Small Black Spots in Water

[Grant McAllister]

I hope someone can help. I have been trying to find the solution to my problem for over a year now. House was built in 2007. It is city water. The plumbing is PEX. The hot water heater is gas and has about a foot of copper piping coming in and going out of water heater. My issue: I recently bought this home and after I moved in I immediately noticed small black particles coming out of my water faucets and tub and shower. The spots are usually small, black, and often smear like grease. Often the spots can be more solid and kind of dissolve into brownish smear when rubbed together. I had my water tested (came back OK), I replaced the line from city water to my home with new copper line. It didn't fix problem. I called city and they tested water and found some of these black spots on their end and they replaced copper line to my house. I have also had a filter installed, which still occasionally catches small black spots. Now my cold water mostly runs clear, but not always. I also discovered that the expansion tank on my water heater was full of a greasy like substance. I had the copper pipe replaced and the expansion tank. The piping connecting to the expansion tank had some kind of corrosive buildup that was brownish and black, kind of slimy. That's why I had the whole pipe replaced. So, now the biggest problem occurs when I run hot water from the tub. There are always black particles. Often when I run the sink faucets, I see the black spots as well, mostly on hot end, but definitely with cold, too. If I go out of town the problem is really bad. In fact, for the first few seconds, I get what looks like rust coming out when running hot. It then runs clear, but has several small black spots until I run my hot water for at least 5 minutes. So, my question is: does anyone know what is going on? I have no rubber in my lines that I can find and the plumber have no idea where any rubber could be. City insists that their end now runs clear, which it does. I can't explain how in my house the cold doesn't always run clear. Is my water heater bad and full of this gunk and somehow contaminating the cold, too? Or worse...do I need to replace all of my piping? Are my pipes full of these spots? I am at the end of my wits. I hope someone has some suggestions.

 

[WorthFlorida]

When your cold water has these "spots" it is probably from the faucet and aerator that where spotted the last time the hot water was in use. I would change the anode rod, if possible, for your water heater. Ask your neighbors if they have a similar problem. Since your expansion tank and tubing seemed to be loaded with gunk of some kind and your water heater is now 10 years old, if it is the original to the home, that anode rod is gone. May be worth changing the entire water heater.
The TSB below from Rheem explains what a anode rod does.
Since you had the expansion tank replaced, was the water heater drained and flush? If yes was it clear?
Does it show up in washing machine? Staining closes?
Get a white 5 gallon pail and run an outside spigot that is as close to the water meter as possible and look for whatever.

http://www.rheem.com/docs/FetchDocument.aspx?ID=aedbbc95-9a6b-4780-aa23-b0ed9abe41cd
http://www.rheem.com/WHTechBulletins.aspx?Category=Common Bulletins

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Grant McAllister]

Yes, I've flushed the water heater several times. A lot of black, hard particles are there. I had the anode rod checked. It was fine. I have looked at water from spigot very close to meter and get maybe one tiny speck of something in a 5 gallon bucket. For some reason there is a spigot attached to hot water line and letting that run into a bucket results in several black particles, even after letting it run for 5 minutes--which leads me to believe the majority of the problem is resulting from water heater. To me, it looks like manganese buildup that maybe is also back flowing into cold lines. Will replacing water heater fix this? Do I need to buy a filtration system or softener?

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

If the city actually came out and changed the water service coming into
that is a bad sign that in the house you probably just have aggressive nasty city water....I am amazed that the city actually did this for you for free and did not attempt to deny any responsibility..

so only god knows what they are treating the water with that is causeing this.??? and who knows where the city water is being drawn from ....??.......

For health concerns, I would probably install a water conditioner
and a chlorinate removal system... and perhaps maybe even a sand trap beforeit goes through the new units......... god only knows what you are drinking as a lot of communities are throwing different chlorinates into their water these days.. and they simply dont have a clue as to what the results will
be 25 years down the road....

There also sounds like you got some sort of reaction going on in the water heater
and I would probably just change it out also.... maybe it would be wise to remove
the anode rod out of the new unit too...because of the adverse reaction that
could happen with this funky water you have coming into the home...

allinimum rods are more nasty than mag ones are but I would throw them both out if you are having this kind of issues........

 

[WorthFlorida]

I don't think anyone has any idea what is the cause is but adding a filter (cold water side) and a water softener won't hurt. If you have basement or crawl space, then you'll need to do some plumbing. All outside spigots should be on hard water, you cannot irrigate with soft water and you would want the kitchen cold water on hard water. Do have one spigot on soft water for washing the car. It leaves absolutely no spots on the paint.