky for a day or so because again, that high flow causes crud to be flushed off of the sides of the pipes.

Most faucets in a home are flow restricted. Typically, a tub filler is not, so to get the maximum flow to clear that crud from the lines, run a tub full of water rather than say the shower. It won't hurt anything to take a shower in it or brush your teeth, but until it clears up, you may not want to drink it, not because it will hurt you, but because it might taste different. This should clear up after running a tub or so of water. Do it cold until that is clear, then run the hot until that clears. There's a little more restriction in the WH, so it will clear more up if you get the cold clear first so you don't fill the tank again with it, then flush the tank out. If you have a hose that can handle the heat, you could attach it to the WH drain line and either outside, or down the drain.

You shouldn't need to run a huge amount for it to clear up, but again, it's not going to hurt you. You'd probably want to wait to run a load of clothes, but if it's a top loader and not a high efficiency one, even that would probably be fine since that uses a fair amount of water and be clear by the rinse cycle.

 

[Kclavijo1116]

That all makes a lot of sense, very informative thank you for the response they helped a lot.