We’re trying to figure out a plumbing/water treatment issue and I was hoping the experts here could help point us in the right direction. We’ve talked to some local plumbers and water treatment companies but none so far have given us confidence that they are familiar with this issue. We’re trying to do more research in order to hire the right people for the job and hopefully not spend much more than necessary.
We moved into our house a little more than 2 years ago. We noticed between bathroom cleaning, there were greenish water stains in the sinks and showers around the drain that would appear about 3-4 weeks after cleaning. We didn’t think much about it then but lately became concerned about drinking water quality and copper pipe corrosion.
We’re on city water and the water is hard. Last year we had a water softener and a sediment filter installed - the house is about 15-20 years old and had had hard water up until then. The water stain problem still persists with soft water. Our water heater is a tankless one. We had it cleaned once last year and again today (so will wait and see if it improves anything). All sinks were upgraded with new faucets and drains within the last year.
The pipes under the sinks look ok - some green spots around the soldering points but from what I read this is not a concern. In the basement, there’s a part of the pipes that looks worse (see photo) - we’ll probably get a plumber to take a look and fix it, but could this be the source of the green water stains or unrelated? What if there are more like this behind walls that we can’t see and fix? Normally how do plumbers tell the pipes are corroded inside and which sections to replace?
Another concern is low pH level/acidic water causing further corrosion. We asked local water treatment companies to test our water but several different ones just pointed us to water test strips on Amazon. How accurate are these? Some reviews I read complained about accuracy. Even if I get good results from the test strips, I’m not sure if I could trust them. Are there any reliable tools/brands that you recommend to test for pH and copper?
Anything else we haven't considered?
We moved into our house a little more than 2 years ago. We noticed between bathroom cleaning, there were greenish water stains in the sinks and showers around the drain that would appear about 3-4 weeks after cleaning. We didn’t think much about it then but lately became concerned about drinking water quality and copper pipe corrosion.
We’re on city water and the water is hard. Last year we had a water softener and a sediment filter installed - the house is about 15-20 years old and had had hard water up until then. The water stain problem still persists with soft water. Our water heater is a tankless one. We had it cleaned once last year and again today (so will wait and see if it improves anything). All sinks were upgraded with new faucets and drains within the last year.
The pipes under the sinks look ok - some green spots around the soldering points but from what I read this is not a concern. In the basement, there’s a part of the pipes that looks worse (see photo) - we’ll probably get a plumber to take a look and fix it, but could this be the source of the green water stains or unrelated? What if there are more like this behind walls that we can’t see and fix? Normally how do plumbers tell the pipes are corroded inside and which sections to replace?
Another concern is low pH level/acidic water causing further corrosion. We asked local water treatment companies to test our water but several different ones just pointed us to water test strips on Amazon. How accurate are these? Some reviews I read complained about accuracy. Even if I get good results from the test strips, I’m not sure if I could trust them. Are there any reliable tools/brands that you recommend to test for pH and copper?
Anything else we haven't considered?