Brown water in tub and toilets

[jserbe]

I see a lot of brown water questions, but most seem to be homes on well water. I have city water. We have lived in this house 7 years and over the last couple of months the water in the hallway bathtub is running brown. I can fill the whole tub and it still runs brown. The plumber said it just doesn't get used enough. We have started using the bathroom more and the problem seemed to go away. Left town on Thurs. morning and came back Sat afternoon. This afternoon I flushed the toilet in the master bath and the bowl filled with brown water. I checked the hall bath and everything there is running brown also. I have never had the brown water in the toilet before. I have my laundry room next to my master bath and the water in the washing machine appears to be clean (put some water in a large white cup). I have run the sinks, flushed many times and filled the tub...still brown. Water from the sink in the kitchen does not appear to be brown, but water in half bath (also on other side of house from hall bath) is brown also. Any ideas? One poster had a similar problem and the answer was nothing to worry about...but I really don't like the idea of taking a bath in brown water!

 

[6t7gto]

Are your supply lines copper or galvanized?
david

 

[Sponsor]

 

[jserbe]

I am guessing galvanized? The house was built in 1965....

 

[Gary Swart]

How do you spell RUST in Texan? Galvanized pipe rusts. Your plumber has a point, if a galvanized pipe is use a lot, the water will wash the rust out and it will not be as noticeable as when the water set in the pipe for a period of time. It's still rust and it's still in the water, just diluted.

 

[jserbe]

Gary....it takes a LOT of water to flush it all clean....4-5 flushes per toilet and the tub..I kept filling it half way, emptying and filling it again..over and over. Seems strange that that must rust builds up after only being gone for 3 days? The other issue is...if the are that rusty...are they eventually going to fail and start leaking in the walls? As much as I don't want to replace the galvanized pipes....I do not want to have to replace them when they break AND have to deal with all the problems that go with that.